Like all different cultural industries, the plastic artists also suffered a severe blow during the Corona period.

• Photo: 

  Bar David Museum

While cultural protests are flooding the country, there are those who have been helping artists who have not sold or exhibited in months. Galleries have opened their doors to artists for a symbolic commission or no commission at all, in order to bring the art market back to life and reinvigorate the work. With the aim of supporting the supporters, here are details of some such galleries, which are presenting special exhibitions during the Corona crisis.

My Favorite Bear | Younty Art Gallery

The exhibition "My Favorite Bear" at the Younty Art Gallery in Jaffa, rests on the image of the bear - a very dangerous animal in reality that has received countless entertaining and even sweet expressions throughout history.

This is a community gallery, which brings together about 250 Israeli artists from various fields, helps them in various ways and supports them, including the exposure of works in the gallery, special exhibitions across the country and more.

At the beginning of the Corona period, the gallery association initiated online exhibitions of artists that could be viewed and viewed from home as well as initiated meetings and workshops with artists online.

"My Favorite Bear" exhibits more than 30 different bears, all of them original works by artist Ilana Habess. The exhibition, which is for the whole family, is open to the public free of charge and will be closed on June 30.

Awakening SALE | Ben Ami Gallery

Following the crisis, two owners of the Ben Ami Gallery on 12 Electric Street, Tel Aviv, decided to allocate the entire space to the gallery's artists free of charge, provided that the artwork costs up to NIS 5,000 for the consumer. The idea is to make art accessible, sell as much as possible, and assist artists in crisis without Institutional support included.

Among the artists featured in the show: Aviva Sonsino, Salah Elcra, Arie Levertov, Yael Harpaz and more. The exhibition will be closed on June 30.

Eitan Amram | Sissy Gallery

With the exit of the closure and the insight that the art world needs to push, artist Sissy Gallen, owner of SISSY GALLERY, decided to come out with a call for artists to come and present a single exhibition between her gallery walls for a month. Dagan promised that by the end of May the applicants would receive a significant discount on the exhibition. She also made it clear that she would not charge a sales commission from the works that will be sold at the exhibitions and that she would help at no cost in marketing the exhibitions on social networks.

"After the Corona, I decided to give the artists a chance to be exposed with their artwork and leave them the profit from sales," she says. According to her, it is customary to charge about NIS 7,000 for a single exhibition, and commissions for selling works from the exhibitions range from 20-50%. Dagan's generous offer was widely accepted, and she soon closed the gallery exhibit for the rest of the year.

On July 16, Eitan Amram's pop art solo exhibition, a new immigrant from France, will open, followed by an exhibition by Miriam Bronker, which will show a combination of her paintings and photographs of her late son, an exhibition by Jerusalem artist Avi Cassuto and more.

Dagan's giving spirit pulsed even before the Corona broke out, presenting and volunteering the "integration" exhibition of artists on the autistic continuum. "I chose to give a stage to artists whose voices are not heard, without charging a penny from them," she says. "As an artist, I know how hard and expensive the artist is to present his works, so when I opened the gallery I assured myself that I was a stage for the artists. The Corona was exacerbating the plight of the artists so I decided to make more gestures for them. Yes, also because I have the financial ability to help them."

SISSY GALLERY, Ben Yehuda 59, Tel Aviv.

Sale Exhibition | "Office" Gallery

The "Office" Gallery, at Zamanhoff 6, Tel Aviv, which has been operating for decades for Dr. Rachel Sukman's curators, decided to open the gallery's doors, free of charge, to ten Israeli artists for a four-day sales exhibition, while the exhibition organization, PR And the publication will also be given at no cost, as part of its contribution to the post-Corona era.

The exhibition will feature some 40 works by ten artists, including Jennifer Abscira, Nardine Saroji, Liat Klein, Hanita Ilan, Yael Ben David and others.

"The motive for holding the sales exhibition stemmed from the desire to reinvigorate the art and economics world of the art world, to support art at this difficult time after months when artists did not exhibit or sell their works. We are committed to helping," says Barak Robin of the Office Gallery.

The exhibition will be on display July 28-31.

Late Furniture | periscope

Sheri Faran, the director and curator of Periscope Gallery, Ben Yehuda 176, Tel Aviv, does not charge fees for the sale of works on display in her gallery. "That's the most you can do to help and promote the artists," she says.

The gallery, which specializes in design, opened the exhibition "The End of the Furniture" by artist Nir Ohayon, curated by Oshri Cohen Nader and Or-Yeh Rosman Eisenstadt. Ohayon designs with wood scraps that finds and assembles a master sculptural furniture that breaks every category. They are apocalyptic, attractive and daunting at the same time.

"The exhibition was chosen to represent the gallery in the spirit of the delusional period, which has dark and alien elements that even the imagination could not invent. Nir raves about dramatic surrealist objects that express the delusional period in which we walk in unknown darkness," the catalog reads. "Usually, I do not exhibit works that go beyond the design field and neither do extreme works. But the Corona has broken the conventions," says Faran.

Another tribute to "Periscope" is to artist Chen Piper. On the evening when the Corona curfew was announced, it was scheduled to launch its glass exhibition. The exhibition was not dismantled but remained 'locked' in the gallery for months and a half without visitors. About three weeks ago, with the gradual return to routine, the exhibition reopened to an audience that arrived in advance with coordinated meetings and was now downloaded in favor of the exhibition by artist Nir Ohayon.

Nir Ohayon's "Late Furniture" exhibition will be closed on July 3.

Light and Legends | Bar David Museum of Art

The foyer, one of the five spaces in the Bar David Museum of Art at Kibbutz Baram in the Upper Galilee, is dedicated to the display of outstanding artists graduating from the Institute of the Arts at Tel Hai College, free of charge and without commission. The director and curator of the museum, Avi Ipergan, is now working more than ever to nurture young artists early on, with emphasis on artists from the Galilee. "We nurture the young artists in the periphery, give them a springboard. We produce, curate and support their exhibitions and do not charge for it," says Ifergan.

An exhibition will soon be presented to the young artists, an exhibition by artist Hadar Gad, which is located in the center of the village in nearby Aram. The main exhibition "The Mechanical Body", with the participation of artists Judith Sesports, Itzik Livana, Gabi Kleismer, Yossi Crispiel and Miriam Laundry, was still open for visitors for a week and a half, and even had a gallery talk before the Corona. There is also the exhibition of the artist resident of Afula Shlomi Lelush "The Fall of Light" and in the youth wing the exhibition "Somewhere. Exhibition of art from the Land of Legends".

The exhibition by artist Yair Garbuz "I was not in India" was hung and was supposed to open to the public in March, but then came the Korna and it remained in its loneliness. "Garbose accepted the situation, what can be done. But in early 2021 he is expected to have a great exhibition with us," Ifergan promises.

During the Corona Closure months, Avi Ipergan kept in constant contact with the artists and artists whose own exhibitions will be exhibited during the year at the Museum. These include Efrat Rubinstein, Sapir Gal and Asaf Alkalai. "I kept in constant contact with them. I was interested in their situation, whether they come to the studio and what they went through during the difficult period," he says.