Nel Gallery | Surrender by Arlene Amaler – Raviv

Arlene Amaler-Raviv’s artistic trajectory spans four decades of dedication and prolific output, with numerous exhibitions locally and internationally. Her paintings hang in many private and public art collections throughout the world. One of the artist’s influences, the filmmaker Andrey Tarkovsky, wrote: “Art is a meta-language, with the help of which people try to communicate with one another; to impart information about themselves and assimilate the experience of others. Again, this has not to do with practical advantage but with realizing the idea of love, the meaning of which is in sacrifice: the very antithesis of pragmatism. I simply cannot believe that an artist can ever work only for the sake of ‘self-expression’. Self-expression is meaningless unless it meets with a response. For the sake of creating a spiritual bond with others it can only be an agonizing process, one that involves no practical gain: ultimately it is an act of sacrifice. But surely it cannot be worth the effort merely for the sake of hearing one’s own echo?” Although painting is not associated with speech as such, according to Plutarch “painting is silent poetry”. To engage with art fully one has to stand before the work silently, in a state of openness and not knowing. Only then are we able to receive its spiritual resonance, intellectual meaning, emotional impact through its physical presence. “That artwork speaks to me”, we say, struggling to verbalize the whys and wherefores of this feeling. What we are hearing is the timbre of the artist’s voice; singing, calling, longing, weeping and shouting.” (Gabriella Kaplan) Having worked for four decades Amaler-Raviv completed her seminal artwork titled TWITTER. She gave herself a two year break and began working again in 2019. ‘I have left behind my past oeuvre …..’voice of a citizen’ and entered a space where I paint free of socio -political narrative .I am painting now from a place of stillness and contemplation…… freeing my mind and soul of the struggle of my past work .I surrender now to the act/art of painting. The title of my exhibition….surrender.