This weekend, the Hezi Cohen Gallery in Tel Aviv will be unveiling a new solo exhibition of work by sculptor Zigi Ben-Haim. The show, titled "Sweeping Glances," features 12 pieces by the artist who lives in New York but loves Tel Aviv.
Ben-Haim, 72, was born in Iraq and made aliyah with his family when he was five. After serving in the IDF as part of the Shaked reconnaissance unit, Ben-Haim realized that his art was more than a hobby and began formal art studies at the Avni Institute of Art and Design in Tel Aviv, where he finished his BFA. He then won a scholarship from the America-Israel Culture Foundation and enrolled at the California College of Art in Oakland, California and the San Francisco State University, where he completed his MFA. Then came his first invitation to show in New York, and he has lived there ever since.
Ben-Haim's work has been displayed in shows all over the world and is part of collections in Israel and abroad, both private and in institutions such as the Guggenheim in New York, the Brooklyn Museum, the Israel Museum, and the Tel Aviv Museum. In 2005, he went galactic when NASA invited him to create a piece of art for the Columbia space shuttle. In 2013, NASA approached him again, this time to create artwork for the Mars rover.
"New York opened my eyes," Ben-Haim says.
"After five years there, I met [my wife] Tzipi, and we've been together ever since. We come to Israel for visits and I always make sure to show work in Israel. I have sculptures in Holon, Tel Aviv, Zichron Yaakov, Eilat, Tel Hai, and other places," he adds.
Ben-Haim says he started out as a painter, "but my concepts and my ideas grew with time and required another dimension. I started adding other dimensions to my pieces. The materials I work with aren't from the art world, they're from life. I see art as a part of life. I work with materials from the world of industry and construction, such as concrete, paper, net and steel."
Q: Tell us about your new show.
"We decided to show work from the past few years that are linked by all sorts of things. For example, the color turquoise. In the Middle East, it's considered a color that's linked to the evil eye. Some believe that turquoise attracts the evil eye, and others believe that it protects against it. My parents, who came from Iraq, wanted nothing to do with the color, so I grew up without it. It was forbidden. Then suddenly you come to the west and see that it exists – on church steeples, in sculptures. It [turquoise] became the second thread that connects my pieces. You'll find turquoise in every piece of mine.
"Something else that is repeated are depictions of leaves, three-part leaves. For me, that's the language that nature gave us."
Q: "Was it hard to fit in with the New York art scene?"
"It was really hard. I was in a new place. I had never left Israel before. My English wasn't good – and I was doing everything on my own. But looking back, I understand that this was a certain advantage, because then you fight harder and ask yourself questions like, 'Who are you? Where are you going?' Mark Twain said that a frog in the swamp doesn't know it's in a swamp until it leaves and looks at the swamp from outside. That's how I felt. If I'd stayed in Israel, my art would have gone in a different direction."
"Sweeping Glances" will be open at the Hezi Cohen Gallery (54 Wolfson St. in Tel Aviv) from March 8 – April 28. Hours: Mon-Thurs 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Fri 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sat 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
