It Must Be Love: Gifts from Artists to their Children
Throughout history, artists have dedicated their work to specific people, such as rulers, collectors, other artists, lovers, friends or family members. The exhibition “It Must Be Love” presents unique cases in which artists of various generations and in varied media, have dedicated works of art especially for their children. The moments of their birth, or their birthdays, provide the emotional purpose of these affectionate works, which express values of parenthood, giving and personal dedication.
Most of the works in the exhibition were plucked out of domestic and familial spaces. They had been created in order to decorate bedroom walls or serve as original toys. Having been transferred to the museum space, it is interesting to note on the one hand the works’ uniqueness against the background of the artists’ known oeuvre and, on the other hand, the similarity between the two modes of work. By collating the works into a public space, a new context is created, attesting to the way in which the adult community shapes the cultural, spiritual and emotional environment of the children’s community.
Through laughter and amusement in the face of sadness and melancholy, some of the works seek to compensate for a hiatus formed in the cycle of life, while others glorify a longed-for renewal. Or perhaps they try, for a moment, to embody in matter that which is unpersonifiable: what is love?
Participating Artists:
Arie Aroch / Zoya Cherkassky-Nnadi / Maayan Elyakim / Shaul Garbuz / Yair Garbuz / Yitzhak Golombek / Talia Keinan / Michal Na'aman / Philip Rantzer / Gilad, Luciana and Emilia Ratman Kaplun / Elham Rokni / Roee Rosen / Avi Sabah / Dina Shenhav / Yohanan Simon / Shay-Lee Uziel / Alexandra Zuckerman
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* Audio guide – available only in Hebrew
Installation view
Photo: Elad Sarig
Elham Rokni, Village Stories, 2019
Oil on paper, 150×80 cm
Courtesy of the artist
Photo: Yair Meyuhas
Supported by Naomi and David Kolitz, Rene and Susanne Braginsky Foundation and the British Friends of the Art Museums of Israel
