Welcome to the Frontpage

Welcome to the Frontpage

LAYERS OF MEMORY

During the 15 years that they have worked together, Israeli artists Varda Ghivoly and Ilan Gelber have garnered an impressive reputation as sculptors in stone. This is not a comprehensive survey of their achievements during this period, but a look at the ways in which their work has become bound up with their feelings and emotions as the children of Holocaust survivors.

The term Holocaust survivor has come to describe not only a prisoner in a concentration camp who managed to survive, but anyone persecuted by the Nazis, lost job and home, was forcibly put work, obliged to flee or going into hiding. Ilan's Romanian-born parents, for example, spent the war years in forced labor camps and, while still in their teens, arrived in Israel as refugees without any family members. Ilan was born in 1951, six years after their arrival.

Appearances

Articles

Varda Ghivoly and Ilan Gelber work together since 1984. Their creations add a further link to the time-honored chain of stone sculpting. The sources of their artistic heritage lie in Classical stone sculpting, but are nevertheless connected to diverse modern outlooks. The artists hold a rich portfolio of environmental sculptures in Israel as well as abroad. They have spent an extensive period learning stone sculpting in the quarries of Pietra Santa, Italy, where they learned the processing and handling of stone – a strenuous physical work, taking sometimes place in complex environments and demanding specialized skills and firm discipline.

about us

Varda Ghivoly born in Poland 1948

Ilan Gelber born in Israel, 1951

Creating together since 1984

Live and work in Old Jaffa, the Artists’ quarter of Tel-Aviv, Israel.

Specializing in outdoor stone sculpture.

Member of the Artists’ Museum, Lodz, Poland. (International Provisional Artists’ Community).

Members of International Association of Art IAA (A.I.A.P)

Established together with the Jewish National Found the first Stone Symposium in Israel, 1989.

Established the first international stone symposium for the Mediterranean countries in Ashkelon, Israel 1997

(the first meeting- artists from Israel & Turkey).

Curator & producer of Via Maris, international sculpture project,

together with the International Artists’ Museum & the Municipality City of Ashkelon 1998-2001.

Curator & producer of Iberoamerica –Israel Friendship garden, International sculpture project, Ashkelon 2003.

Curator & producer of International Stone Sculpture Project, Rishon-Lezion 2006

Curator & producer of International Stone Sculpture Project, Rehovot 2007.

Co- producer of Salt Sculpture Project, Death sea 2007

Curator of International Stone Sculpture Symposium,"Stone in Galilee" MAALOT, 2008

Curator & producer of International Stone Sculpture Project, Rehovot 2008

Curator of International Stone Sculpture Symposium, Holon, April 2009

Participated in about 90 Solo & selected Group Exhibitions

in Israel & abroad. (Open space exhibitions, museums & public galleries)

130 environmental, large-scale sculptures & memorials are sited in open space & public sites.(Public commissions, competitions & stone symposia)

2008 National competitions:

Petach-Tikva: competition for open space sculpture-(erected October 2008)

Holon: Competition in Process: National Monument in Memory of

1,5000,000 Children murdered by the Nazi during 2WW- (among the 5 finalists).

List of the latest exhibitions, commissions & competitions

Selected exhibitions (2000-2008)

"Famme poetes &artists d`Israel" ,Characteres" gallery, Paris, 2008(catalogue)

"Jaffa Artists", Old Jaffa Museum, 2008 (catalogue)

"Export" Nirim gallery. May 2008–11–08

"Kibbutz Gallery" Art Shows - 60 year of independence of the state of Israel (solo, catalogue)

The secret exhibition, Bank Leumi, Tel-Aviv, 2007

"Sculpture Biennale" , Rishon Lezion, 2007(catalogue)

"Appearances 2",Givat-Haviva Art Center, October 2006(solo, catalogue)

"Culture Heros" ,installation for "Football in the Museum" exhibition,

The Corine Maman Ashdod Museum, September 2006 (catalogue)

"Appearances"," The Farm" Municipal Gallery, Holon , May 2006(solo, catalogue)

"Poles Apart Poles Together" an outdoor installation on the Grand Canal

for the 51 Venice Biennale 2005(catalogue)

"Art & Industry" The Israel Festival Jerusalem 2005 (catalogue)

"Tel-Aviv Profile", Tel-Aviv 2004-2005 (catalogue)

"Dreams" VERITY project 2004 (catalogue)

“Wondering library” Artists Museum project for Venice, the Book Museum, Lodz, Poland, 2004 (catalogue)

"New Home" Um-el Fahim gallery, 2004 (catalogue)

"Utopia" the Holiday of Holidays" 2004, Haifa (catalogue)

"Unisex" Arad museum 2003-2004 (catalogue)

“Wondering library” Artists Museum project for Venice Biannale,

June 2003 (catalogue)

“Fabrication”, Ashdod museum, Israel 2003(catalogue)

“Markers 2”, 2002, project for the 2002 Documenta, Kassel, Germany (catalogue)

“Lions for Jerusalem” outdoor exhibition, Jerusalem 2002

(Sold for the top price on the benefit auction) (Catalogue)

“Privet property” The municipal gallery of Kfar –Saba, 2002 (catalogue)

“The “Holiday of Holidays” 2001-2002, Haifa (catalogue)

“Markers “, Outdoor banner event of artists & poets ,Venice Biennale 2001, Venice (catalogue)

“10 years of the int. Artists museum” The Villa, Tel-Aviv January 2001

“Paris- Israel”, Paris, December 2000-January 2001 (catalogue)

“Memories”, Mani H. gallery, Tel-Aviv, November 2000. (Solo)

“Incognito”, Golda Art & Culture center, Tel-Aviv October 2000. (Solo)

"Salon d`Outomne" 2000, Paris October 2000 (catalogue)

“Public art” Givataim theatre, August-September 2000. (catalogue)

“Save the building”, New York, February 2000.

(Beneficial auction for the Int. Artist's museum)

“A harvest of pomegranates”, Ashdod museum, the Municipal Gallery of Kfar-saba,

1999-2000 (catalogue)

Latest projects & commissions (2000-2008)

"Land of milk and honey", dolomite stone & olive tree,300X500X500 , Petach Tikva,2008

"The Bell", dolomite stone & concrete, 240X60X60, Rishon Lezion, 2008

"Armchair", travertine stone, 170X70X200,Isrotel hotels,Eilat 2007

"The sense of pomegranate", salt, 180X150X150, Dead sea 2007

"Roller 4", dolomite stone & iron, 300X300X80, Petach-Tikva 2006

"2 Theater masks" stone & iron, 250X50X250 each, Bat-Yam, 2006

"Roller 1", sand stone & iron, 200X200X70, Sheba Medical Center ,Tel Hashomer 2006

"The zodiac", stone mosaic 320 cm. diameter, Old Jaffa, Tel-Aviv 2006

"Still life", dolomite stone,240x80x90, Yavne 2005

"Passion" lime stone, 200x250x170, Hualien, Taiwan,2005

"The eve of 5726 year" Marmara marble, 100X180x120 Istanbul, Turkey, 2005

Monument in Memory of the Israeli 1972 Olympic Team murdered in Munich,

Dolomite stone 500X100X100, Bat-Yam 2005

“The land of milk & honey 3”, dolomite stone & steel, 140X160X160, Kfar-Saba 2005

"Black sheep" -art in school project-, 9 sculptures 70x90x40 each ,

marble, stone, basalt,2004, Rishon-Lezion (The Ministry of Education Competition)

“Jacob’s dream 2”, dolomite stone, 400X120X70, Nes ziona 2004

"3 psc. Camel", ramon stone, 160x300x100, Dimona 2003

"7 fountains" 100x100x100 each, dolomite stone stainless steel & water, Beith Shaan, 2003

“The story of Mamushi the rabbit”, sculptural garden,

1 sculpture 200X100X120, 9 sculptures 120X100X100 each,

Marble, dolomite stone & bronze -cast, Holon, 2002

“The cat on the rocking chair “, Carra marble, 180X200X200,

Feurtaventura The Canarian Islands 2001

“The land of milk &honey 1”, dolomite stone & steel, 300X400X400, Um-El-Fahim. 2001

“The land of milk &honey 2 ”, dolomite stone, 300X400X100, Yavne, 2001

“Both of them”, sand stone, 240X180X90, University campus, Herzlia 2001

“Sababa” iron & dolomite stone 350x350x350, ”Sculpture at park Hazerim”, 2001

“Flower for Mama 1”; water fountain, dolomite stone, 140x240x240, Petach-Tikva 2001

“Flower for Mama 2”; water fountain, dolomite stone, 160x300x300, Ashkelon 2001

“Surprise?” iron & local stone, 230x100x100,

the Gaza border (Nirim-Nir-oz kibbutz) 2000

“Memorial for the Jewish fighters during the 2nd world war”, granite & water 450x180x120,

Tel-Aviv 2000( National sculpture competition)

“Natura morta 6, Sabbath table”, sand stone 400x400x220, Hanover 2000

“New born” travertine stone, 180x90x90, Kfar-saba, 2000

"Memorial for Janusz Korczak", dolomite stone 240x100x100, Jerusalem forest, 2000