Dr. Miriam Or, Lecturer in Art and Philosophy

Exhibition Baruch Elron Paintings 1934 – 2006

Paintings gallery: http://baruchelron.defesesfinearts.com

The Municipal Art Gallery of Afula, Israel organizes the exhibition Baruch Elron Paintings 1934 – 2006, curator Ruthie Kalimi. The opening of the exhibition will be held on Wednesday, 8th of May 2013, in the presence of the Mayor Mr. Avi Alkabetz, Ambassador of Romania in Israel, Mr. Edward Iosiper, Mr. Micha Harish, Chairman of The United Organization of Romanian Immigrants in Israel and Mr. Ze’ev Schwartz, Chairman of the Association of immigrants from Romania.

Baruch Elron Paintings 1934 – 2006

The Dream World, bonded to consciousness and awareness, which conceives the creative vision, characterizes Baruch Elron’ art. Being totally aware of the universality existing in the human nature, Elron’s creation is drawn from an ancient heritage adopting it to his present reality and imprinting it to its culture, then stamping its signature on what is to come- a kind of prophetic dialogue. The first words opening the book of Genesis, i.e., “At the beginning He created…” suggest that ‘time’ and ‘space’ where the first agents in the process of creation. In this time-complex is adopted by Elron’s procedure of painting. It constitutes a chain, ushering in the eternal muse, the daughter of the godly spark, which is found in talent and lodges in accumulated memory, making felt through comprehensible associations. This creative act itself becomes possible thanks to an intuitive integration and consciousness joined to what is referred to as ‘creative association’.

Elron’s creative process rests on symbolism and metaphor, each time newly establishing the longing for harmony which is constructed from balance between opposites. His myriad rich forms from the representational, tangible and material world are juxtaposed with those of the conceptual, spiritual and abstract world. The continual confrontation between opposites is generally inevitable and even necessary and serves as the foundation of existence and its prelude. In this way, a bridge between the past and the present, with a view toward the future, is also created. It is from this perspective that one may view these creations, which are based on ancient mythologies and legends, proverbs and diverse themes, especially some of them based on Biblical stories.

Images in our contemporary world are juxtaposed with mythological heroes and events. Elron had the ability to transform these images in his art by giving them the opportunity to become actors on the stage of the Theatre, teeming, sparkling, as the play itself, unraveling on the real stage of life. Elron’s painting became in that way as an arena, where struggle and love permit the transformations and where metamorphoses of life occur.

Besides it, Elron being an illustrative painter and indicative of mythical and Biblical stories, his art constitutes the entrance of faith, whose magical dress and aura have the power to penetrate the viewer’s emotions and empathy.

Mythical and Biblical subjects deal generally with contemporary events, containing an array of universal symbols. Some of them borrowed from the creation stories, such as light-shadow; heaven and earth, celestial lights, time and space and the very beginnings of life- the Cosmic Egg; ‘the Fried Eyed Look’, literally as well as metaphorically is of an egg which gives birth and sees- possessing , penetrating insight into the existing potential for development. So, the story of the creation of Adam and Eve is rendered by the painting : ” A Help Opposite him”, which raises thoughts concerning genetic technology and the painting “Adam and Eve” brings into view the sin of money. Aspects of the life cycle are rendered from close observation of nature as: “The Four Seasons” and the metamorphosis, which occurs in both nature and man.

Biblical stories are depicted in paintings encompassing scenes with various narratives whose focus begins with the first story of mankind as mentioned above, i.e., “Adam and Eve” followed by stories of “Noah and the Flood”, in which the artist identifies with the character of Noah who flees the deluge of his time.

Further examples include the paintings “Sodom and Gomorra” and “The Tower of Babel”. The latter sensitively illustrates the obstruction of progress because the marchers pivot around the same point and keep moving in circles.

Some of Elron’s paintings borrow the images from stories of Moses, such as the example is the painting: “Moses and the burning Bush” where the barefooted warrior is confronted with a revelation of eternal light.

Another painting: “Samson the Hero” is a magnificent rendering of technology and robotics in the contemporary era. This fact introduced him to cope with another item, i.e., the masks, being an integral part of human life. In the painting “after the Sin”, Elron creates a mirror-like work depicting materialism’s corrupting influence on man and society. The outside and the inside face of man and society. This can also be seen in the painting ‘Before Prophecy” and “Moses breaks the Tablets of the Covenant in front of the golden Calf”. Other stories of spiritual power are rendered in the paintings “Walls of Jericho”, “David and Goliath”, “The Prophet”, and ‘The Prophet Jonah”. Here Jonah is depicted as a diver who escapes to polluted seashore – a contemporary ecological problem.

Elron love for beauty introduced him to Nature. This is indeed was very evident in his still life paintings and landscapes plenty of fields, trees, flowers, birds, butterflies and other creatures and insects. On the other hand after his enthusiasm to associate himself with the beauty of nature- realistically and emotionally he steps on other field- the field of metaphor and symbolism of Nature. The bird, the flower, the butterfly now represent a deeper meanings connected with human behavior and psychological insight.

The artist as such was depicted by different cultures both as philosopher, prophet and magician. Elron’s strength in his paintings lies in his wonderful ability to give substance to the true nature of things which interest us and invites us to participate, using the eternal resources of human civilization, the most important of them being the Bible and Nature, and rediscover in them the truth in his largest sense, because as it is said in Hebrew: אמת(truth) is the combination of two words: Met – (מת)dead , and E- Aleph א resulting together in the word Emet. Elron is considered a real master- a genial artist, because he succeeded to transform dead (met)- מת matter into living existence by adding his Aleph (א) into his art. The same letter – the א is the starting letter of the word Emunah – אמונה , meaning: Believe. This is linked with the word Amanut – אמנות , meaning ART in Hebrew, and Imun- אימון, meaning : training. To conclude: Art is linked with Believe and Training, which means both spiritual and hard training paths. Elron practiced both of them. Aleph (א) is indeed the symbol of the first and one original creator after God- Man as Artist, who creates under the shadow of God- Bezalel. Light and shadow, time and space, musical instruments and human faith became the principal agents in Elron’s art. Baruch Elron legacy in art is a music of love, which continue to sound out of his fantastic paintings straight to our hearts forever.

First published: Niram Art Israel Magazine