Israeli artists exhibit artworks portraying China's Gansu province

JERUSALEM, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Three Israeli artists exhibited their artworks portraying China's northwestern Gansu province on Wednesday evening at the China Cultural Center in Tel Aviv.

This exhibition, titled "This Magical Thread," displayed some of the fruits of these artists' journey to the province where they spent about two weeks, including painting, photo and sculpture artworks.

"The works in the exhibition try to capture moments and impressions from that unforgettable journey and reflect the artistic style of each artist," said Iris Mendel, curator of the exhibition, who travelled to Gansu together with the three artists in July this year.

According to Mendel, it was the first time for all of them to visit China and also to Gansu. In their eyes, this journey was a unique and unforgettable journey and they really hoped for another visit to the province to create more artworks.

Starting the journey in Lanzhou, capital city of Gansu, they headed north to Zhangye and Dunhuang, visiting temples, the ancient Silk Road, the Chinese wall and art centers both ancient and contemporary, said Mendel.

Gabriella Klein displayed a Chinese ink painting, with a size of about three meters high and more than five meters wide. It consists of five sheets of paper and resembles the Chinese scrolls.

The monumental figure Klein painted in ink is reclining Buddha statues, half awake and half sleepy, in particular the statues she saw in Zhangye, a city in Gansu province, said Klein.

Lea Avital presented two artworks. A hanged sculpture combines a two-dimensional drawing and a three dimensional object. The red flame drawing is created like the brush stroke of a calligraphy painting.

This artwork entails more contradictions, old and new, manual and industrial, tradition and the feeling of renewal, said Avital.

Photos displayed in the exhibition and taken by Israeli photographer Gustavo Sagorsky focus mainly on Chinese people of different ages, roles and identities whom he saw in the journey.

Sagorsky said he was expecting to visit Gansu again and had the dream of publishing a photograph album reflecting the diverse society of Gansu.

This journey was organized by the China Cultural Center in Tel Aviv and the Gansu Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism.