For the Love of Music and Dance
Avri Ohana Paintings
Ze’eva Cohen Her Life in Dance

Exhibition Dates: June 15th – July 6th, 2019

Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Sunday 1:00 – 6:00PM

Where: Westbeth Gallery 55 Bethune St between Washington and West Sts.

SPECIAL EVENT
Ze’eva Cohen and Avri Ohana in conversation with Terry Stoller, founder of Westbeth ‘s Oral History Project

Wednesday June 26the 7PM – 8PM
ADMISSION FREE

Avri Ohana is a multi-style artist whose new body of work presents paintings inspired by his love for classical music, opera and jazz. In following his intuitive response to music, Ohana finds a new sense of freedom as he lets unexpected elements surface in his work. This fresh approach yields mostly abstract paintings, while some are inspired by nature and some by opera. The delicate balance and nuance between color, shape, and form is his interest. What is important to Ohana is not how a painting is defined or classified, but if it is breathing and alive.

A retrospective of dancer and choreographer Ze’eva Cohen’s long career in dance containing photographs of her work taken by major dance photographers, as well as posters and videos. Two of her dances, Rainwood and Island, include projections of paintings by Ohana and will be screened continuously during the exhibit.

AVRI OHANA was born in Casablanca, Morocco and immigrated to Israel at the age of 12, where he was raised and educated in a kibbutz. As a young man, Ohana was an early member of Ein Hod, Israel’s first artist village, and it was there that he started to develop his artistic voice. His main influences during his formative years were the European Dadaist Marcel Janco, Dan Hoffner the director of Bezalel Art School in Jerusalem, the optical and kinetic artist Yaakov Agam in Paris, and primarily – the painter Eric Brauer of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism. Ohana’s exhibitions include solo and group shows in Israel, Europe and the United States. Presently, Avri Ohana lives and works in New York City.

ZE’EVA COHEN is a dancer, choreographer, and dance professor emerita at Princeton University, where she founded and directed the dance program for forty years. Cohen grew up in Tel Aviv Israel. She traveled to New York in 1963 to study at the Juilliard School and perform with the Anna Sokolow Dance Company. A founding member of NY Dance Theater Workshop in the late 60’s, she was later known for her groundbreaking solo repertory performances. As choreographer, she worked with her NY dance group and with national and international dance companies, including Boston Ballet, Alvin Ailey Repertory, Inbal and Batsheva dance companies of Israel. In 2015 – her documentary film, Ze’eva Cohen Creating a Life in Dance, was featured in the Dance Camera Festivals both in NY and LA.