Ethiopian Exodus Painting

Bezalel-Levy is the combined signature of our husband and wife collaboration - that is Chaim Bezalel (left) and Yonnah Ben Levy (right). We have been working together as artists since 1990 and live in Washington State and Ashkelon, Israel. Our work is in many public venues including the hospitals, government buildings and the permanent collections of the Museum and Northwest Art and the Cambridge Museum of Classical Archaeology, as well as private collections. The north Puget Sound area is one of the most beautiful regions in the world. It's many rivers contain the names of the Native American tribes who are still a presence in the area. Our paintings attempt to preserve both the nature and the culture in a way that is our own. Ashkelon, Israel, our other home, is one of the oldest cities in the world and still contains evidence of civilizations going back thousands of years. It is right on the Mediterranean Sea. We have been inspired by this city and this country for almost thirty years. Our collaboration began pretty much at the beginning of our relationship. In order to collaborate, one must be suited to it, because it is a dance in which, in our case, each partner leads at different times. We are working with the subjects, compositions, colors, and techniques in a staged process, with one handing off to the other. Painting is always a relationship, between the painter and the subject and the materials. Our technique also includes the relationship between ourselves. The photographer submits to having his composition painted over, sometimes obscured, and the painter is content to paint her partner’s image, although she gets to select which she wants to paint. . In many of the paintings the underlying photograph shows through in some areas, or the frame of the photograph is maintained. When we began, we put aside all of our individual artistic pursuits in order to create this collaboration, and now we are secure enough to work both individually and together. So basically, we are like three artists. Bezalel-Levy refers only to the collaborative works. Our individual works are on Saatchi under our individual names. See also Saatchi's individual sites for Chaim Bezalel and Yonnah Ben Levy