Igal Ahouvi, an Israeli businessman and entrepreneur, is now known more for his impressive art collection than he is for his business career investments. Acting as a trustee of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and as the main sponsor of “Fresh Paint” art, Ahouvi owns one of the largest private art collections in Israel.

Made up of over 1600 pieces, the Igal Ahouvi Art Collection features 750 works by famed international artists from Malene Dumas, Andy Warhol, and Picasso, as well as 850 works by Israeli artists such as Elad Lassry and Sigalit Landau. The ever-growing compilation is an exciting mix of contemporary Israeli and international art, spanning from paintings and illustrations to sculpture and installation. Conceptual art is the main focus, with minimalist and post-minimalist pieces also taking up a large part of the collection. Since the beginning of 2014, the Igal Ahouvi Art Collection now finds its home at the Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery of Tel Aviv, with twelve exhibitions planned over the duration of the next four years.

Last year the Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery of Tel Aviv hosted the exhibition, “The Towering Inferno”, which looked at a series of “urban peeks” such as the Eiffel Tower through to industrial structures and communications towers. Much like its first show, the second exhibition, “Potent Wilderness” explored a similar subject, but this time focusing endless possibilities of reusing the remains of urban projects. Currently the exhibition on show requires the use of ones imagination; a gigantic industrial dishwasher, made by the contemporary Israeli artist, Sigalit Landau, fills the exhibition space, churning and washing away.

The machine repeatedly cleans the sandy cutlery and dirty bottles filled with cigarette buds, with retrospective works of the late Israeli abstract artist, Moshe Kupferman, surrounding the dishwasher. It could be seen that this machine is similar to its collector; never ending and never stopping.

Ahouvi co-curated the current exhibition, “Sigalit Landau Moshe Kupferman” with Matan Daube and Sarit Shapira curated the three-part exhibition series “The Babel Trilogy” (“The Towering Inferno”, “Potent Wilderness” and “Melting Walls”). The space features bright white walls, an ethereal atmosphere, and the use surprising and unsuspecting angles and corners that give an ironic twist to the already daring works of art. The underlying academic surroundings also leave an unavoidable mark on the exhibition space that demands a state of reflection.

The Igal Ahouvi Collection encourages students and the general public to engage and interact with major works of contemporary art, in academic, reflective and critical ways.

Kristóf Joseph Steiner is a Hungarian born Israeli writer and journalist, focusing on art and popular culture, LGBTQ and animal rights issues. He is a columnist of Time Out Israel, and his blog, whitecityboy.com is a hub for both locals and visitors of Tel Aviv.

All images courtesy the Igal Ahouvi Art Collection

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