Galeria Max Mission Statement

Galeria Max hopes to be one more contribution to the burgeoning Jerusalem art community. The founding concept is photography based images which depict the uniqueness of Israel, land and people, as the heritage of the Bible. Galeria Max wants to explore it for all it has been and all it hopes to be.

The basic premise for exhibition of works in Galeria Max is depicting Israel in a positive light. However, as a part of the developmental process we would like to be a conduit for broad Israeli expression. The inherent grappling with personal identity is a necessary element of a worthy, honest pursuit. It is certainly integral to the development of the State of Israel. By necessity we reflect on our own fears and disillusionment, but in accomplishment, we find wisdom and hope.

Young artists looking for a venue to exhibit in Jerusalem should apply.

Artists who consider themselves secular Israelis and desire to contribute to the overall understanding among ourselves or feel they have tapped an element of the Israeli perspective, contemporary or ancient, should contact us about exhibiting.

The current exhibitions, Holy Sights, A Sensory Perception, together with Discovering Jerusalem in the 40th Year, are each an effort to introduce the medium of photography in the context of Jewish art.

The Exhibition, Discovering Jerusalem in the 40th Year hopes to show how Jerusalem grew out of the Judean desert not only physically but ultimately "spiritually". What was once just stone, wadis, streams, pools and desert mountains became the metaphors for an eternal abode. The very stones became "spiritual elements" with time. Human beings proved possible the concept of making the mundane holy; not just to themselves but to a great percentage of the world.

Discovering Jerusalem at 40

Discovering Jerusalem in The 40th Year is a photography exhibit commemorating the 40th year of Jerusalem's reunification.

As a result of Israel's sovereignty, two principle archeological sites have developed in Jerusalem and are currently being excavated further, the City of David and the environs of Mt. Moriah better known as the Temple Mount.

Our exhibit is a collection of 40 photographs made by photographer Max Richardson over the past ten years. This collection of images is best understood in the context of this exhibition.

The photographs retells the story of how Jerusalem was born and built both physically and ideologically from the Judean Desert Mountains she is now an eternal part of. The photographs are an adaptation of ancient motifs found in contemporary Jerusalem

The Gihon Spring is shown to be the birth waters of Jebusi and Shalem the Fortress of Zion, the City of David and finally Jerusalem

The Gihon Spring still gushes from the abyss into the same Wadi Kidron which the Bible records as the site of King Solomon's coronation. Jerusalem was a good choice for an inland capital for Judah. It had the Gihon's abundance within its walls. This, in addition to high, well fortified walls was a deterrent to would be conquerors of the city since the city would be able to hold out under siege.

The sight of pomegranate, cedar and olive trees growing from the stones which built the places we call holy, the places we pray, the familiar Biblical motifs infuse our perception with a bias of self recognition, that of Jews in the Holy Land.

The use of composite digital images in places which lend themselves to a panoramic format, the use of 4x5" and medium format film and even early models of digital cameras shows the photographer was more interested in conveying this recognition of familiarity more than being given to a specific photographic process

Discovering Jerusalem at 40 slideshow

Click Image for a complete slide show of the exhibition