Sam Halabi, an internationally acclaimed artist will open a major exhibition in Jaffa on the weekend, his first in Tel Aviv.
The exhibit is in honor of his late mother, who encouraged him to pursue an artistic career, despite criticism by family and neighbors who believed being an artist was not an honorable profession.
He was the youngest child, and the first son borne after nine daughters to his parents living in Daliyat al-Karmel, a Druze town in the Carmel mountain range of northern Israel.
His mother saw talent in the work of her son who loved to draw, and encouraged him to continue. In fact, she used his work as the basis for her embroidery on traditional Druze women's scarves which she sold in the local market to supplement the family's meager income.
When the family fell on even worse financial times, Halabi's mother tried to sell his art work, believing them to be exceptional. She knocked on many doors until one gallery in Haifa, took the works on consignment.
Although not immediate, Halabi's art work became in demand but his identity remained secret. He and his family wanted to avoid the harsh judgement they knew would come when their conservative environment realized the young boy was an artist.
When he turned 18, Halabi's mother said it was time for the family to sell the artwork directly to the public and encouraged her son to open a shop in their town.
As they feared, they were subjected to ridicule and criticism from both their relatives and the public at large but the business slowly grew and the works were desired by visiting shoppers and the shop thrived.
Halabi's new exhibit he calls “Color Hunter," is spread over a 1,000 meter (3,200 feet) space.
Endless drops of color cover objects and instillations that seem frozen in time, hanging between the utopian and the dreamlike. With them, the artist critiques affluent society.
His work connects with nature and includes flowers and trees.
One of the works is a three dimensional representation of a painting that hangs in the official Presidential Residence in Jerusalem.
"Sam Halabi is a self-taught artist, a poet in color who draws and creates a new reality, outside any of the currently fashionable genres," the exhibit's curator Doron Polack says.
"Halabi creates a possible new, romantic experience in which the weight of current affairs, can be avoided and boundless, colorful beauty and happiness can exist," he says.