The Sabra Cactus Series

The  Sabra cactus is a fixture of the Israeli landscape.
The prickly pear's name, Sabra, designates  the
native-Israeli, prickly on the surface,
sweet on  the  inside.
 
 
  



Flying Sabra, 2005, oil on canvas, 58 x 78 cm., 23" x 31"

                                                                                                                                            

The  prickly  pear  cactus  is  a  motif  which
has  been  used  by  many  Israeli  artists.
The  late Israeli - Arab  painter  Asim
Abu Shakra, a fellow art-student,
painted a  series of sabras in
flower pots.  I wish  to
dedicate  to  him
these pages.
 
 

 

The   word   "sabra"   actually   comes   from  the  Arabic  sabr
meaning both "patience" and "cactus" (all varieties).  This
is no accident, as the cactus has plenty of patience, and
will bide its time in the dry seasons, patiently waiting
for the rains, when it will then grow and flourish.
 
 
 
 
 

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Large Cactus no. 2, 1995, oil on canvas,  88 x 141 cm., 35" x 55"

                                                                                                                                                                                                

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Anthropomorphic Cactus, 1996, oil on canvas, 63 x 106 cm., 25" x 41"

                                                                                                                                                                                                

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Upright,  2005, oil on canvas,  82 X 51 cm., 32" x 20"

                                                                                                                                                                                                


 
 

Small Cactus no. 1, 1995
oil on canvas, 89 x 92 cm., 35" x 36"

                                                                                                                                                                                                

Yaffa, 2006, oil on canvas, approx. 87 x 140 cm., 34" x 56"

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All images in this site are copyright by the artist.

Box 122, Kibbutz Urim, 85530 D N Negev, Israel