Postcards have become hip again.

March 31st 2011

While the world has been smitten by the fast paced lifestyle of the internet in the last decade, people are beginning to crave those good old days when they could open up their mailbox and see a snail-mail postcard staring back at them.
The FreshPaint Festival is tapping into those old fashioned, snail mail cravings, but in a hip way, of course. One of their unique projects, held at their festival which is the biggest, most influential annual art event in Israel, is called the Secret Postcard project. In it, students, emerging artists, and internationally established artists, create original artwork, postcard size, to be purchased by the general public. Last year, over 2,700 postcards were sold off, from such famous artists as Jake and Dions Chapman and Ron Arad.
If you are looking for ways to give back while traveling in Israel, here is one opportunity; the purpose of the project is to fund scholarships for youth from underprivileged backgrounds who are showing tremendous promise in their artist endeavors, giving them the opportunity to study at Tel Aviv Museum of Arts Education Center.
There’s a catch, however. A funny catch. All art is anonymous until it is bought, as the artists’ names are signed on the opposite side of the work, and are not visible until after they are purchased. Which brings you to an interesting situation- forced to buy for the beauty alone, and not the name. The results may surprise you, with independent artists and student pieces that will blow you away. Plus, you can gamble on getting some really well known artist’s work for $50 ( 180 shek), which is the same cost for all postcards across the board.
The FreshPaint Festival is interested in being a launching pad for promising, unrepresented artists, and hosts the Independent Artist Greenhouse organization’s section at the festival.
The Secret Postcard Project is just a very small, quirky and exciting element to this huge festival. On top of the grand plethora of art pieces, there will be video screenings, lectures, discussions with artists, workshops, and the opportunity to buy powerful pieces from top contemporary artists.
Over 35,000 visitors come to this festival to see and be seen.
All located at the Botanic Gardens Site in Southern Tel Aviv, April 5-9.
Vacationing in Israel means that you have to bring back something special for your friends and family back home who would have loved the opportunity to be on a private Israel group tour with a talkative Israeli tour guide. So what’s the perfect gift? Buy a postcard and bring old fashioned joy to your loved one’s face, when they open up their rusty mailboxes and see an artistic surprise.
Unless, of course, you happen to snag a postcard from some huge, top-of-the-line contemporary artist. In which case, keeping the postcard to yourself seems a perfectly reasonable thing to do.