Aarele Ben Arieh
Aarele Ben Arieh is an Israeli artist and sculptor known for his monumental environmental artworks. Biography Aharon (Aarele / Aarale) Ben Arieh was born in Haifa in 1955, and today his home and work base are in Moshav Tzafririm in the Ella Valley region. He grew up in Kiryat Gat. From an early age, he was drawn to sculpture and spent his free time in his father's workshop for farming equipment, training in metalwork. After completing his IDF military service in the Airborne Nahal battalion, he joined his friends at Kibbutz Kerem Shalom, where he set up a sculpture studio and a workshop for the development and improvement of agricultural machinery. In the early 1980s, Ben Arieh developed close ties with potters and carpenters in the Gaza Strip. He worked alongside them as an apprentice and considered them his guides and mentors in art. He drew inspiration from Palestinian material culture, the unique colorful paintings of pilgrims returning from Mecca and the vast expanses of sand dunes. He also studied under sculptor Moshe Shek (Jook) and painter Rafi Mintz. Art career Ben Arieh creates outdoor sculptures that create points of contact between the public and the environment. He specializes in