When I look around my studio, I, an Israeli artist, see my paintings staring at me from the walls, from the shelves, standing on the floor or poised on the easel, and I cannot help but ask the question: "Are these the works of one artist?" With each new work I am faced with the need to choose one of the many different styles at my command, through which I may express my current thoughts or feelings. It is the experience itself which dictates the appropriate mode of expression.
For many years, as an artist living in Israel, I have painted Israeli landscapes as well as the old people of my city, Rishon-Le-Zion - playing chess in the park, or sitting idly on the sidewalk benches, their tired eyes fixed on the people strolling by. Here I try to catch the fleeting touch of sadness in an old man's face, or the hint of a smile on the dark wrinkled face of an old Yemenite woman. To capture them in paint I turn to impressionism, using swift dashes of color on canvas to create a painted symphony of all the colors of the rainbow.
Being an Israeli artist I am, at times, overwhelmed by dark thoughts about this "land of milk and honey" that has become for me a "land that devours its people", what with endless war, terrorist attacks, explosions wreaking havoc in the city squares, stabbings and suicide bombings. Then, out of sadness and suppressed anger I find myself painting works like "Hemmed in" or "Despair" (and I am really an optimist by nature). Now I must turn to surrealism-symbolism to convey the sense of fear, of mystery, and to translate this nightmare into line and color on canvas.
For me painting is a means of expressing, in a visual and interpretative form, all that I feel and experience in my life, my dreams, awake and in sleep. The touch of the paintbrush on canvas can be the gentle stroke of a lover's hand, the nervous taps of an agitated person, or the bold stabbings of a killer spurred on by a boundless rage.
My paintbrush, dipped in paint, flutters and dances before my eyes and time and time again, I am filled with awe to discover where my brush may lead me.
Born in Israel in 1944; Married and father of three; Resides in Rishon Le Zion.
Education
- 1962 - 1966 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Massachussetts College of Art, Boston, U.S.A
- 1962 - 1966 Bachelor of Jewish Education, Hebrew Teachers' College, Boston, U.S.A.
- 1974 - 1976 Advanced course in etching with Tuvia Beri
- 1994 Completed course for tour leaders abroad
- Since 1970 Member of Israel Artists' Guild
- 1981 - 1982 Member of "Group of Six"
- 1980 - 1993 Member of Art Committee of "Bet Yad Lebanim"
One of the founders of the Artists' Association of Rishon Le Zion.
One Man Exhibitions
- 1961 Boston, U.S.A.
- 1971, 1974 Chemerinsky Art Gallery, Tel-Aviv
- 1971-1988 Yurek Gallery, Ramat Hasharon
- 1976 Le Cadre Gallery, Toronto, Canada
- 1977, 1978 Sara Kishon Gallery, Tel-Aviv
- 1986 Artists' House, Tel-Aviv
- 1988, 1991 Art Museum, Holon
- 1988 Amalia Arbel Art Gallery, Rishon Le Zion
- 1989 Shir-Art Gallery, Rishon Le Zion
- 1994 Artists' House, Rishon Le Zion ("Body building - a fleeting line")
- 1995 Art Center, Rishon Le Zion ("Land that devours its people")
- 1998 Sculpture exhibition, Art Center, Rishon Le Zion
- 2000 Watercolor exhibition, Bet Yad Lebanim, Rishon Le Zion
- 2001 Sculpture exhibition, "Hamigdal", Tel-Aviv
- 2004 Art Center, Rishon Le Zion - large format drawings
- 2006 Gallery Ca'nirei, Zikhron Ya'akov, "Junk passed over"
Group Exhibitions
- 1968 Artists' House, Jerusalem.
- 1976 Basel Art Exhibit, Switzerland
- 1977 "Lenhard" Gallery, Koln, Germany.
- 1981, 1982 Exhibitions with the "Group of Six"
- 1987 Bat-Yam Museum.
- 1989 Artists' House, Tel-Aviv (Homage to Rembrandt).
- 1990 Sculpture Park, Tzrifin ("The Motorcyclist").
- 1991 International Sculpture Exhibition, Rishon Le Zion ("Don Quixote").
- 1992 Exhibition at the Winery, Rishon Le Zion (Wine Festival).
- 1993 Painting and Sculpture Exhibition, Arts Center, Rishon Le Zion.
- 1996 Ora Abrahami Gallery, Rishon Le Zion ("Travel Impressions").
- 2000 "To another thousand years of painting", Arts Center, Rishon Le Zion.
- 2001 Museum of the Plain, Kfar Menahem.
- 2002 Museum of the Plain, Kfar Menahem.
- 2004 "The Group of Six", Sarah Kishon Gallery, Tel Aviv.
