That which I am looking at,
Is surrounded by that
which cannot yet be perceived.
And it is coming towards me,
Waiting to be seen -
Slowly, the objects align,
Risking themselves out of their shells,
And present their volume to me.
The seeing is stronger than the seen.
Who wrote on the wall:
"Always now, Always here?"
Poem by Israel Eliraz from the poem collection: “Silently Sitting and Seeing”
Bio
Born 1982, Jerusalem.
2001-2002: Avni Institute of Art and Design
2002-2003: Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, Central Saint Martins, London and "Young Tate Curation Program" Tate Modren, London, Uk.
2003-2004: The Jerusalem Studio School, Master Class with Israel Hirshberg Jerusalem.
2004-2010: The Art Students League of New York and the National Academy of Art and Design, NYC.
2015-2018: Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, BFA, Jerusalem
Exhibitions:
August 2023: “Paint Me a Circle,” Solo Show at the Jerusalem House of Quality.
I work primarily as a figurative painter, using oil on board or paper, and graphite, ink, charcoal, and watercolor on paper. I mostly work from observation, creating little worlds that I can then paint, as well as from found photos and images I constantly capture with my phone and camera. Photography, installation, and video are also sometimes part of my work.
In a sense my compostion making is like quiltmaking, a skill I learned at the YMCA in Princetion NJ, when I was 10 years old.
The interconnections between the different patches are what make the whole—echoing, rhyming, or opposing one another.
To me, like art, life is all about relationships. It is through relationships that meaning is formed. Whether moments of family relating to one another, spatial relationships between flowers in a jar, or compositions of objects and images I assemble and bring together into little worlds to work from. The tension and relaiobetween the parts is where the magic is.
The “patches” in my quilt may be 3D objects or 2D flat images (examples of 2D images include my use of children’s drawings on construction paper as a backdrop, or printed photos and illustrations—an image within an image speaks to me of our ongoing ability to choose which story to tell and which reality to support into creation).
I am fascinated by our human potential to see, find, analyze, and bring things together—to create and co-create. The images, objects, concepts, and narratives we design and produce become facts and starting points for others to continue and create. There is enormous power and potential in this. This ability to create is a big part of what makes us human.
When I work, this sense of presence, creation, and choice brings me healing and joy. It is this awareness of the power to choose, imagine, and co-create meaning that often drives the themes of my work. Whether it is the recurring engagement with childhood and toys as a time that shapes our being, or death and the passing of time—which, through its finality and the decay of the physical, amplifies for me the sense of choice we do have, infinity, and the spirit that exists beyond the physical.
By bringing (sometimes odd, sometimes deeply intentional) things together, I am constantly reminded of the human essence of choice, imagination, play and freedom.