Oil on canvas. All three were painted during spring 2020, during the Corona epidemic and lockdown. This period has been particularly fruitful for me.
The Heroics of the Invisible People
“Chanan Mazal” “Jerusalem artist” “חנן
Evolution of a Painting.
Evolving.
Trente Triangles, 2017
Thirty Triangles. Gouache, 46 x 61 cm. (18″ x 24″)
שלושים משולשים, 2017. גואש 46 * 61
Inspired by the “Crazy Quilts” traditionally made by African American women.
The composition, with its two, not quite balanced halves and with arrows pointing all over, defies all logic. But it works.
My Work at the Jerusalem Biennale 2015
I am honored to participate in this years Jerusalem Biennale – in the group show “A Sense of Space, A Sense of Place, curated by my talented colleague Mallory Serebrin. The show is in a unique location – a century old Armenian villa, that served for half a century as a school for deaf children. The exterior is magnificent. The interior – reminds me of my artwork! The work is a polydych, of four panels, called “Common Cypress”, the botanical name of the Mediterranean cypress. In Hebrew – ברוש מצוי Each panel is named buy a line from a song of the Israeli cannon, revealing a strong connection to this unique place.
בחמסין בקרה – מ”ברוש” של אהוד מנור ואריאל זילבר
באב אל ואד – מילים חיים גורי
נומה עמק ראץ תפארת מ”שיר העמק, מילים נתן אלטרמן
מארץ מרחקים מ”אל הציפור” מילים חיים נחמן ביאליק
Images from the Gallery Talk
Curious Yellow
Cypress Trees in Late Summer Fields 2015
Gouache over mixed media, on a koalin coated panel. 41 x 66 cm.
ברושים בשדות סוף הקיץ 2015
גואש מעל מדיות מעורבות, על לוחות המצופות בחימר לבן. 46 5* 66 ס”מ
Yellow is a tricky color. It is easy to paint monochromatic works in all greens, blues or reds. One simply mixes in small amounts of other colors to gain a wide pallet, of varying depths and intensities and pureness. There are also many and so very different pigments in those families to start from. Yet, after all of that messing and punching and kneading, these colors easily remain what we consider to be the families of greens, blues and reds.
Yellows are so much more sensitive! How do we create a “dark yellow”? After adding what miniscule amount of another color, does the “yellow” stop being yellow? Very little!
So, how much must I stray away from that Crayola crayon definition of Yellow, to create a vibrant painting, with sufficient contrasts?
Those of us living with our bone dry summers are familiar with this pallet. The wild grass turns to dusty yellow. The red roofs and dark cypresses are coated with fine yellow gray loess soil, carried in from the Sahara and Syrian Desert.
Yet our summer is not merely sun burnt. Delicacy can be found in the dried thistles. The rhythmic curvatures of the rolling hills and terraces reveal themselves. The sun casts yellow, and shadows in the hills reveal a lavender hue.
Studio Espionage
A peek at my painting process. Early May, 2013.
Pencil and ink, then gouache, on 3 “Claybord” panels. (Wood, coated with white clay.) 30 x 135 cm.
Olive Grove #2 2013
מטע זיתים #2 2013, גואש
Gouache 36 x 51
I pulled this out of my drawing cabinet, to show various brush and layering techniques to the students in my Diving into Color workshop. And then decided that it merits scanning. Not bad, huh?
On the very first day of each 6 meeting workshop, we discover the joys of unexpected color combinations, and the hidden beauty of ‘ugly” colors, when used in tandem with just the right neighbors. Muds can be such an elixir of life or fascination. Here, muds and grays add to the strangeness of the olive grove, and raise visual questions for the viewer.
By the second lesson, we are already investigated working in layers. What happens when color upon color are built up, leaving little glimpses to the shade partly hidden below?
Aah. I would love to teach a week long workshop in a vacation setting. Maybe in some old European farm. I get as much pleasure from seeing students eyes light up and think, “I CREATED THAT???!!!” as I get from painting myself.
Nevertheless and In Spite of it All – The Land of Israel
אף על פי כן, ולמרות הכל – ארץ ישראל. משירו של דוד שימוני, וסיסמת ההעפלה
Gouache, 36 x 51 cm, 2011 or 2012.
These words from the song by David Shimoni, became the anthem of the “Illegal Immigration” during and after the Holocaust.
115,000 refugees boarded “floating coffins” or made long treks by foot, in a clandestine effort to break the blockade set up by the British, in violation of the Mandate given to them by the League of Nations.
ואף על פי כן ולמרות הכל,
ארץ ישראל
וכל עוד דופק בעולם
לב ישראל,
וכל עוד נשמע בעולם
שמע ישראל,
את ארץ, ארץ, ארץ ישראל.
דוד שמעוני
Nine Persian Flasks, February 2015
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תשעה בקבוקים פרסיים, פרואר 2015, גואש, 46 * 61 ס”מ
Gouache 46 x 61 cm.
I keep on finding new ways to approach the challenge of turning a lovely mess, into a non-functioning painting, and then to restore its dignity and intellect.
If only the real world was this simple.
כל פעם אני מוציא מסלול חדש בדרך לאתגר: להפוך בלאגן חינני ויפהפה, לציור לא מתפקד. ואז להחזיר לציור הנכשל את הכבוד, עצילות ותבונה
הלוואי שהיה כל כך פשוט לעשות כך העולם האמת
