Armon and others

Oil on plywood 89x59 cm

Please meet: Armon - or palace in Hebrew - a notorious office building on one of the main streets in the 'hood - built over the ruins of an old movie house (hence the funny name), and just standing there in front of my eyes every time I sit in my balcony, which used to be quite a lot in the first few years in this apartment. 
For quite obvious reasons I included it in many of my paintings and drawing. Recently I took it as main subject matter for a while. The above painting took me a year or two to complete - but the others were very fast.  That ray of sunlight reflected in the upper windows only occurs in winter, because in summer the sun's too high for that; and around 2 PM suddenly my back yard terrace is flooded with light, while all winter I don't get any sun in that place. The color of the sky is pure imagination. 

from top:
Oil on plywood
55x40 cm
55x80 cm
55x44 cm

Once I put my attention to Armon, things started to happen there. Now it hosts a local cultural center with various events such as movie screening (yes!) and dance parties and figure drawing and such, and it has been bought by a real estate company and some major changes are taking place after the building was virtually deserted (save very few businesses) for years. I am very curious about the next developments around this building, which after so many years suddenly got a new life - isn't it a good sign? 
Shortly after the sun ray painting was finished I packed myself to go to New York and stayed for the usual 2 months and a few more days. I painted mostly in oil, so came back with fewer works than normal, also left some behind to dry. Here is some of the work I brought with me. I am calling these "sketches" because some were done very quickly - 1-2 hours. Maybe added some touches after the paint dried a bit the next day. 

oil on canvas board 40x30 cm

oil on plywood 25x35 cm

oil on canvas 30x48 cm

oil on canvas 60x45 cm

Alas the country I came back to isn't quite the one I left. But I knew it already and did not come back earlier to vote; things have to run their course and I have little say, or so it seems sometimes. But the most important thing has to be art. It sounds shocking, given that so many grave issues are at hand, but I believe art lies in a deeper realm than the comings and goings of everyone's life. And art done right and in the right state of mind can move mountains, let alone win wars. This is the state of mind I'm in today - I guess when the time comes to raise a flag and get up on my hind legs, I will do all the necessary moves - but the studio is my world. And it is not so small a world as such. 

Let's Go for a Drive

 

Pencil on paper 35x93 cm

Almost a year since my last post. Soon I am going to see New York and my friends there once again, and apart from that was busy as hell in the studio producing tons of drawings. There was a small exhibition in a charming little venue in town (Haifa) called HQRN Art Cluster.  It's run by Guy Karlinsky, a writer/poet who  curated his first exhibition here, everything from choosing the theme out of the multi-chaotic oeuvre of the artist, :) to hanging the exhibition according to his taste and writing the text about it.
The show was about paintings or drawings of scenes from a car in motion. It went fine, and while preparing my other artwork for it I was inspired to do even more art - like this top drawing that I chose to be the centerpiece, definitely the largest work in the collection. 

So this is a decent selection of works about driving around. Since then, it was in late spring, I started working in oil again and probably my next post (soon) will have to do with that. Looking forward to the next NY trip and wondering what this time will bring. 

It's in the Cards

A few days ago, "Radar Art Event" was celebrated in Haifa - Hadar quarter and vicinity. It comprised mainly open studios, some art venues and museums and small exhibitions here and there.
I opened my studio as usual, and put a pile of postcard-size watercolors on a table.

I started making postcards for the Fresh Paint art fair that takes place here once a year. You give the postcards and in return get one ticket to visit the art fair. 
I haven't been to Fresh Paint for two years, thanks to Covid and its various restrictions. But I continue to make postcards or small-size watercolors all the time in my studio. It may be a study for larger work, and sometimes I really do get bigger oils or watercolors done after the sketch. But they have a right to exist and shine on their own right. 

I usually like to draw the view from the passenger's seat while on the road to somewhere. Cars are a favorite subject, or just road trips. As are train stations, subways, traffic and crowds. 

The City Lives in a Dream

 

On the Road



Capital Wrecking on Crosby

It's been a strange year no doubt. As we are beginning to wake up, here at the eastern end of the Med, and look around us - Europe is still struggling to keep head above water, The US has reason to be a little more confident and I am not planning any more travel for the time being. 
But New York keeps calling me. First there are dreams, every now and then, of suddenly being in New York and then having to take care of paperwork and flights and insurance and where to stay - some upside-down schedule  - and even letting people know I am already there, which they did not expect at all. Funny. Then I started a series of watercolors and drawings based on New York and America at large - scenes from my visits there and beyond. 
And THEN -  I had been contacted by the New York Times Jerusalem office.  No kidding, true story. 
Patrick Kingsley, a very talented journalist, head of the Jerusalem bureau, decided he needed to have a chat with me, of all people in Haifa City,  to hear my take on the issue of --- wild pigs. Yes, Wild boar has been spotted closer and closer to where I live. They walk the streets looking for food and the whole tribe follows - 8 or 12 young, very cute striped hogs. Read all about it. 
(I actually once made some drawings, but that's not why he wanted to talk to me. It's the tigers of 2010 that caught his attention). 

So pigs

So back to New York watercolors and color drawings.

Two images around Times Sq

I then went into a very intense period of just pencil drawings and produced quite a bit of those, and this is just a sample, all USA or NYC-related:

Inside the Ai Weiwei Installation Central Park South 2017

Jerome Avenue bus station 

The Village

This last one is a pen drawing. I am alternately back to that as well. 

Park in Yonkers

Hey, New York. I will see you again. In your dream or mine. 

The Best of Times

One day I just went inside and never got out till now.
At least that was the plan, and I was eager to try, following the model of the Chinese city of Wuhan where people were forced to stay indoors for over two months. I am used to stay in - some days I need to kick myself in the *** to go out for some exercise, see the sun, meet people.
On the last meeting at Hapina Cafe, knowing that the virus was raging, a group of friends discussed the possibility of self-quarantine and we all agreed that as artists, we'd have no problem to stay home for two weeks.
So in I went and then began producing, one by one, all that was on my to-do list. But occasionally I did go out, not only because it was allowed but, because I prefer buying fresh, because I thought it's not necessary to act just out of fear.
At intervals I was making small works from my balcony and window.

Then I got busy with an old theme. This imaginary statue I placed  in Khayat Orchard, promising that it would guard and save us from disease and other misfortune.

Now after a second lockdown, life returns gradually, not too soon I hope. Life cannot be stopped: I have been creating grim images of looming disaster (that's one way to look at it) but also cheerful colorful scenes of the life I left behind hoping to return to it one day, or not.

New York is calling twice a week; my friend in Yonkers, who kept telling me that I should come visit, realizes now that it will be a while before such a possibility presents itself. But if that's really the case, if the old ways are gone not to come back, ever, I think we'll all adapt, and see what IS there, because a new world emerges from the ruins of the old one. We're still here, and living in interesting times.