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. 

Opening at P8 Gallery

Well, wasn't that fun?! I didn't realize there was going to be yet another opening for the same project, but Josef said I must go on showing this to the world. Tigers need the exposure. So here I am again following Ora Ruven's generous, fabulous invitation, smack in the middle of Tel Aviv. I mean, Yafo. Same thing from here - Haifa is so far away from everything.
We celebrated till 10:40 PM when we had to chase the last visitors away (a pair just stepped in, so we let them be for a moment). I had some interesting visits, including an old flame of mine (yes! yes!) - we still have to catch up sometime - and people I did not expect to see there at all, chance meetings, potential buyers and more.
The next few days some more interesting stuff. I am thrilled - a strange mixture of anxiety, hopefullness, intoxication and even some unexplained pain. Working in the studio, challenging and frustrating as it is, is still being in your own world, see?... But out there in the real world, the wolves are on the loose and no number of tigers, however magnificent, can save me from their cold grip. I am scared and don't even know why. But I'm happy too. I guess... take a deep breath and go on. (I haven't a clue where I will be living in two months).
Anyway, to end on a cheerful note, I need to be in Tel aviv quite a bit now, and will greet you at the Gallery myself plus free speech(es) about the tigers, if you're not too tired of them by now. And there will be Gallery Talk too, on Friday June 11 at noon. Let me entertain you.

Panthera Tigris Nisnas - at P8 Gallery till June 11

Panthera Tigris Nisnas

In the past year and a half I have been busy with a project inspired by Wadi Nisnas in Haifa, my hometown since two years.

The idea came to me while strolling through the Wadi, a beautiful if somewhat run-down old quarter, rather quiet except every year in December, when the "Festival of festivals" takes place.

I imagined a few tigers climbing down the stairs in a desolate alley.

Haifa, the port city in a coma, holds a record on both the most marvelous vistas in the country and a huge failure on behalf of the ministry of tourism and local authorities. It's a bustling microcosm under the surface. An impossible blend of veteran Israelis - including Arabs, orthodox Jews, Druze from the Galilee, immigrants from Russia, students from Europe, Caregivers from the Far East and Bahai's from all over. Like every big city it has a number of neighborhoods with each its special character. In Wadi Nisnas the hidden potential is even more evident. The narrow winding lanes with houses attached to each other remind me of a village in Southern France.

Wadi Nisnas is pretty deserted throughout the day, that I can vouch for after having sat there many times to draw next to "my" stairs. It is a mysterious place. I do not understand the language spoken but I can guess what is troubling the residents, or what puts them at ease. Indeed we share the same air and the same city government. It's a twenty minute walk from my home.

In the past year, Haifa Zoo celebrated the arrival of a pair of white tiger cubs from Siberia. But white tigers in general are a result of an unfortunate genetic deviation and inbreeding. I went to the zoo and had a look and took a few pictures. Victims of fashion and whim that attest human cruelty.

This year is the "Year of the Tiger" according to the Chinese calendar. Incidentally or not, the year 2010 has been declared the Year of Biodiversity by the UN. It will focus on endangered species, the tiger being on top of the list. All these facts I have learned while doing the research for my work, this past year and a half.

The project includes two large paintings in oil, as well as small watercolors, drawings, sketches etc.