Define "Interesting Times"

 Back in Haifa for already a few months, back to my old routine of going to protests when I can (can't right now; forbidden out of safety concerns) and for the rest in the studio. As nothing much has changed, and we are still in the midst of the most wicked nightmare, I can only add my voice to the diminishing choir that sings stop-this-madness, and then turn to art making by default. 
I make art because it is my way of speaking to the world about that which cannot be spoken about. 
All around here people in the art world were trying to make art and show art about the "situation". We have a "situation" for as long as I can remember. So many lives lost and for what? The same people you hate today and wish them dead, can be your best friends tomorrow. 
I say that art isn't about making comments on everyday life. That's for the columnists in the papers. 
I go back to what I care about - color, space, forms, relationships, the story, the level of involvement, of fascination and awe, then painting over and over again until I am happy. 
The first works are still about New York and vicinity:

Then I landed in Israel finally... in my mind and soul. And shortly after started to discover Haifa - as if I do not live here 15 years already.

 I take walks, climb stairs (many!), peep into private back yards and discover that nature is not that far away. In the years I;ve been living here, trees have grown, small turned into big, shrubbery bacame tiny forest, and when I walk into the wadi's, dry riverbeds (they get wet in winter), I find with a spark of imagination I can feel like it's a real forest. 

With the latest attacks reaching as far as my town, the tactics has to be modified. I take walks on seemingly more quiet days hoping a siren will not catch me somewhere where I can't hide. But it can happen, and there's nothing you can do; am I supposed to sit at home all the time until the war is over? Ridiculous! So I wave my magic wand and quiet the outside noise as much as possible, so I can still work in my studio and produce quality art. I think art can protect from all evil. 

I got into the oil business

And did it do me good! Oil painting, good old stuff.
No more papers, framing, cutting glass, just sometimes stretching canvas, and usually I find them on the street or a friend gives me some.
Soetimes it's as fast as a painting a day... and then I get stuck with one painting that doesn't want to sort itself out for a while. 
30 weeks onto the protest that shook Israel, we seem to be stuck as well. But we are determined and will not give up. 

Mostly small works; all between30x40 to 50x70 cm

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. 

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.

Back to the Back Yard

Panorama - Back Yard, oil and engraving on plywood
30x170 cm, 2018

Like breathing in and breathing out, like the seasons coming and leaving, so does the painter go back to old favorite themes to check if anything has changed in theories, ideas, execution and style, or just because these old themes are still all around.
I like to travel and get away from my comfortable chair, but then when I am back, I am excited to be in my own studio at last, and create more significant work than just catch a glimpse of this and that on paper.
I love paper; give me a whole lot more or leave me stranded for a weekend in the paper department of the art store. But what is conceived in the quiet solitude and seclusion of the studio, after some brain picking and trial and error and a lot of tedious labor sometimes,  may be worth the while and toil when I proudly present a new piece that took some time to be born into the world.
My back yard went through some changes, as well as the indoors, but that's for another report later on. I took old sketches, drawings and watercolors to make this oddly stretched panorama 30x170 cm on plywood. For more convenience,  I divided the photo into three parts.