My art focuses on the creation of worlds and the coalescence of our world and the world “above”.
Paradise as an expression of the good that was, the good that is, temporary and fragile, and the pursuit after our own personal Eden and public paradise.
Paradise is also the setting in which the eating of the forbidden fruit took place, and it is thus a dramatic and significant moment in human history and in culture, a moment of disillusionment.
I take a picture of ordinary life on a busy main street and immerse it in a “pool of paradise”. The result - the dreary life takes on a fresh coat. The significance is clear - paradise can be found here and now; but just like in the story of the Garden of Eden (the expulsion of Adam and Eve) so are the moments of tenderness in our lives. They are fragile and fleeting, and need to be cherished. It is these fleeting moments that I try to capture in my paintings.
My involvement with these issues actually stems from a purely secular worldview, one that allows me complete freedom to deal with the issue. In this way I play God and create, over and over again, my own private paradise where the nature that is portrayed in it is not one based on observations but rather comes from my own inner world.
The paradise above is characterized by rich colours and naivety.
The snake, which appears implicitly in some of the paintings, shatters the innocence but also brings about reorganization (the expulsion and the search for a new paradise) and growth (the eating from the tree of knowledge).
Paradise below is also characterized by the joy of colours, but here are also planted hints of a routine, uninspired and materialistic life. Electric poles, curbs and shops that peer out from the encroaching nature are all evidence of an earthly life.
Nature under threat is one of the issues that I deal with, nature as a symbol of innocence and simplicity that is in constant conflict with materialism and greed that are set to strangle the fragments of paradise in our world. Placing the rams in places that are foreign and alienated from their natural environment highlights the process of nature being sacrificed on the altar and the inevitable result of the castration of nature.
The struggle between the two powers (between the optimistic and spiritual, and the materialistic) continues, and we must do our share to tip the scales to a victory of light over darkness.
Bringing paradise “down” to our world goes hand in hand with my artistic approach, according to which the purpose of works of art is to provide the viewer with an aesthetic experience, and they are intended to allow the viewer a moment of tenderness. The viewer needs to be drawn into to the meticulous aesthetic that is projected among the paintings, and to dive into a magical world, where it is not clear to the observer if it is the earthly world or the heavenly one.