ARTISTS OF THE MONTH By Maximillien de Lafayette
THE ART OF GERMAN GOLD: PURE HEBRAIC BEAUTY AND WARMTH.
German Gold is an artist with a heart bigger than life, a Jewish sentimental-philosophical visionary with a spiritual outlook at the world, a brilliant Russian artist with warm feelings and affection toward people and nature. You got to love this man who has so many qualities, virtues, goodness and immense talent. Two elements constitute his human fabric: Talent and humility. To me, German is a mixture of Leo Tolstoi, Victor Hugo and Titian. A humanistic artist who walks tall among great masters. German spent the best part of his life in the provinces of the Ukraine. He soaked himself in everyday life of his beloved town. Immensely modest and humble, German keeps away from splashes of modern societies and their plastic glitters. The artworks of Gold reproduce that provincial - patriarchal Jewish world that was burnt to ashes and dissipated in faded memories and forbidden historical accuracy. In his art, he tries to depict the life of his "fathers" and at the same time attempts to show the forgiving passion of the Judaic sons of the Ukraine. His portraits, landscape and religious themes evolved around patriarchal era of the Hebraic culture and familial scenes imbibed with religious fervor soaked in biblical colors and universal humanism.
"There was a world and that world was ruined.” said German Gold.
The portraits of German Gold are warm, sincere, and deeply emotional. To reproduce the character of a person on linen is the most important and difficult task for any master portraitist. And Gold does it at ease with love and affection. Only the immensely gifted artists would be able to depict ethnic facial expressions in a portrait that deals with the essence of a quasi-tribal character and at the same time, for known and unknown reasons, attempts to hide those expressions on the external landscape of human suffering. Gold must have his own reasons.” His analytical mind is a pure coincidence. Yet, The primordial psychological characteristic features of Gold's portraits and landscape serve us well as a profound analysis and sociological tale of tender, sweet, affectionate Hebraic day-by day, and week-by-week life of Jewish families, their rabbis and synagogues in the Ukraine. To German Gold, the importance of a person's inner existence within himself or herself and vis-ŕ-vis a harsh and unmerciful world is expressed in joyful sadness, melancholic beauty, and humanistic warmth. His paintings bleed.
But
in their evocative tenderness and eloquent sorrow, an epic history of a
great people found its way to the revived memory of times and
sweet-bitter moments of our lives. German Gold religious
portraits reveal and hide such melodramatic expressions and
comprehension of a sorrowful surrounding. “There was a world and that
world was ruined" said Gold who tries to recapture that vanished time on
his canvases through nostalgic colors freely expressed with sensitive
memories and a hope for a better world.
ILANA RAVIV
ILANA
RAVIV's art metamorphoses in elegant unison between structural form and
liberal esthetic beauty. Ilana expresses her emotions and visions in what
she calls a "Synthetic Realism", a metaphor different from reality. "My
works create synthetic life on canvas, forming diverse flat shapes in
contrasts which are not naturalistic, academic or sentimental. Shapes
which recreate themselves while rendering a different interpretation to
reality. These works emerge from the present experience without drawing
from the past, devoid of opinion, preparation or previous training. They
are the product of an entry into the unknown with freedom devoid of
fear.", wrote this eloquently aggressive American-Israeli artist. A flair
of lyrical beauty blended with intelligent multi-layered structural
compositions adds a refreshing esthetical aroma to her "synthetic art."
Flowers in red by Ilana Raviv.
Raviv is a powerful artist with a fragile spiritual limpidity. Add her to the list of world-class artists.
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RONA BOYARSKI
"The Walls of Jericho", 1996, oil and mixed media on wood, 100 X 70 cm, by Rona Boyarski.
RONA BOYARSKI transcends the frontiers of realism to embrace the unlimited sphere of unparallel romantic energy nourished with ultra sense of sophistication, expressive nostalgic surrealism and divinatory beauty. This is a superb, multi-dimensional, creative artist. Gazing at her art is a pure delight.
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JUDITH YELLIN GINAT
JUDITH
YELLIN GINAT captures the moment, nostalgia and folkloric beauty in one
stroke, in one vibrant collage, in one whisper from her brushes... Rarely,
we do see nowadays, artists who render homage to vanishing natural beauty
of streets, markets, buildings, echoes of memories, arcades of times and
hidden bleeding emotions like Ginat. An outstanding master of light and
shades, the inner feelings and moments in time frozen in the depth of
nostalgic colors and lyrical compositions. In my book, Ginat is a tender
giant artist.
Paintings by Judith Yellin Ginat, from L to R: #1. Olive Trees, Safed, watercolor, 30x22 cm, 1952. #2. Street of the Chain, Old City, Jerusalem Watercolor, 24x32 cm, 1945.
Back Street, Safed, watercolor, 30x38 cm, 1950, by Judith Yellin Ginat
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DAVID ASCALON: THE PROPHET DESIGNER OF STEEL, CERAMICS AND MENORAHS WITH SPARKLING UNIVERSAL TALENT
Photo: Congregation B'nai Israel, Tustin, CA, Bemah design, mosaic ark doors, Torah reading table and lecterns by Ascalon.
Photo:
Congregation B'nai Israel, St. Petersburg, FL, "The Twelve Tribes", by
Ascalon.
Undoubtedly, David Ascalon is an art phenomenon. A sublime liturgical artist with most innovative approach to contemporary art. With roots in Israel, for three generations, Ascalon Studios has undertaken art and design commissions for synagogue spaces and Jewish institutions throughout the world. Ascalon Studios has an international reputation for its site-specific Judaic-theme sculptures and monuments, stained glass windows, mosaic murals, and other large-scale artworks. The recipient of significant art and design awards, Ascalon Studios has undertaken over 200 major commissions and countless smaller projects. Ascalon Studios was founded in Eretz Israel in the late 1930s by the Hungarian-born master sculptor Maurice Ascalon (1913-2003). (Maurice Ascalon had also founded Israel's Pal-Bell Company, which revolutionized Israel's metal crafts industry from the late 1930s to mid-1950s by introducing the use of the now-halmark green patina to the country's Judaica and metal crafts.
Photo:
The Wallpaper journal has selected New York's Brad Ascalon as one of the ten "Most Wanted" designers of 2005. Ascalon is featured, among the other nine chosen to receive the distinction, in the publication’s Annual Design Directory. The list comprises the ten individuals from around the world that the editors deem to be the "brightest young talents" in the realm of design.
While Ascalon's emphasis today is contemporary furniture design, his roots and heritage lie in the realm of Judaic and synagogue art. Ascalon first learned the art of crafting sculpture, mosaics, and stained glass as a teenager when he was an apprentice of his father, the renowned synagogue artist David Ascalon. Born in Tel-Aviv, David Ascalon, who serves as the president of the American Guild of Judaic Art, is the principal of Ascalon Studios, a family firm which, for three generations, has specialized in the creation of synagogue art. Just as David's father before him did unto him, David instilled in Brad a passion for creating, while transferring to him the skills necessary to work in an array of artistic media. As Brad's talents evolved, he went on to play an instrumental role in a number of the Studio's synagogue art and design projects, and continues to design for the studio on a freelance basis today.Born in Israel to a family of artists, David Ascalon came to the United States as a teenager. He studied art at California State College in Northridge, and interior design and architecture at Pratt Institute in New York. Soon after the "Six Days War" in 1976, he spent a year working in Israel with the noted architect Arie El-Hannani -- but soon left the field in search of a more immediate means of artistic expression. Ascalon fused his skills as a sculptor and architect and began to create forceful and symbolic liturgical art. He had found his life's work as the designer of synagogue sanctuaries -- and the art that enriches them. Today the internationally renowned designer/ artist presides over Ascalon Studios in southern New Jersey, where skilled artisans translate his ideas using bronze and steel, ceramic and mosaics, wood and fibers, stained glass and sand-carved glass; to create windows, arks, eternal lights and menorahs, murals, sculptures, bemah furnishings, donors' recognition and memorial walls, Holocaust memorial sculptures and outdoor art objects. David Ascalon has won numerous design awards and design competitions. He is listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in Interior Design.
