Initially, I wanted to dedicate this post to my old dear friend: The Night. However, quite soon after I began writing, I found myself describing the influence of astral projection (out of body experience) and lucid dreams, on my work.I love the night because it is more relaxed. I love to paint at night because …
What an amazing human phenomenon carnivals are. People who have nothing in common gather to celebrate, and together they form the shape, movement, rhythm, and character of each carnival. Carnivals tend to be joyful, vibrant, colorful, loud, and crazy.The Carnival is a repeatable theme in my work, as in: El Canaval del Pueblo and Two consecutive carnival dreams. Since …
I have always been emotionally attached to my art supply scrap and leftovers, which I never have the heart to throw away. I usually hoard them and later on, I utilize them in creating a variety of mixed media works. As Caminante, I found a treasure of plywood panels, which seemed the perfect substrate for …
People who live according to their society rules, gladly walk the road which was paved for them, however, individuals who don’t fit into this structure, need to make their own path.I chose a Spanish phrase as the title of this post, because I don’t like any of its English translations. “Walker, there is no road, …
Read more “Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar!”
I walked through the pastoral garden of that mental health institute. The guard checked my ID and asked for the purpose of my visit. “I’m visiting a friend” I told him. Although we weren’t really friends, we had good chemistry between us, and whenever we met we called each other: “My friend!”. We only met …
Read more “200 pills in a bottle and the mental health institute”
The underwater universe in Eilat, at the Red Sea, is an infinite inspiration for me and it is never enough. The sophisticated structures, the color compositions, the camouflage and coloring techniques of the thousands of underwater creatures, are a dream come true to any beauty chaser, and they teach me, as an artist, more than …
We waited until our baby girl completed 3 months of age, then we packed and traveled south to Eilat, our favorite place in Israel. Nothing compares to spending time with my gang; my girlfriend, our son and daughter, and myself. We stayed right on the beach, in a caravan near the border with Egypt, on …
What’s wrong with green, yellow or blue?I truly love all colors, without any exception, and obviously, I love pink very much.Being a father to a baby girl, I’ve seen a lot of pink since she was born, especially in her first year. My girlfriend and I tried to look for other clothing colors to suit …
The natural birth of my daughter was, by all means, the most powerful event I had ever witnessed. It was such a deep experience, as if a hand came out of my heart and pulled me down to the innermost part of earth.My girlfriend had a wonderful pregnancy. Then, on the last day of the …
The following story isn’t about my artistic evolution, nor does it have a clear moral, however, I felt it needed to be told. I wrote the story of Felix out of memory and imagination, so please consider it as a reality based fiction. And a word of caution to my regular readers: This post is longer …
Quite a few years ago, on a British Airways trans atlantic flight, I drank some red wine and listened to various albums from the world music collection. What I loved the most about this collection was its diversity and that I wasn’t familiar with most of the artists. I listened to a few songs from …
Read more “A voice of an old soul. Dedicated to Concha Buika”
It’s awesome to see your vision turns into reality, but sometimes it does not.Everyone knows that commodities prices are volatile. Due to growing global demand for chocolate, and forecasts of shortages in production in the future, Cocoa prices climbed higher in 2013-2014. My internal ideas bulb flashed. I thought I had identified a business opportunity, …
Recognizing a process of a personal change I am going through, usually triggers in me an urge to invent a new identity. Through a new identity, I find it easier to adjust to the new reality, to express my excitement and concerns, and to document the specific circumstances.In 2015, after a long period of efforts …
Being sick in paradise truly feels like hell.I came back to visit my beloved Dominican Republic. I was flooded with happy memories, surrounded by lush green hills, and a magnificent turquoise ocean, when towards the end of my trip I began to feel dizzy and weak. Although I was familiar with that feeling, initially I denied it, …
Some people radiate. Their light is not the physical light that is spread by objects such as the sun, bulbs or fireflies, but rather a spiritual light that emanates from the depth of their soul. These people can be any of the following: charming, funny, charismatic, good hearted, compassionate, or just truly nice. Their light is …
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up” – Pablo Picasso.When I was a child, I wasn’t an artist. I had an amazing childhood in Israel, which gave me the confidence to follow my heart when I grew up. During my spiritual search period, long before …
Perhaps the most basic technique to enter a meditative state is to focus your attention on your breathing, and that’s why Free-diving is inherently meditative. Free-divers exercise breathing before and after they dive, and during diving they hold their breath until they resurface.When diving in the open sea, the longer you hold your breath, the deeper you can go. …
Do you ever imagine yourself in a perfect universe? Is there anything in this world that keeps impressing and inspiring you time after time?In 2013, being back in Israel, I found myself complaining a lot, mainly because I kept comparing it to the Dominican Republic, where I lived before. However, Israel itself, apart from its …
A few years ago, my artist sister, Carmit, concluded that she must sometimes escape the rush of the center of Israel. She found a haven in the north of Israel, in the old city of Acre (Acco/Akko in Hebrew), where she established her studio “Cinabu” in an arched ceiling shop, inside the old Turkish Bazaar. …
Nothing in life compares to the wonder of becoming a parent. It was the single most empowering, inspiring and gratifying event that I experienced as a human being.In July 2013 my girlfriend and I became parents to an amazing baby boy. We immediately fell in love with him and became the two most devoted fans of …
In this crazy adventure called life I’ve seen many ups and downs. However, the wildest emotional swings I experienced arrived in the summer of 2013 in Israel, when my girlfriend was hospitalized in the department for high risk pregnancy for 2 months. I spent long hours with her everyday at the hospital, but there wasn’t …
It is challenging to discuss the essence of prayer without delving into an exhausting philosophical debate. I aim to live a conscious life full of meaning, but at the same time, I realize how tiny I am, and how insignificant we humans are in this universe. There are many things we can do, but so …
When I lived in Las-Terrenas I used to wake up with sunrise and go straight for a walk on the beach. Before the day even began, I already had my dose of silence and beauty. When the ocean was calm, I loved to gaze at the reflections on the water of; The palm trees, the …
As an artist, I can legitimately choose to extend a reality which ended, and felt like a dream come true.Terrenero is someone who resides in, or whose origins are from Las-Terrenas, once a picturesque fishermen’s village, and now a touristic upbeat beach town in the Samana Peninsula of the Dominican Republic.My girlfriend and I lived in …
It’s hard to believe, and feels strange for me to say, that my girlfriend and I will soon celebrate 30 years of living happily together. Obviously, we had our ups and downs, but in the first 15 years we were so happy and concentrated in each other, that we didn’t even want to have kids. …
Looking back at negative occurrences, which ended up positively, 20 years later and say “How wonderful that they happened”, is no brainer.The challenge is to recognize the positive potential outcome of such occurrences as they happen, and to act in order to achieve it.In the beginning of 2012, with a bunch of stressful situations in …
Read more “When my right hand forgot its skill, I became Izquierdo.”
Life is unpredictable. I never imagined that I will establish a foundation for children in the Dominican Republic, and that I will become so deeply involved with other people’s life.In 2010, after approximately two years of operating “Fundacion Marlee-Jo”, we concluded that the children of Agua -Sabrosa, and the entire village, need and deserve a …
I love reading the bible. It teaches about human nature and human’s ability to effectively change the shape of things, or make history. It has many great lessons about faith, belief, and about miracles, which I’m fond of and believe in. While I do not consider the bible to be a thorough or exact history …
I entered the reef with sunrise that morning, near our house in Las-Terrenas, Dominican Republic. The water was calm and warm, like a huge swimming pool in paradise. On such days, spearfishing was not a struggle at all, but rather a pure pleasure of the senses. Concentrating on swift silent movements, instead of chasing fish, …
After 26 years of painting, I’m not surprised, but still quite overwhelmed, by the physical effect that the action of painting has on my body.Ever since my military service as a paratrooper, I carry with me the back pain wherever I go. On top of that, 14 years of free diving, with a weight belt …
Read more “Painting intensively is the strongest painkiller”
In my dream, I woke up on a remote tropical island, all by myself.It was an amazing creation of God; Turquoise water, white sand beaches, and coconut trees all around.I immersed myself in the harmonious nature, and surrendered myself to the sun, the ocean, and the silence.However, after a while, I felt that something was missing. …
Dealing with sad themes does not come naturally to me. Learning so much Jewish history since childhood, almost diminished my tolerance to tragedies, and while I’m very much aware of the sad side of life, I usually try to look at and show the happy side of it.However, what happened in Haiti in 2010 was so …
My maturity as an artist is not about my skill level, the beauty of my work, or its sophistication. It is more about me being in peace with my work; knowing what I do and why I do it, expressing my visions to my own satisfaction, whether its internal, external, abstract or real.In the beginning …
I was born in Israel and will always be Israeli, however, at some point in 2009 I felt completely Dominican. After 7 years of living in the Dominican Republic: speaking Dominican Spanish, eating Platanos and Mondongo, drinking Brugal and Presidente, dancing Merengue, Bachata and Reggaeton, exploring each and every corner of this amazing country, and …
While I consider myself a self taught artist because indeed I taught myself painting, I did learn how to work with clay from a very special Dominican artist called Jesus Guillen, who became my friend and to whom I dedicate this post.The beginning of 2009 was quite experimental for me; I formed figures with metal …
Throughout the years, I have heard several folk tales of a king in disguise touring his kingdom. I think that the first version I heard as a child was part of the One thousand and one nights stories. The king was curious to know what his people thought of him, so wearing a poor man’s …
Will you walk a steep muddy trail in order to explore a place you’ve never seen or heard about before? Are explorers driven by simple curiosity? Or do they always hope to find something incredible, shocking or inspiring?One Satuday morning, I arrived quite early to Agua-Sabrosa, my favorite Dominican village. I parked my “Jeepeta” in front …
In memory of Marlee-Jo Jacobson. In the summer of 2001, after establishing HCML (Hirsch Capital Mgmt), in order to pursue my interest in commodities trading , I visited NYC in search for commodities experts. A web search lead me to the homepage of “Sanctity Capital Mgmt.” a commodities trading advisory firm, that instead of financial …
Read more “The universal intelligence and the children of Agua Sabrosa.”
In our dreams and fantasies we can be and do anything we want; Fly like an Eagle, Swim like a Dolphin etc. But in reality, we are limited by our physical capabilities, so we take comfort in our limitless imagination.Influenced by my fantasies, I began practicing free diving on a daily basis, and I became the …
Siesta time is one of the sacred rituals in the countryside of the Dominican Republic. Everyone; Men, women, children and elders take a break after lunch. Alone, or together with family and friends. On the side of the road, in the houses and balconies, and most of all under the shade of the big trees. …
The first thing that most Arabs and Israelis will agree on is how to make a great salad. Believe it or not, but Arabic Salad and Israeli Salad are actually the same. (In case you wonder, this post is not about food and definitely not about Middle East politics, it is about painting and composition). …
“So…your girlfriend dumped you?” (“Tu novia te boto?) Everybody in Las-Terrenas kept asking me the same question for a very long time, not even hiding their teasing tone, or caring about my explanations that she was urgently called back to Israel to take care of personal family issues, and that she’ll be back…one day. Nobody …
The beauty in making your own rules is that you can break them without asking permission or being punished for it. So if I need to resurrect an artist identity which I invented 7 years ago, no problem at all, I just do it. After 5 happy years in Las-Terrenas, my girlfriend and I moved …
Read more “The comeback of Jean Gler and the material quality debate.”
They were one of the ugliest couples I had ever seen. They had frightful faces, hideous bodies and very unpleasant voices. They even fed each other greasy disgusting junk food that had a terrible odor. They were kissing, and licking each other and telling one another sleazy words of love and passion out loud. We were …
Read more “The incredible beauty of an ugly couple in love.”
I was walking by myself on the beach of Manzanillo, looking for adventures, when I met a man who led a cow in one hand and carried a machette in the other. I greeted him and asked what he was up to. He replied that he’s a butcher and that he was about to slaughter …
Read more “Mondongo – the revelation of the inside (not for vegans!)”
I woke up late on that Saturday, after a long night of dancing and drinking, and I was still drunk. By evening, when I still felt dizzy and weak, I realized that something was wrong with me. A few days later I already experienced a bunch of other disturbing symptoms, and the Doctor who reviewed …
“What the fuck is that?” I asked my girlfriend perplexed. I was gazing back and forth between her eyes and the object we bumped into, on the jungle’s grassy floor. “Don’t touch it!” my girlfriend exclaimed, and then continued…”It’s crazy…someone is pulling our legs, I’m telling you, and if not, it’s a freaky tiny alien, …
Read more “The shocking jungle encounter that made me Impidicus.”
I never take myself too seriously, thus I consider myself a liberated artist. Sometimes I’m busy thinking about a new identity that I’m about to crown; the meaning of the name and how it sounds, the theme and where it would take me. Other times, I do not even think about it, I just follow my …
“If time does not exist in a painting, it becomes eternal”, I thought to myself. As soon as I realized the extent of the chronic lack of time in the modern world and learned about time management techniques, I became aware of the devastating influence of stress on our lives and bodies. More than 20 …
Read more “The rural Dominican influence on time perception in my work.”
Yes, we dreamed about living in a tropical peaceful place, but our daily reality in Las-Terrenas surpassed all our dreams. “What are you doing there?” Friends kept asking, and my girlfriend and I usually replied “Opening Coconuts!”, which we did, but our routine included a few other activities such as swimming and playing in the warm …
My girlfriend and I landed in the Dominican Republic in the beginning of 2002. Although it was our first visit to the Island, we were quite determined to make it our home. We left our baggage in Santo Domingo, the capital, and went out on a research trip, to find the most inspiring place we’d …
“What happened?” I asked John, who approached me smiling and shook my hand. The pastor from the neighboring crematory was screaming in Spanish in the background, while we both looked at the two police patrol cars that parked in front of the boarding house. “Did you meet the two new guys from room # 5 …
Read more “The Boarding House – dedicated to my brothers in Miami.”
Astaldo, which means the valiant in Elvish, is a character invented by Tolkien. When my girlfriend, Limor, was reading ‘Silmarillion’ by Tolkien, she named herself ‘Nessa’ and gave me the name ‘Astaldo’. In 2001 I traveled to Miami and lived by myself for 3 months in a ‘boarding house’ room, in what was then considered one …
Nobody really knows who Jean Gler was. Where? when? and who invented the myth? The ‘legend’ is about an elegant, somewhat secretive gentleman, often associated with style, quality, luxury and clearly beautiful ladies.When you taste an exquisite Whiskey, you can declare: …mmm…Jean Gler!In 1999 I began working in sales and had hard times. Frustrated from being …
If you ever consider to be a homeless, some of Hawaii’s islands offer great value.On my US trip in 1999, after NY, Los Angeles and San Francisco, I was left with only $200 and wanted to squeeze every drop of it. Then, in a local newspaper I found an incredibly cheap and tempting deal: $120 for a …
The spiritual journey of an artist never ends. However, during a specific period in my life (1998-1999) I was actively searching for a meaning, the truth, and for my own destiny. That’s why I named this period as “The Search”. Back then, I was occupied with philosophical and existential questions and I was looking for answers …
My girlfriend and I broke up. That legendary true love had crashed us. Our fantasies and expectations did not withstand the daily realities and we were fighting over the tiniest issues such as washing dishes. Although we truly loved each other and knew we were soul mates, going our separate ways came as a relief. …
The Almogan Art Gallery was founded by my girlfriend Limor and I, in Rishpon village in Israel.In February 1997, after a few months of renovations and preparations, we officially opened the gates of the gallery to the public. We exhibited and sold works of both acclaimed and emerging artists.As the owner of the gallery, I …
My life was great. I just began painting with oil colors and felt great about it, and my girlfriend and I got back together and walked around with that stupid ‘Lovy Dovy’ expression. But then bad luck struck.I had a ski accident and ended up with a severe knee injury. I was grounded for 3 …
When I returned to Israel after my life changing trip to South America, my girlfriend and I got back together. We were deeply in love, however, as a result of a serious disagreement, we broke up.I suffered severe love pains and wanted her back in my life.I wanted to show her how much I love …
In 1994, long before I’ve realized I’m an artist, I went on my “after the army trip” to South America. After 6 months of wild adventures in Brazil, Argentina, Chile & Peru, I arrived at Vilcabamba, a small village in south Ecuador and went out to the mountains, to swallow a ‘cactus drink’ called San …
Dear Friends,I would have liked to thank you all for being my loyal audience, and the motivation for my writings.While writing the continuation of my adventures in the past few years, I decided to tell my artistic evolution story again, right from the beginning, for the sake of new subscribers to my weekly Newsletter.If you …
Sometimes, I am so calm. My problems and worries fly away to another planet, and I’m left alone to dream. My head seems empty, I feel good and happy, but even then, whether my eyes are open or closed, I see something. It might be colors, feelings, or thoughts, and it might just be the …
When I paint an abstract, I am not inventing the wheel. I merely connect to my subconscious and my hand paints what it sees or feels. The documentation of this process with oil on canvas is my work.In this work, after toning the canvas with an acrylic layer, I dribbled on it with oil pastels. …
Becoming a father was the most precious gift I could ever receive. Living intensively with my girlfriend and 2 young kids is a fountain of pure happiness. Having said that, I must admit that sometimes I long those lonely wild days, when I was on the road, on a mountain, or lost in a remote …
I stood in front of that nice white canvas, blending the dark brown I just squeezed out of the tube with some linseed oil, and then after the first brush stroke, all of a sudden, I saw the horns of those evil creatures that my hero Don Quixote was attempting to confront.I never managed to …
Everything that we do is neurological; writing, painting, hearing, seeing, speaking, moving, and many more actions are coordinated by the brain through our nervous system. No wonder we are so curious about the brain’s structure and how it functions. While I free dive, watching corals makes me wonder about the importance and vitality of that …
We all have commitments and tasks to do. Shopping, errands, bills to pay, admins, bureaucracy challenges, family, society, meetings, events etc.No matter what we do and where we live, the burden of life gets us. If we become experts in completing all these tasks, we might reduce some of the stress and headaches. However, since there …
I was a bit disappointed when I completed this work. Not because I thought it was ugly, bad, or boring. It was because I’ve seen it before in my work. The same style and process. The abstract expressive tropical landscape in the background, with naive figures and objects in darker colors in the front. Again.Repeating …
Painting without any intention or goal is very liberating, however, quite often, the work itself leads me to a specific theme or idea. In this work, other than the fruit ice cream colors, I felt some kind of energy, and a movement of particles through a specific channel. Being quite ignorant in both physics and …
Read more “Fruit ice cream and the convection-diffusion equation”
While reading about grafting techniques of wild species of Cocoa, I had some philosophical thoughts about the entire subject of artificial reproduction; Trees vs. humans, the utilization and manipulation of genetic material, ethics etc. While recognizing the risks, threats and disadvantages, my personal biased opinion mostly supported such manipulations despite their unnatural nature. We are in the …
When I visited the Dominican Republic in 2015, I was infected with Dengue Fever for the 2nd time. In this work I tried to express the volatile nature of the Dengue symptoms and that awkward feeling I experienced each time I went out of my room only to discover that nothing has changed while I …
As an artist, I’m less interested in scientific facts, I’m more curious about my individual artistic experience. While it is quite obvious that the brain controls the painting hand, not much is known about the painting hand’s influence on the brain’s function and structure. In the creation of this work, I tried to simultaneously do …
A tropical evening, one out of so many, just before the sunset. My girlfriend and I are playing in the reef, in the warm water of the ocean. This intimate turquoise pool is surrounded by massive tropical vegetation, and we are waiting for that perfect moment, when the colors of the nature around us seem …
Since I became a father, I’m trying hard to be awake during the daytime, to be able to play with and take care of my kids, however, I cannot ignore or change my natural passion for the night. Since I was a teenager, I developed that nightly practice. When everybody sleeps and the streets are …
“The scuba diver dives to look around, the free diver dives to look inside.”I don’t know who said it first, but this phrase emphasizes an essential difference between scuba diving and free diving. I am a free diver, and when I painted this work in November 2013 in Eilat (Israel), my inside was full of …
Ever since I was a child, in Israel, in the troubled Middle East, I have heard leaders from both sides blame each other for not being committed to the peace process, as an excuse for not vigorously pursuing peace.Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder once sang together:”Ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony, Side by side …
My infatuation with carnivals began with my 1st carnival in Brazil in 1994.In carnivals people share their common need of fantasizing and going crazy. I believe that scheduling annual grand celebrations makes us happier creatures and helps us maintain a more balanced life the rest of the time. I have a few carnival inspired works, …
Quite often, I paint just to express myself, without a defined theme, message, or intention. I paint to relax, to balance my soul, and to get rid of the excess information this super modern world feeds me. Frankly, I don’t exactly know what I do or what I paint. I just feel something and I …
It was a challenging period, filled with worries, doubts and uncertainties. In ‘complicated’ times, painting has always been my refuge and therapy. Through painting, I’m able to turn negative stressful feelings into beauty and hope. While I couldn’t find words back then to describe the complexity of occurrences, nor my volatile emotional state, I felt …
In the Dominican Republic, Witch doctors, “Brujos” or “Curadores”, are still quite popular, and especially in the country side, many people prefer consulting with their favorite Witch doctor regarding their health issues instead of a conventional doctor. In one of my trips to the center of the D.R., I visited a small village in the …
Everything during sunset looks better, juicier and much more colorful. When the sun gradually descends, the glare is gone, and the colors become rich and dramatic. Some places at sunset seem entirely enchanted. Walking by the small villages at the hills of the Samana Peninsula (D.R) at this hour feels like walking in a fairy …