An exhibition of Sasha Galitsky’ drawings opened at the Youth Wing Library of the Israeli Museum, Jerusalem.

A painting cannot be planned in advance. Art comes without preparation, like a flash of light in a dark room. Like sparks emitted by a fire into a cold, black sky…
–Gennady Kalinovsky

Some of us are fortunate enough to encounter artworks that accompany us for the rest of our lives. I had such luck! Over twenty years ago, I came across Gennady Kalinovsky’s wonderful black-and-white illustrations for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, published in 1974. Since then, I have been illustrating and documenting my feelings every single day. On each of my drawings I mark the date in a prominent place.
Drawing as a game, with naïveté, using bold coloring and kitschy pink and gold tones, I aim to go back in time to my childhood. The drawings are done freely, without preparatory sketches, and are uncensored and, therefore, chillingly direct. My figures are soft, apprehensive, or humorous, while the subjects are drawn from daily life. Anything that leaves a mark can be a tool for creating: pencil, marker, pen, or paintbrush.
This exhibition invites you to participate in the ongoing dialogue between Gennady Kalinovsky and myself. Both of us started painting at the age of two or three. Both of us entered children’s painting contests and received enthusiastic responses. Both of us participated in art classes and love working with wood as a sculptural material. Here Gennady speaks in black-and-white squares, while I respond in large sheets covered with touches of color.
Sasha Galitsky

Gennady Kalinovsky, 1929–2006, active in Moscow; artist and illustrator of periodicals and children’s books, including Gulliver’s Travels, Winnie-the-Pooh, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; won numerous prizes for his illustrations.

Sasha Galitsky, born in Russia in 1957, immigrated to Israel in 1990; graduate of the Moscow Art and Industrial College and of Russia’s National Teacher’s Training Institute; member of the former Soviet Union’s Designers’ Association; his works have appeared in important professional journals; he has taught graphic design at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design and served as artistic director at the Center for Educational Technology.

Sasha Galitsky on Art-in-Process