This project is very important for me, personally. To begin with, I live very far, in Rosh Pina, and at a certain point I start to stew in my own juice, not often meeting other artists.

This project means collaboration with Sasha Florensky again, thus having a nostalgic element. Sasha is an important artist for me. A long time ago, in Feropontovo, we actually worked together on a plein-air. In fact, it is fair to say that my conscious life as an artist started from that time. Sasha had influenced me greatly then, so that now, after such a period of time, having accumulated the experience, to meet him again and work on a joint project, but this time in the country where I live – it is extremely interesting. First of all, to be able to see these places trough his eyes – as a viewer from the side, he perceives and conveys in a minimalist way, certain things that one ceases to see, when living here on a permanent basis. Although his view is a touristic one, he has the ability to drill this down to a formula, which, in a way, is something that I am looking for as well. To find the minimal plastic solution, the formula that would provide for the specific place, time and situation…

Working from nature is very important in this sense, because when you are closed in your studio, solving you own personal challenges – it is great, but when you go out, you clear your consciousness, you get plugged into the life rhythm again. It is a highly valuable experience, because one has to learn, in this situation, on the spot, to make choices. On the one hand, you are there, you start perceiving actively, but on the other hand you must already possess the capabilities, as an artist, to quickly orientate yourself, to decide what you need and what not. You have to decide in this very moment how to solve the task – the composition, the means – it is a huge and complicated challenge. When you don’t engage with such undertakings for a long while, and then go outside to paint, you understand how hard and important that is. In my view, it is an absolute necessity for every artist, to be engaged in such a plein-air from time to time. One starts to deal again with the most important, core challenges of an artist, it just clears your mind.

In addition, this project has brought me a few gifts – I got to meet two wonderful women artists, whom I hadn’t been acquainted with before – Tanya Sergeeva and Tutu Kiladze. It is absolutely magnificent , to meet people who are working now in other countries, and suddenly you find yourself in the same project, the same situation with them. To see what they do… In general, it is important to see what others do.

From a conversation with Olga Kundina. April 2012, Jerusalem.

חזרה לעמוד JERUSALEM PLEIN-AIR

For me, having lived in Jerusalem for 22 years, there is a certain degree of self-irony, in going out for the first time with the easel, to paint in the middle of a religious quarter or under the Old City walls. Despite the fact that landscape, and generally painting from nature, are far from what I usually do, it has been an interesting and fruitful exercise for me, and I have already got some ideas about future work. And of course, an important aspect of the project for me, was the communication among us and discussions about the works. Besides, organizing a home exhibition, the fact that we create a project on our own, without any mediators or institutions – it is a very modern and promising idea, in my opinion.

From a conversation with Leonid Zeiger. April 2012, Jerusalem.

חזרה לעמוד JERUSALEM PLEIN-AIR

For me, painting means a talk about myself. To make visible my natural inclinations, its subtle and indistinctive tonality, through explicit features, such as the line, color, smudge. This is what painting is about, in my opinion. The “sound” of the canvas dictates what is shown there, and not the other way around. An artist, in my view, is the one “tuning” the canvas, the viewer can discover his inner world through my canvas. The young generation, even though I understand it, speaks about itself upon the computer screen, which depends highly on pixels… But even as they increase the number of pixels, they still fail to deliver. They have even made up a wonderful thing – if a video is filmed, the worse the quality of the video, the more ingenuous it is . I was speaking, though, about something completely different: about myself, expressing my personality.

From a conversation with Anatoly Basin. April 2012, Jerusalem.

חזרה לעמוד JERUSALEM PLEIN-AIR

I liked everything here, it is truly wonderful. I was painting markets in the Old City, Arabs, Jews. I liked everything; I really cannot pick any specific experience. It is a wonderful country and you are lucky people to be living here.

From a conversation with Tutu Kiladze. April 2012, Jerusalem

חזרה לעמוד JERUSALEM PLEIN-AIR

It is quite a remarkable feeling here… For me, it is a reminiscence of a huge communal flat, with Jews, Arabs, Christians… Now also many Ethiopians have gathered, for the Easter. It is all very interesting, I don’t know yet whether we would be able to show this in our works. Tutu was painting the markets; I think I would try myself with the city, which is so multifaceted: all those boilers, churches, crosses, mosques, Jews – it is very interesting. Something you heard off, throughout your life, and now eventually you get to see it in real life. It is wonderful, how one would think it would be so very… It turned out to be so much more simple and accessible; you can just go to that or the other place, as much as you like, you can walk there every day, if you want. This feeling of being inside, in the midst of everything, is important for me to convey. The fact that I have finally seen it.

From a conversation with Tatyana Sergeeva.
April 2012, Jerusalem.

חזרה לעמוד JERUSALEM PLEIN-AIR