חג שמח יקיריי ויקירותיי!
אני בחופש! אני חושב שלא היתה לי חופשת פסח מאז שסיימתי את הלימודים... אני נהנה מכל רגע!

אז זהו - בדיוק שנה עברה מאז ששמתי בבלוג שלי את הפוסט האחרון - והרבה מאד דברים השתנו בחיים שלי (בעיקר לטובה) והחיים נראים הרבה יותר אופטימיים עכשיו.
אני רוצה לאחל לכולנו חג שמח וכשר - שכולנו נזכה לראות את הרכבת הקלה של ירושלים עוד בימינו!

נתראה כאן הרבה יותר, סבבה?

חג שמח!

There are not many things that can give me goose bumps. especially not many visual objects. I can get goose bumps from old family photos that symoblize something for me or from a sad picture (one time in the studio I am working in , we produced a book for Yad Vashem and I came across genuine drawings made by children in the Holocaust. That made me lose control).
When I stood in front of Pablo Picasso's 'Guernica' at the MOMA in New York - I was shaking and shivering from excitement. This was the first time in my life that I had encountered that feeling. it only happened to me once more when I saw 'Adele Bloch-Bauer' by Gustav Klimt.

The Guernica (7.8 X 3.5 meters) was painted in 1937 depicting the Nazi's bombing of Guernica, Spain, by twenty-eight bombers during the Spanish civil War.

My love for the Guernica starts from an animation film made by Uri Kranot and Michal Pfeffer (TinDrum Animation) called 'God On Our Side' which was inspired by Picasso's painting. This film is fundamentally about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. You can view a part of it here.
When I saw this huge, beautiful and impressive work in the museum, the characters came to life and I was proud to stand in front of the real canvas.

Lena Gieseke turned the Guernica to 3D and made me shiver all over again only this time it was in front of the computer. Her work is beautifully crafted, and I can view it over and over again. You can view it here. (Guzel, thank you for the awesome link!)

I love illustration.
If I like an illustration, then I simply like it. That's it.
lt's not like the in the art world, where you look at a painting titled "untitled" of three squares, a pink donkey and a hose, make a serious face and say "Hmmm... the artist wanted to say something about family abuse and christianity". Deep down inside, you tell yourself that it is a worthless piece of crap but it will be sold to someone anyhow.
An illustration also lacks the snobism of design, where you try to pretend that there are no rules, yet you try and follow them all.
Regarding photography, I can't be certain. I don't understand anything about it - I have no idea what is hard to do, and what is not causing me to feel strange to criticize this form of art.
Illustration is pure, beautiful and innovative. For me, illustrators are artists although almost all of them would rather not to be called that way. I have saved the best five illustrators I've came upon this week, and I would like to share them with you:

1. Mark Ryden - Actually, I have been checking his work out for quite sometime now, and I adore his imagination and skills. His drawings makes me feel weird. They are so naive and childlike, that you just overlook the masses of blood and amputated creatures in it. All of the characters have calm faces, as if everything is supposed to be like that - it's the natural order of things. He is often being addressed as a painter, but according to him, he would rather be called an illustrator. Ryden (born 1963) designed many music albums for many famous musicians such as Ringo Starr, Screeming Trees, Jack Off Jill, 4 Non Blonds and Michael Jackson. I came across his work when I purchased "One Hot Minute" by The Red Hot Chili Peppers and loved the art on the cover. Entering his website got me immediatley captivated... I browsed through all of his images like a madman, and I check it every now and then for updates. One time I tried buying one of his drawings on ebay... let's say that it is worth a few months of rent so I let the idea run back into the wild.

2. Kelly Dyson (dontwakemeup.) - I have arrived to his site after browsing Druglink magazine at work. His drawings are made as pencil sketches, computerized coloring and effects.

3. Vladimir Smokov (koaxikona) - This illustrator is extremely talented in my opinion. I was drawn to the different mastery he gained in so many illustration forms - of pencil drawings, vector illustrations and pattern design. Personaly I recommend looking at the "Sketch" page - there's some crazy shit going on there...

4. James Braithwaite (The Bath Water) - This site is just so fun - that you'd better check it out for yourselves...

5. Michael Sieben - In his site he refers to his illustrations as "fine art" - and that is exactly that - only approachable and free of pose. His illustrations are clever and funny - and he reminds me of Metallica's early illustrations made by Brian Schroeder a.k.a Pushead - don't it?

Enjoy!