The five senses garden- colours

This is my second trip to Israel in the past two weeks. The five senses Garden is taking shape and soon also colour.

I have debated with myself, the family, Friends and colleagues about the colours for the sculptures.
My initial idea was to be faithful to my source of inspiration: the giant sculptures fractions at the Campidoglioin in Rome, and keep it all in white.

Well. in the meantime, life got in the way and colouring the elements turned out to be inevitable. So, here is a Photoshop simulation of the coloured version.

Some of the photos revel two of the great people who sculpt and realise this dream for me: Or- Shuki’s son who is in fact responsible for the translation of the model into its current dimension. and Shahar, who lend a wonderfully helping hand.

Sight+Shahar, working on the eye, Or, brushing teeth

Taste+my Dad and Shuki

Smell and Hearing

Touch+Or, on the roof

Cohen by Cohen

Last week Lapid wrote about a legend and a man whom I greatly admire - Leonard Cohen.

It is a tricky task to illustrate Cohen’s poetry. In fact, all poetry lends itself with great difficulty to illustration, if at all. By nature, poetry, is charged with emotions as it is, to my understanding, a matter directly emitted from the heart.

I am usually shying away from making portraits, however, I have made an effort this time. After all, Leonard is family…

I am bringing here the lyrics of Cohen’s poem/song Who By Fire. first of all, because I just love it, and secondly as it was brought to the reader in Hebrew this week, beautifully translated by Lapid

Who By Fire.

And who by fire, who by water,
who in the sunshine, who in the night time,
who by high ordeal, who by common trial,
who in your merry merry month of may,
who by very slow decay,
and who shall I say is calling?
And who in her lonely slip, who by barbiturate,
who in these realms of love, who by something blunt,
and who by avalanche, who by powder,
who for his greed, who for his hunger,
and who shall I say is calling?

And who by brave assent, who by accident,
who in solitude, who in this mirror,
who by his lady’s command, who by his own hand,
who in mortal chains, who in power,
and who shall I say is calling?

Regulations, squeezing my brain, once again.

As always, I find it a challenge to treat ‘dry’ abstract legal text. This time, the article was concerning new tighter regulatory directives towards majority share holders-directors in public owned companies, woof.

I always try to find a metaphor which I could customize for the event and stay alive through to the aftermath. Hope I have made it this time.

Waltz with Bashir, Not to be missed!

Yesterday, I saw Waltz with Bashir, the first ever animated documentary film in the history of cinema.

A part from breaking grounds of cinematic history, it is a gripping experience that would not let one’s memory lay to rest, or stay indifferent, neither to its story nor to the brilliant story telling.

So much has already been written, and still much more is yet to be said about the film, that I shall spare you most of my thoughts. Still, one very strong notion hit my conscience while I watched it: I found the actual idea of animating such a story, is rendering the objectif - obsolete. I felt that the visual articulation of the scenes through a manual manipulation was the most daring and subjective statement, coming from the director and his team.

I feel privileged to take off my hat before this most admired group of this film makers, mainly to ( from left to right): Yoni Goodman, Ari Folman and David Polonsky, BRAVO!

Here are the wikipedia and the official sites links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltz_with_Bashir
http://waltzwithbashir.com

The Five Senses Garden in Hulon, Israel

It is a rare occasion for an illustrator to be invited to cross the lines into the third dimension. Such an opportunity was granted to me by the municipality of the city of Hulon in Israel.

I shall elaborate on this project as It goes along, for the time being, here are a short clip from its current stage, and a few snaps taken at Shuki Kafri’s workshop today.

Taste

Touch

Shuki and me on the tip of the tongue

Smell

Some of Hearing, Smell an some of Taste

Sight as seen through Touch

Hearing and my dad

Touch

Shuki working on Sight

Rear of sight

And on last view of Sight

Taxation II

Following the scissors illustration for the markets taxation article in Globes last week, came another one on the same subject.

So, by trying to avoid the mine field of imagery’s cliches, I hope I have ‘coined’ a new visual idiom which I find dificult to pronounce in words.

My Dear, Dear Friend Yair

Tommy Lapid, Yair’s monumental father, has succumbed to cancer. I am using this word as, typically to his way in life, he gave the disease an incredibly good fight.

The Israeli press bid Tommy an honorable and voluminous farewell, an appropriate one for the departure of such an incredible person. As I am not a man of words, I have used the privilege of expressing my own farewell to Tommy, in my illustrations to Yair’s most incredible and moving obituary to his beloved father.

Alistair Darling’s Gift Horse

The current Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, Was brought by Harford this week, as the instigator of a cheap taxation sting operation- While offering a rebate of 120 Pounds to middle class tax payers tax bill, he will consequently have to barrow money, which will most likely be payed back with interest, trough taxation from the same tax payers who now find themselves on the receiving end of his gift.

New Taxation Laws

Well, Globes kept me off the streets this week, The article laid out the minefield-like environment which is being created by new intricate worldwide corporate taxation laws. A real mess. It seems very difficult not to be punished by wrong application of the las, be it voluntarily or not.

email transparency

This one was published in Globes this week for an article dealing with the legal implications and rights of an employer to peer into his employees’ emails.

the invention of peace

This week, Lapid wrote about the evasive nature of ideas.

He is describing the phenomena of the discovery of new ideas as a process in which timing is a crucial component.

Later in the article he refers to the obvious merit of the idea of peace, and to the inevitable implementation of peace. The only thing is the price that people will pay with their lives and pain as time passes by until that day.

New copyrights laws

This illustration was published in Globes alongside an article which laid-out the introduction of new laws of copyrights. 

As I have been beaten more than once by unethical conduit on the part of client, I found this article as an opportunity to express my contentment with these new laws. 

Survival

Two weeks ago, Israel survived the final episode of the Israeli version of the television blockbuster reality series Survivor, in Hebrew: Hisardut. Lapid described the fracture that accrued in the family around the discussion over the values the program communicates. On this front, his arguments seem to have lost and he found him self exiled.

The etymological meaning of the word exile, apart from its old English meaning of banishment, is due to the ancient Greeks method of punishment of deporting a member of the community out of the island:

ex- out of ile-island

The smaller drawing relates to a theme in the column following comments Lapid had received from readers of his piece which evolved around the responsibility leaders are taking, or not, over their deeds.

The Israeli Green Party G cover

On their way to the Knesset, The Israeli Green Party, for the first time through its existence is standing a serious chance to be elected.

Nevertheless, Human nature, as green as it can be - sees red when the weight of one’s ego casts a shadow over another. So, on their way in, we witness a spectacle of proverbial fist-fighting between the candidates.

This was the brief of G magazine’s cover this week, and here was my reply to it:

These two served as reminder of the cover theme through the article’s pages inside.

Would smokers prefer expensive cigarettes?

That was Harford’s theme last week, so here is the illustration that accompanied the article.

This one accompanied the ‘Dear Economist’ bit of the column. The writer was seeking advice regarding his Presentation tactics and skills.