When Lewis Carroll Meets Hieronymus Bosch

Shlomo Har-Paz

Up until 5 years ago I had been creating abstract artworks in acrylic and oil. However, with time figurative images and dreams that could not be expressed in abstract painting started to accumulate in my mind.

As opposed to what is generally accepted, five years ago I decided to get back to creating figurative, realistic and fantastic- realistic drawings. This might sound like a sort of withdrawal since in art history the logical and orderly course for an artist to follow is to evolve from the figurative to the abstract forms of expression, to progress into the symbolic, conceptual and simple. In my case, a reverse process occurred.

The last time I had made figurative drawings continuously and consistently was while studying for my degree at The School of Visual Arts in New York.

So five years ago, here I was, besides painting in color, I resumed drawing figuratively.

The technique I favor the most is ink, which is straightforward, profound, challenging and cruel in its own way because in contrast to pencil, the artist cannot change his mind. Whatever you set on the paper is almost irreversible.

I hereafter present you with 12 drawings and collages which are a small part of a collection of more than a 100 drawings which were displayed in my exhibition "On the Way Back to My-Self", November 2012, at The Red House Art Gallery in Tel Aviv".

The following drawings belong to one of the three different series exhibited on this occasion. This series is called "When Lewis Carroll Meets Hieronymus Bosch".

In these artworks I have created an encounter between Lewis Carroll, Hieronymus Bosch and myself. One of my intentions has been to connect distinctive imaginary worlds from different historical and artistic periods and create one substantial entity.

  Har-Paz-exhibition (3.62 MB)


Shlomo Har-Paz studied at The School of Visual Arts, New York. He is an active artist, and a member of the cooperative gallery The Red House Art Gallery in Tel Aviv. He has taught art in a variety of art institutions throughout Israel. He managed The Rubin Art Center in Eilat, the mobile art unit at the Youth Cultural Center in Jerusalem. His works have been exhibited in many galleries both in Israel and abroad. His paintings are to be found in private collections both in Israel and abroad. Today he creates and teaches art in his own studio in Mevasseret Zion, Israel. Nowadays he is working on a series of drawings for a book written by the musician and writer Shahar Gabai.

Illustration: A Dialogue between Text and Picture, July 2013