Meet the Aertist: Yoel Gilinsky

Tell as a little bit about yourself and your background

My name is Yoel Gilinsky. I was born in Jerusalem 67 yars ago and am a graduate of two departments at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, where I also taught for 20 years as a senior lacturer. I've earned a BFA in fine Arts and a BDES [with honors] in Visual Communication Design.

My wife Orit and I are parents of three lovly souls: Tamar, Omer and Asaf.

For the past ten years my artistic craetion has focused on Israeli nostalgia, combination them with familiar and beloved symbols such as the Star of David, Herzel, the Keren Kayemet and more.

What inspired you to become an artist?

The thigs that influenced me to become an artist: the love of creation, the imagination and the beauty that binds me to Israel, the land of my love, the pattren of my homeland. I also admierd the old Bezalel artists: Boris Schatz, Meir Gur Aryeh, Zeev Raban,Efraim Moshe Lillian and many others, who difined the figure of the Jew who returned to his country to build it, inspired by the prophets of the Bible.

What is your specialty?

I specialise in realistic and free painting on wood and paper, on the subject: "Israeli nostalgia paintings"

How and where do you work?

I live and create in Tel-Aviv and carry Jerusalem, the enternal city and my home town, in my heart.

What is the most indispensable item in your studio?

I draw my inspiration from the amazing history of the Jewish prople returning to the land of their ancestors.

Do you do bespoke work?

Sometimes, when there is a facinatigs project that challenges my thoughts and criativity, I do work on demand although commissioned work invitably carries a difficulty that exists between the creation imagined by the client and my personal transltion. Sometimes the two things merge together but sometimes less. This is why I do not often craete in such a direction.

What projects are you currently working on?

Now I focus on the Jewish holidays, which I started in the past. These days 'Hanukka the holiday of light.

What is or are your favourite items in your current collection?

My favorite items are what make up my expanding Israeli collection: old tin cans,mostly of sweets, JNF boxes and many objects from the time I was a child in the first teb years of Israel. About two years ago I published my first book "Book of Longings" which contains my short stories and my paintings, intertwined with my parentsw house and the neighborhood where I grew up, in Jerusalem.

How do you know when a piece is finished?

Once the work reaches a magical moment where it has a life of its own and it no longer needs my continued intervention.

What was the first artwork you ever sold?

The first drawing I sold was a portrait of one of Rodin's sculptures. I draw it in the sculpture garden at the "Israel Musem" in Jerusalem. I was 17 years old and had not studied before it at all.

Which project have you enjoyed working on the most so far?

In fact all of them. I should be in love with the painting already at the sketch stage. If I force myself to draw a picture beacuse it is important etc., Without amotion, withtout total conaction and joy, it comes out technical an soulless. The love of God and the love of my family are the keys to my work; to connect to truth, to joy and to bring happiness to the viewer.

What do you want to achieve with the work and what are your wishes for the future?

I want to continue to connect to lofty human principles: love, joy, hope, blessing and thus enrich and sterngthen my life and the lif I hold dear.

The interview was published on the Judaica website