We expect an artist with roots in a conflict-ridden space like Israel to carry its influences, but Israeli artist David Gerstein shatters all those expectations. His bright, colourful wall sculptures teeming with people are a far cry from anything his nation would evoke in a viewer’s mind. People dance, cycle, butterflies form stylish women’s footwear, fluid brush strokes make up a heart shaped form, cows in different patterns and forms pose in style, and life on the whole appears like one big party.
Should you wish to be a part of Gerstein’s celebration of life you need to head to the India Habitat Centre’s Visual Arts Gallery, where Alka Pande has curated the artist’s first solo show in India, “Poetic Mirror”, which has been brought by Bruno Art Group. “It was a conscious decision not to deal with conflict in my art because it has several points of view. I have my political views but I don’t want to carry news to my studio. Also I don’t want my work to be very Israel specific. I see the world as my stage,” says the veteran artist who has indeed made the world his stage as he travels across the globe exhibiting his art. A pioneer in 3D metal art, David has developed a signature style that viewers from different parts of the world can recognise from afar.
Hand-painted cutouts of birds, butterflies, animals and human figures in metal are fixed upon each other to create several layers in the wall sculptures that David has concentrated on for the last few years. He first brought them to India early this year with his gallery participating at India Art Fair. His butterflies and infinity symbol work got him many fans and buyers. “I have been showing in Hong Kong, Singapore. India, I believe will complete the circle,” says the 70-year-old artist, who has several public art sculptures to his credit in not just Israel but also in Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore and France. His outdoor sculpture “Momentum” is the tallest public sculpture in Singapore. “I wish to create something similar here. I want my art to speak to everybody because it is about our daily lives.”
It is for this purpose that Gerstein set up an online store selling his art at affordable prices. “At one point when my art became too expensive, I realised I need to make it accessible, art for every person.”
Returning to Israel after completing his studies in Paris, New York and London, when Gerstein found Israeli artists engaged with conceptual art, he set out on a different course of pop art, which never gained ground in Israel. “Israeli artists were doing intellectual and conceptual art but I wanted to celebrate life. Supermarket, malls are our modern landscape. That’s where life thrives so I situated my art in these real settings. I wanted to speak to the people. I insisted on being non-local and creating my art out of my personal experiences. So I call my art as not pop art but post-pop art.”
Gerstein was passionate about paintings but at the same time wanted to deal with space. That’s when he found the language of cutouts which would allow him to experiment with both. “In the early ’80s, I started doing wood sculpture. In 1995, laser technology helped me switch over to metal and I could cut into metal. Then I worked on the issue of volume by developing layers and layers.”
Summing up Gerstein’s artistic journey, Motti Abramovitz of Bruno Art Group says that two things make an artist a great artist. “One, if an artist brings a message and second if you can recognise the art work from a distance. Gerstein communicates the message of colours and fun very clearly. And second, you don’t have to go very close to find out if it is a Gerstein.”
Poetic Mirror is on at Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, till May 15
