R e v i e w  of Solo Exhibition
August 15 - September 5, 2006

Show Preview | Other Works by the Artist | About the Artist

Yisrael Feldsott: Warrior for Peace

In this age of uncertainty, Yisrael Feldsott’s paintings are daring, unapologetic, even fierce. He holds a mirror up to a country at war, asking each of us if we can abide this course of events much longer

"In a solo exhibition opening August 18 at Darnell Fine Art, Feldsott presents Wheels of Democracy, a mural-like acrylic painting on a panel 12 feet long and 6.5 feet high. He depicts four naked men in the moments after facing a firing squad. Shot and bleeding, they scream in horror. Above them, other men lie crushed under the wheels of a tank (i.e., democracy). Two giant soldiers reign over the proceedings, made faceless by the cropping of the frame. This frightening subject matter is nonetheless beautifully rendered with graphical patterning in high-contrast colors (black, brown, red, gray). Feldsott uses his primitive, iconic style to create a stunning work that recalls Picasso's Guernica in its power and scale.

"The course of the [Iraq] war and the actions of my own people have broken my heart,” Feldsott said from his home in Bolinas, California. “We're all implicated. I feel my own collusion through silence. But I can't turn away, I can't ignore it. I'm offering a way to dialogue about this.”

The Terrorist, another wall-sized painting at 9.5” x 6.5,” depicts a Muslim woman covered in black, kneeling by a naked corpse and imploring an armed soldier to stop shooting. Warplanes fill the sky in gray-blue and black geometry. Feldsott has pummeled the canvas with gobs of gray paint that drip like blood or tears, as he asks, “Who are the terrorists?”

Feldsott is aware that his subject matter is not typical fare for commercial Canyon Road galleries. “There was a question about taking these pieces to Santa Fe—will they fit in the Santa Fe art scene?” Feldsott says. “But Rachel [Darnell, gallery owner] has been bold and courageous in showing my work.”

“Good art can be challenging,” Darnell responds. “Feldsott's art is not wall candy. But it deals with issues that are relevant today, that need to be talked about.”

Young Feldsott was a prodigy, showing twice at the San Francisco MOMA before age 25. Even then, his art was controversial, with its references to war, sexuality, and graffiti. He quickly grew tired of struggling with galleries about “toning it down,” and went off to live and travel in Central and South America for 20 years. There he continued painting, founded an ecological restoration project, and studied with indigenous people to become a shaman and a doctor of plant medicine. When a museum in Ecuador offered him a retrospective in 2002, Feldsott reawakened to the importance of showing his work “to interact with my culture, create discourse and dialogue, and reach some more peaceful way to live.”

His travels have shaped his expression. Feldsott borrows motifs from indigenous art, drawing animals, plant life, and humans in a two-dimensional plane with prominent line and high-contrast colors in a symbolic vocabulary recalling cave paintings. He depicts humans in our natural state: naked, with obvious body parts. Whether using panel, canvas, or paper as a base, Feldsott loads his works with multiple layers of mixed media, including acrylic paint, metallic substances, and occasionally fibers or shredded paper for a sculptural quality.

Another theme of the show is our dual nature as humans and animals. In The Language of the Time Before Time, a two-faced, wolflike creature holds a bag of arrows in one hand and supports a bird with the other. His two faces could indicate betrayal of our true nature: how in war, we forget the best qualities of animals and keep the worst. “We tend to forget we are animals,” Feldsott says. “I'm telling stories of a time when humans and animals could talk to each other, when we would refer to animals as brothers—not metaphorically.”

Other paintings evoke dreams, even hallucinations. The wide-eyed bird gripping a skull in its talons ( Gatekeeper ) could be a vision grabbing the mind of the seer. “My images arrive as visions,” Feldsott confirms. “Ideally I will simply follow that vision, let it unfold as a journey. I'm often surprised at where it leads.” Feldsott says he will paint over a piece up to 25 times. When the image “vibrates with a primordial essence,” he knows he's got it right.

Spirit of Renewal offers a beam of light into Feldsott's dark world, as a half-stag, half-hunter character emerges from winter hibernation into spring sunshine. Metallic paint gives the creature's skin a lustrous glow. If there is redemption or hope in Feldsott's message, it is this occasional glimpse of light, the flowers that grow even in scenes of death, the idea that we could regain our ability to speak with animals and “return to our supple nature.” Reconnecting with the primordial can provide “an antidote to our virtual, machine-oriented society,” Feldsott says. And this strong body of work is a small antidote to our unease about this war and our loss of control over our planet's future, and an invitation for us to dialogue about it through art.

Show Review: Kristin Berendsen

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Show dates: August 15 - September 5, 2006
Reception for the artist : Friday, August 18, 5-7 p.m.
Location: Darnell Fine Art, 640 Canyon Road , Santa Fe , NM 87501