Noga Shivatsky

Exhibitions:

Chatting to Noga:

I was wondering how to make it easier for the viewer to look at art on here, and thought maybe to put an explanation with each picture, which would give you something to do while the pictures came down. Noga told me that she is disturbed when she sees even a name on the picture as it might change her interpretation. I am, however, not going to follow her advise and show the pictures through the story that she told me. All of her paintings are 1x1m. unless otherwise stated. (39.37" ... and isn't THAT accurate)!

I am not quoting verbatim, but from rough notes I made while translating directly into English. "I needed to find a way to express my feelings about my mother's life. She was born in Yugaslavia and lost her entire family in the Holocaust, save for a brother and a sister . My mother still never talks about it, but every now and then she mentions things like being cold in the winter and not having shoes and using rags to cover her feet. She spent the war years in forests and I don't know how she survived. She came to Israel much later than her brothers. She only got here in 1942, or maybe even 3. I wanted to find a way to express how I imagined her life to be at the time. And that was the first series of 3 paintings. The chair. It is out in a field. You can see the meadows and the window. That window allows one to look into life and into life passed".

"What happens after life? Everyone has something after this. And that is the angels. There are always angels in my paintings now. They have no faces and no palms on (of) their hands. All the angels are female. They are here. They are always mysterious. Never quite clear. There was life and it carries on".

I have put slightly bigger pictures behind most of the following. They are well worth looking at but didn't feel I could burden everyone with the time that it takes for things to download.

Not all the paintings from this collection were photographed and few of the originals remain on the kibbutz, with family members. Noga has been selling her paintings successfully worldwide for many years.

A translation from an article from an Israeli newspaper:

"Sometimes the art critic stands in front of an artist's paintings, whose personal story gave birth to her work, and it is harder and more powerful than any sophisticated analysis, academic and dissociated from the stimulation that is brought forth by the final product"

"And now as you see my new work is different. It has become more surrealistic. But the angels are still here. Am now trying a new method of painting.The last painting I did by pouring layer upon layer of colours. My mother's maiden name was Maestro. I had to express that too. Did you notice the angels are playing musical instruments"?

Q: Do you really believe in an after life?

A: "Yes"

Q: Do you believe in angels?

A: "Yes"

The following are from the collection Noga is working on at the moment. These paintings have not been viewed and you are getting a sneak preview. As you probably have noticed her paintings are all really large and we had a lot of trouble photographing them. We had them outside to try and use the sun light as lighting. The wind was blowing and it was a great feat to try and keep them up and straight.

At the end of the last school year, Noga resigned from all her teaching responsiblities. She was working at the local kibbutz primary school and at the University of the North, where she was teaching high school children, who are a special project run by the University. She has been working with the handicapped for the last few years and Mifal Ha'payis donated the money for a day centre for the elderly. The house is called "Torquise" and Noga is running it.

Enjoy.

(1.5x1.5m)

Well, she doesn't know that she is here, but that is Noga. Apparently we are holding that picture upside down.

IIf you haven't looked at the bigger ones of the above, take a peek at the next one. Pretty good photography.

This is the last painting and the one where she is using the new method of pouring layer upon layers of colour.

Noga is my friend. She is one of those truly "good" people. But she is much, much more than that. She is beautiful, inside and out. And she sure knows about her outside beauty! She laughs at more things than I thought was possible. I always marvel at her absolute genuine love of people. This is Noga. My view, my friend.