Artist David Gerstein's sculptures, resplendent with vibrant colors and bursting with motion and expression, are on exhibit in Israels major museums, and have been purchased by municipalities, universities and large corporations throughout the world.
By Sarah Hershenson
"I never set out to make people smile," says Gerstein. "I think of my art in a very serious manner. Perhaps it is the way my eye catches life in both a humorous and ironic way that tinges my work with happiness."
Born in 1944, David Gerstein studied at the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem, and in Paris, New York and London. "I started as a painter," Gerstein reflects, "and, because I was searching for ways to give my paintings an added dimension, I made my life a bit more complicated and became a sculptor."
Gerstein's silhouette sculptures are a combination of materials, panels of metal or aluminum sandwiched around cardboard and painted with bright Permacron paints used in the automotive industry. His pieces run the gamut of the things that he knows and loves. A series of popular sculptures of vases filled with flowers have "grown" from room size indoor pieces to huge outdoor bouquets, three meters in height. Commissioned by the municipality of Herzliya, and called "The Island of Flowers", they line the main road which runs from the coast eastward to the town. His colorful cats are permanent displays of mirth as they do "somersaults" on Cat Hill along the Herzliya shore. Gerstein's cow sculptures in the Cow Park of Ra'anana are a testimony to his grandfather, who raised cows in the early days of the State.
"Life was more pastoral in Israel when I was a child," Gerstein remembers. "I was born in Jerusalem in a neighborhood near Mount Scopus in 1944, when Jerusalem was a small town. Then we moved to Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, a more metropolitan area, and I thought I would never again live in Jerusalem. But instinct brought me back, and today I am happy to live with my family in the German Colony of Jerusalem, and have my studio in the nearby industrial area of Talpiot."
Gerstein's studio is an organized workplace of saws, lasers, cutting tools, paints and storage areas. His pieces of art are silhouettes, usually made of metal. The panels are painted individually, and then several are grouped one behind the other using separators, so that freestanding three-dimensional objects are formed. The passing observer is met with constantly changing images, which often have completely different front and rear views.
"I have swung back into a 'people' phase," Gerstein comments. "Before, my figures were always in motion - marathon runners, cyclists, dancers. Now I work with figures that are more static but catch the eye in a different way. In essence, they are another aspect of a three-dimensional painting."
Gerstein developed this idea after he was approached by the Kohlschein Company in Germany, which makes cardboard and wanted him to design a display for a trade show. "It was a fascinating challenge because of the product, the limited space, and the need for an eye-catching display," he recalls. "I came up with the idea of almost life-size audience figures, each 65cm. tall, shown from the waist up and made partially from the materials produced by the company. Each figure was painted individually and was 'seated' in a semicircular bleacher stadium which surrounded the display area."
The display was effective and made a great impression. After the show, the company graciously sold the pieces individually, and donated the money to a charity of Gerstein's choice: AKIM - The National Association for Habilitation of the Mentally Handicapped.
When Gerstein was asked to do a piece for the Israel Festival 2000, he decided to do another 'Audience' display, this time of 250 figures, whose faces reflected an 'Israeli mix' of features. The figures were also seated on bleachers, made and donated by Kohlschein, and shipped to Israel free by El Al. Visitors to the display could purchase individual pieces. This time, Gerstein donated the proceeds to ERAN - The Israeli Association for Emotional First Aid by Telephone.
The display was huge - 15m. x 5m. x 1m. - and covered almost an entire wall in the main lobby of the Jerusalem Theater. "The figures in the 'Audience' were not smiling and they were not beautiful people," comments Gerstein. "They were symbolic - you could even say like a deep spiritual mirror. The viewer was transformed from the observer to the one who was being observed. It was wonderful to see people smile and laugh as they saw aspects of themselves in the 'Audience'. The faces were anonymous - no eyeglasses, mustaches or blatant identifying features, thus echoing the character of ERAN, whose volunteers anonymously dispense emotional aid to callers who also need not identify themselves."