Page 37 - Art-In-Vogue

Just like Chagall created his mythical village, which remains in the a catalyst for his art, resplendent in a beauty that transcends boundaries.
history of art as the space where the laws of reality are suspended so The representation of the female form is a nexus of flowing lines and
that a new reality, seen through different eyes, can take shape in its swirling color, who only serves to emphasize the fact that She is at the
own rights, so Oks re-creates for all of us to experience his childhood center of creation, and essential to our survival as a species.
town in an incredible series of dreamy paintings, whose quiet charm will Oks’ paintings are standing proof, if one needs any, that while his
never cease to fascinate us. “My Childhood Memories” is a gift that the life was dedicated to artwork, he also felt that it is his duty to share
artist selflessly shares with everyone, by offering us the opportunity to this vision with the ones that were fortunate enough to be able to
experience something we’ll never be able to forget. It is a fascinating appreciate it. The freedom the artist experienced when he moved to
experience to see how this universe, depicted in paintings such as ‘Path the US in 1980 was an unexpected chance to explore at the full extent
to My Childhood Town’, about which we sometimes read in history books, the themes that had been of interest for him all through his lifetime, and
can be seen simultaneously both through the eyes of the child who had one can feel that despite the dark moments in his past, he remained
to deal with the harsh realities of life, with moving from one place to forever an optimist, and with every brushstroke, every shade of green,
another in an attempt to find a place in a country torn by war, and having blue, or purple, every silhouette, every little house and every tree, every
to deal with the role of the man too early in life, but also through the eyes silhouette who coalesces from the vivid background, his paintings seem
of the adult who reminisces about the difficult times and in the same are an ode to the beauty of life and celebrate the freedom of the artist
time manages to filter these experiences and to re-connect again and that transcends the boundaries of time.
again to the beauty of a life and a landscape, without and hard feelings. More than ever, in a world which is invaded by the digitized image,
The reverence for nature and the landscape where he grew up, by the copy of a copy of a copy, one feels the need to see painting in the
which is a recurrent theme in his paintings, is in competition only with tradition of the great masters, one that preserves, as Walter Benjamin
his deep admiration for women. The female figure is another one of his explained, the aura of originality. And this is what Leon Oks generously
ubiquitous subjects, and it is not a particular woman, but the concept of offers us: not a digital print, or a collage, one that is just a copy of
womanhood itself and the underlying connection between the female something we have seen in a hundred other places. On the contrary, it
symbolism and nature, the primordial rhythms of life, that is in the focus is exactly this originality which stems from every brushstroke that is so
of the artist, in paintings such as ‘Sunset Dance’, ‘Sound of Silence’, or fascinating, and the pulse of an artist who is always there, ready to take
‘Orchard’. known for his preference to work with models, Oks represents the next challenge (Excerpt).
the female not as a subject, but more as a primordial energy, who is also "Dreamscape" Dana Mann, New York

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