CHAKI A BREATH OF LIGHT 1 WINDOW 1427 oil on canvas, 38 x 30 in. CHAKI A BREATH OF LIGHT

198 Davenport Rd, Toronto ON M5R 1J2 I 416.962.0438 or 800.551.2465 I [email protected] odonwagnergallery.com NOT SO STILL LIFE When looking at the works of Yehouda Chaki a format, a title, repeatedly and methodically it’s quite natural to think of the French painter until the viewer shares a palpable sense of time THE PERSISTENT GAZE Paul Cezanne, especially his pieces that uniquely passing. This is largely so because in the end the OF YEHOUDA CHAKI bridged impressionism to cubism, and this secret subject of all painting is Time itself. So it observation is meant in the best possible way. But is with subjects such as Light, Mountain, Passage, By Donald Brackett rather than the rainbow of chaos alluded to by Flowers and his ongoing absorption with the Cezanne, in Chaki we have a calm ceremony of model Nona. Such is the case especially with the colour which is poetically organized, consistently window series, a splendid still life sequence where balanced and explored with a persistent gaze. He any subtly implied window is strictly an open zone “We live in a brilliant rainbow is a mature and long-distance painter, carrying of vitality, within which a pot of flowers resides of beautiful chaos…” the energies and colours of Athens, Tel Aviv and restlessly. along with him on his personal journey Paul Cezanne across the messy map of art history. He invites us to witness a not so still life, and instead they are alive with an almost animal His accumulation of painterly experience is most magnetism, a presence which I suppose we must evident in his mesmerizing use of muted colour identify as the botanical soul. And they remind us merged with primal forms. “Makrinitsa”, a village in again that a landscape is also a kind of still life, Thessaly Greece, is a good example of this muted as is a portrait in a very real sense. But whichever tone used to great effect. Nature is rendered here motif he chooses to render, he often seems to through a nurtured gaze, one that doesn’t require combine all four (portrait, still life, landscape and overly bright colours as a distraction. abstract) in a single painting. A landscape is just a bigger tabletop after all, and a portrait is merely At first glance loosely ordered, his works are another kind of human flower pot, and all art is actually rigorously designed to internalize the already an abstraction from nature. outward sensations arriving at the painter’s eye and to systematically communicate them to the In fact, to call them pictures is slightly inaccurate, viewer’s eyes. He does this by employing a riot of since they are more like technicolour movies which colour but not a disordered riot, rather a kind of he has frozen before our eyes. Somehow Chaki stately procession through his perception of light, has been able to carry the light of Athens and Tel which he shares with us using a consummate Aviv with him to his current residence of Montreal, skill honed over many years as a practitioner of where a new and special Canadian light has been painted poems. added to his arsenal. I don’t know how he does this, perhaps he carries this light in his eyes, transfers it His paintings appear to be full of thoughtful to his canvases, from which glistening surfaces it pauses, “October Light 1310” being a fine is transferred to us. Maybe it’s better not to know evocation of seasonal change, where one can how in the end, and instead just be thankful that almost feel the wind rattling leaves which barely for several decades he has also taught drawing appear attached to trees on a sparkling riverbank. and painting at the Saidye Bronfman Centre of He maximizes a moment here, transmitting it to us Montreal (and is still an artistic advisor there), in a way more real than any photograph, because where at least future generations of artists have we can not just see but feel the light itself seeping been able to benefit from his alchemy. into that hard autumnal ground. Especially in today’s heavily digitalized world of Perhaps most appealing is his use of a serial synthetic images, his kind of ancient foundational technique, returning to a theme, a motif, a subject, basis for the creation of analog artifacts is even more important, not just to our minds and eyes, but to our hearts as well. In an interval, an interstitial moment between perception, expression and reception, we can identify the importance not just of the juxtaposition of quiet, muted colours next to vocal, bright ones, but something even more mysterious: the microscopic-spaces between the brushstrokes. This is where the secret of a great painting resides, maybe even where it hides from us, inviting us to search for it silently, in order to unearth the macroscopic level of the represented image.

Sometimes the smallest painting can contain the largest insights using his macroscope: “Cypress Tel Aviv” is only 9 x 7 inches, and both “Looking Up 1456-W” and “Looking Right” are 12 x 14 inches, yet they all have the stance and stature of images ten times their size. Similarly, the deceptively intimate scale of “Yellow Flower”, “Blue Mountains” and “Fall Mountains” is equally arresting. Meanwhile the shocking blue trees in a larger canvas such as “West 14103” become mesmerizingly huge when rendered next to the curiously abstract hillside cascading off into the distance.

Here, the organic shapes progressing to the right have a geometric and logical quality that suggests all natural forms are based on only a few basic ratios, which indeed they are. Their formation could in fact be a tunnel, or stacked buildings, or Precambrian rocks, which is exactly the source of their ambiguous charm. Our eyes can linger on them without any pressure to adjust our gaze into a forced conclusion and so the landscape, it seems, is dreaming us. Or the portrait is gazing at us. Or the still life is talking to us.

Whatever their theme or format, one thing remains common to each painting: they all magically convey the palpable breath of light.

2 PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN 1368-W oil on wood panel, 14 x 12 in. 3 PASSAGES 1440 oil on canvas, 38 x 60 in. 4 WEST 14103 oil on canvas, 38 x 60 in.

5 OCTOBER LIGHT 1361 oil on canvas, 38 x 80 in. 6 MAKRINITSA 0839 oil on canvas, 38 x 60 in.

7 WINDOW 1491 oil on canvas, 38 x 30 in. 8 NONA 1345-W 9 NONA 1420-W 10 NONA 1350-W oil on wood panel, 12 x 12 in. oil on wood panel, 14 x 12 in. oil on wood panel, 14 x 12 in.

11 NONA 1346-W 12 NONA 1349-W 13 NONA 1472-W oil on wood panel, 12 x 12 in. oil on wood panel, 14 x 12 in. oil on wood panel, 14 x 12 in. 7 WINDOW 1491 oil on canvas, 38 x 30 in.

14 PASSAGES 1438 oil on canvas, 38 x 76 in.

15 DAWN TO DUSK 1205 oil on canvas, 50 x 152 in. 16 PASSAGES 1426 oil on canvas, 38 x 60 in. 16 PASSAGES 1426 oil on canvas, 38 x 60 in. 17 PASSAGES 1493 oil on canvas, 38 x 80 in. YEHOUDA CHAKI IN CONVERSATION WITH CLARENCE EPSTEIN , MONTREAL

CE: You’ve been working with Odon Wagner for more than 25 years. Your last exhibition at his gallery was in 2011. Is there a particular leitmotif to your current work?

YC: Four years ago we organized a show here spanning three decades of my production. We had selected a range of pieces from my studio holdings. In preparing for this one, we realized that despite the fact that all the works are recently created, in terms of the relationship to my corpus of works, each one is, in a sense, retrospective.

CE: As I understand it, over sixty years, you’ve developed and refined a distinctive “Chaki” language.

YC: You could say that. My practice is far from linear. New figures reveal themselves and past ones reappear and disappear. The landscape, still life, portrait and nude while they recur as classic subjects, continue to evolve in my mind and on the canvas.

CE: So you are partial to certain subjects but you regularly introduce new vocabulary, much like an encyclopedia in perpetual revision.

YC: Of all the works that I’ve created, I can’t say that any one has emerged from a purely blank surface nor is any piece ever truly finished. Each is part of a much larger continuum of personal and evolving moments.

CE: Often the term “retrospective” is used in museum and gallery shows to suggest a completed oeuvre. Do you see yourself winding down?

YC: I’m in my studio six days a week. I have enough upcoming exhibitions, projects and commissions to keep me going for years. I’ve never been more productive in my life.

CE: When I walk into your studio, I can’t help but notice the mementos, clippings and photos that compete with the bookshelves, cabinets, canvases, paint tubes and brushes. And yet everything seems to belong there.

YC: You got it. The studio is an extension of who I am. There’s no other place in the world that I would rather be.

Spring 2015 18 FROM HULATA 14105-D ink on paper, 40 x 30 in. 19 PASSAGES 1439 oil on canvas, 38 x 76 in.

20 PASSAGES 1433 oil on canvas, 38 x 60 in. 20 PASSAGES 1433 oil on canvas, 38 x 60 in. 21 WINDOW 1429 oil on canvas, 38 x 30 in. 22 PASSAGES 1462 oil on canvas, 38 x 60 in. 22 PASSAGES 1462 oil on canvas, 38 x 60 in. 23 BLUE SKY 1514 oil on canvas, 36 x 48 in. 24 OCTOBER LIGHT 1312 oil on canvas, 38 x 80 in.

YEHOUDA CHAKI

EDUCATION

1952-56 Studied under Prof. Joseph Schwartzman, Tel Aviv, Israel 1958-60 Avni Academy, Tel Aviv, Israel, under Stematsky, Mokadi, Streichman 1960-63 École des Beaux Arts, , France under Prof. Bercier

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2015 Odon Wagner Contemporary, Toronto, Ontario Waddington & Gorce, Montreal, 2014 Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal, Quebec 1991 Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia Galerie St-Laurent + Hill, Ottawa, Ontario 1990 Galerie Dresdnere, Toronto, Ontario 2012 Gallery DeNovo, Sun Valley, Idaho Robertson Galleries, Ottawa, Ontario Gallery Jones, Vancouver, British Columbia Galerie Madeleine Lacerte, Quebec City, Quebec Newzones Gallery, Calgary, Alberta Galerie Barbara Silverberg, (ceramics), Montreal, Quebec Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal, Quebec 1989 Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia 2011 Odon Wagner Contemporary, Toronto, Ontario Galerie Daniel, Montreal, Quebec Galerie St. Laurent + Hill, Ottawa, Ontario 1988 Robertson Galleries, Ottawa, Ontario 2010 Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia Galerie Dresdnere, Toronto, Ontario JMSB Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec 1987 Galerie Madeleine Lacerte, Quebec City, Quebec Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal, Quebec Galerie Daniel, Montreal, Quebec 2009 Gallery De Novo, Sun Valley, Idaho 1986 Robertson Galleries, Ottawa, Ontario Odon Wagner Contemporary, Toronto, Ontario Galerie Dresdnere, Toronto, Ontario 2008 Buschlen Mowatt Gallery Vancouver, British Columbia 1985 Galerie Daniel, Montreal, Quebec 2007 Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal, Quebec 1984 Galerie Dresdnere, Toronto, Ontario Galerie St-Laurent + Hill, Ottawa, Ontario 1983 Arras Gallery, New York City, New York 2006 Buschlen Mowatt Gallery Vancouver, British Columbia Galerie Lacerte-Guimont, Quebec City, Quebec Odon Wagner Contemporary, Toronto, Ontario Robertson Galleries, Ottawa, Ontario 2005 McIntosh Gallery , Ontario 1982 Galerie Dresdnere, Toronto, Ontario Buschlen Mowatt Gallery Vancouver, British Columbia 1981 Galerie Don Stewart, Montreal, Quebec UNB Art Center Fredericton, New Brunswick Galerie Dresdnere, Toronto, Ontario 2004 Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal, Quebec Robertson Galleries, Ottawa, Ontario Galerie St-Laurent + Hill, Ottawa, Ontario 1979 Galerie Dresdnere, Toronto, Ontario 2002 Odon Wagner Gallery, Toronto, Ontario Robertson Galleries, Ottawa, Ontario 2001 Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia 1977 Goldmann Gallery, Haifa, Israel Hart House Gallery, Toronto, Ontario 1976 Galerie Dresdnere, Toronto, Ontario 2000 Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia Galerie Gilles Corbeil, Montreal, Quebec The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, Ontario 1975 Arras Gallery, New York City, New York 1999 Waddington & Gorce, Montreal, Quebec Modern Art Gallery, Old Jaffa, Israel 1998 Odon Wagner Gallery, Toronto, Ontario 1974 Galerie Dresdnere, Toronto, Ontario Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia 1973 Waddington Galleries, Montreal, Quebec 1997 Virginia Christopher Gallery, Calgary, Alberta 1972 Pucker/Safrai Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia 1971 Waddington Galleries, Montreal, Quebec 1996 Odon Wagner Gallery, Toronto, Ontario Galerie Dresdnere, Toronto, Ontario 1995 Waddington & Gorce, Montreal. Quebec 1969 Modern Art Gallery, Old Jaffa, Israel Virginia Christopher Gallery, Calgary, Alberta Galerie Dresdnere, Toronto, Ontario Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia 1968 Waddington Galleries, Montreal, Quebec 1994 Galerie Dresdnere, Toronto, Ontario 1967 Galerie Dresdnere, Toronto, Ontario Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia 1966 Waddington Galleries, Montreal, Quebec 1993 Odon Wagner Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona 1964 Waddington Galleries, Montreal, Quebec Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia Pollock Gallery, Toronto, Ontario 1992 Robertson Galleries, Ottawa, Ontario GROUP EXHIBITIONS

Chaki has participated in over 450 group exhibitions in galleries across North and South America, Europe and the Middle East since 1959.

SELECTED MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

Beaverbrook Art Gallery Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal Museo de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro Beit Yad leBanim Museum Musée d’Art Juif, Paris Philadelphia Museum Eretz Israel Museum Musée de Toulon Rose Museum, Boston Fort Lauderdale Museum Musée de foyer d’Israël, Belgium The Robert McLaughlin Gallery Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Musée du Bas-Saint-Laurent, Rivière-du-Loup University of New Brunswick Museum

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Abitibi-Price Cormark Securities Inc. Murray Axmith, Toronto Aird & Berlis, Toronto Desjardins Ducharme, Montreal National Assembly, Québec City Aldo Group Digital Equipment, Toronto Olympia and York Avmor Eretz Israel Museum, Israel Petrocan, Calgary Astral Media Fogler, Rubinoff, Toronto Philadelphia Museum Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton Fort Lauderdale Museum, Florida Plutonic Power Corporation Ben-Gurion University, Beersheba (mural) Gaz Metropolitain Reitman Collection, Montreal Bentall 5, Vancouver General Electric, Toronto Rose Museum, Boston Beth Tikvah, Montreal Holy Blossom Temple, Toronto , Montreal Brookfield Asset Management Inc. Hotel Intercontinental, Toronto Royal Bank of Canada, Place Ville-Marie, Calgary Petroleum Club, Calgary Husky Oil, Calgary Montreal (commission) Campbell, Godfrey & Lewtas, Toronto Hydro Québec, Montreal Security Pacific Bank, Toronto Canadian Consulate, New York Imperial Oil Limited, Toronto Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue, Montreal Canadian Embassy, Argentina Jerusalem City Hall, Israel Shell Resources, Calgary CIL Collection, Montreal La Corporation du Groupe La Laurentienne, Monteal SOQUIP, Montreal Claridge, Montreal Lavalin Inc, Montreal SOQUIP, Quebec Coca-Cola Limited, Montreal Loewen, Ondaatje, McCutcheon, Toronto The Robert McLauglin Gallery, Ontario Concordia University, Montreal Loto-Québec Collection, Montreal Torys, Toronto Congregation Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem, Montefiore Club, Montreal Université de Montréal, Montreal Montreal (tapestry) Mouvement Desjardins, Quebec WW Mines Inc.

Front Cover: OCTOBER LIGHT 1305 oil on canvas, 80 x 120 in. Opposite: LOOKING UP 1456-W oil on wood panel, 14 x 12 in. Back Cover: OCTOBER LIGHT 1310 oil on canvas, 38 x 80 in.

CREDITS

CURATORIAL Odon Wagner, Rafael Wagner, Caitlin McCullough LAYOUT Caitlin McCullough DESIGN Angela Wagner PRINTING Solisco Québec

For all works in exhibition, please visit odonwagnergallery.com

198 Davenport Rd, Toronto ON M5R 1J2 Canada I 416.962.0438 or 800.551.2465 I [email protected] odonwagnergallery.com ISBN: 978-1-927447-19-2 National Library of Canada “Chaki - A Breath of Light” Copyright: Odon Wagner Gallery, MMXV