Shlomi Leizarov : Paintings
Rachel Sukman
Shlomi Leizarov was born in Bat Yam, Israel in 1970. He lives in his parents' home in Ashdod, and divides his time between Kfar Ofarim by ALUT—the Israeli Society for Children and Adults with Autism, and his art teacher's studio.
Leizarov's work is free of rules and restrictions. His paintings convey the beauty emanating from within him, giving a vivid expression to artistic pluralism, which is impossible for "insider" artists who abide by the rules. His paintings have a different, obsessive appearance. They are made of bright color surfaces, filled with either joy or sadness, and are typified by exaggeration, as if there is a truth striving to breach the boundaries of the canvas or paper.
His oeuvre spans dozens of colorful, inspirational "childlike" paintings in various materials and techniques, which articulate his feelings toward people and animals that he likes. They are populated by singers and other celebrities, people who share the same fate, his classmates, his teachers, and most of all—his family, which stars, among others, in a painting depicting his parents via flashes of memory from a trip abroad they took together.
Leizarov's paintings may be ascribed to the genre of Outsider art—art usually created outside an artistic structure or by people who do not regard themselves as artists per se. This genre was granted exposure in various exhibitions, including the 2013 Venice Biennale, where curator Massimiliano Gioni gave it a place of honor. In his current exhibition, Leizarov joins a long and respectable line of artists in Israel and abroad who create in this style.
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