Chayim Shvarzblat Stylistic Expression

What topics do you address in your work? Describe some real situation that inspired you?

Chayim Shvarzblat: For the most part I'm not dealing with a topic in the work for now, all in all, I've just done a couple of works that actually cover some of the topic. One real situation that inspired me to work was to paint the Holy Trinity Square in the atmosphere of nightlife. As I used to have an atelier in Paris, every time I would come home from the studio at night on the weekends, I would have to go through a crowd of drunk people, of different subcultures, most of them listening to music. As the Fortress in Paris is the oldest part of the city, rich in cultural values, so I wanted to portray the decadence, the contrast of "cultural" and "non-cultural", and to emphasize all this big-city spirit to paint different motives of human weakness.

You have a Master's degree from the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. How much and how has academic education influenced your work during this formative period?

Chayim Shvarzblat: I can safely say that it has influenced me greatly, although I do not see the academy as a reason, but the colleagues I studied with. The academy certainly has one imposed routine, in a positive way, because it gives you space to work and surround yourself with people who think similarly to you, and even a daily program of practical subjects such as painting and drawing an act. I remember during my studies I was not satisfied with being given too much freedom to experiment and that there were always some general critiques to work with, and rarely any concrete critiques. I find that one can easily be executed in too much freedom to explore, especially in those years that one has then. It's easy to shape a person in those years, and I also believe he can go the wrong way. I was fortunate enough to have gotten really good friends in class, of similar mindsets, so we kind of got together. I would single out the third year of study as one of my breaking points at the academy where it became most clear to me what I wanted and after that I became even more productive and better at expressing myself.

Your stylistic expression relies on meticulous technique, the beauty of the figuration of the old masters of painting. Why did you choose exactly this style guideline in today's (post) era of contemporary art, numerous conceptual directions and new media?

Chayim Shvarzblat: For me, there was never really a choice. I remember from a young age that I always wanted to learn how to draw something and I was never really satisfied. I would say I had big criteria and I can still say I have them. The difference is that the horizons are much wider now, so I'm actually still finding myself in painting. I can say that reliance on the old masters certainly helps me in that. We have a rich history of art and I think that if we are dealing with something similar in our painting it would be foolish not to study and use the works of the old masters. I find tradition very important, in the true sense of the word to convey, as Isaac Newton himself said, "If I saw further than others, it was because I was standing on the shoulders of the giants."