Born 1954
Yoel Gilinsky is an experienced artist, currently teaching at the Bezalel Academy of art. His works were exhibited, among other places, at the Israel Museum and the Haifa Museum of art. In his early works, Gilinsky dealt with his personal connection to the Sublime, found in spiritual realms as those of religion, Kabbalah and mysticism. He conducted profound research on the occult world, and represented these researches often with biblical quotes and angel-like motifs.
In 2012 Gilinsky experienced a personal crisis and a sense of fracture, which led to a major shift in his art practice. He moved to focus on images of Israeli nostalgia, reflecting warmth, innocence and a longing for childhood memories. His current works feature his childhood fascination with hand-painted commercial signs and old boxes: he returns to this graphic legacy, depicting objects from the 40’s and 50’s that have become symbolic of that naïve period of time. Returning to his own private history along with the national one, Gilinsky offers a colorful and nostalgic glimpse into the past.