I was born in 1945 in Hadera Israel where I currently live with my wife Hannah and our Children. One of my most vivid Memories as a chaild involved a young British Army Officer who gave me a bullet casing. For years I kept that metal gun shell in my pocket.
I used to rub it all the time and instead of wearing it out, the shell developed a platina and luster, the metal fascinated me.
When I was fifteen I went to sea as a merchant marine. I traveled the world several times. The images I saw in Africa, the raw materials I loaded on my ship, the textures, all stayed with me and I think even now, I work from those images and textures sub-consciously.
Upon Completing my military service (in the Israeli Navy) I knew I wanted to work with metal. So in 1967, with no formal training, I set up a foundry in partnership with my brother-in-law. There we specialized in the 4000 years old "Lost Was" method of casting sculpture.
I had worked in the foundery for fifteen years, always working with other artists, following their concept designs. Then one day, I can't even say I thought about it,
I started to sketch a design I had been carrying around in my head for over a year; my excitement grew, my intensity grew, my joy grew and I knew I was a sculptor. The day
I stopped doing other people's work and cast my first bronze, is the day my life began.
In these modern times, communication through electronic media often denies basic human emotions - Love, Anger, Understanding. I see my work as an attempt to remind people of a more primal form of humanism. In a sense, I see a need to redefine emotion.
Because my work is my passion, I'm involved with my art every step along the way in casting. I have a passion for life and for what makes the world go round: relationships, man and woman, family; this is what my work is about, my work flows, as life flows.
I tell people not to think about my work, if they love it, just love it, that's what I do.
