David Gerstein

David (Dudu) Gerstein (; born November 14, 1944) is an Israeli painter, sculptor, draftsman, and printmaker. At the end of the 1970s, he wished to expand the limits of two-dimensional painting into painting in three dimensions. He began cutting out the main subjects of each painting and, to cancel the background,

Simultaneously to his wall sculptures, Gerstein had a great interest in sculpture in public spaces. He created more than 40 sculptures in public squares and plazas in Israel alone. This led him to create many more large-scale outdoor sculptures in England, France, Sweden, Italy, China, South Korea, and other countries. In 2016 he won Taiwan's Artistic Creation Award. His sculptures of bicycle riders were purchased by Lance Armstrong, and were mentioned in Stephen King's writings. His outdoor sculpture "Momentum" is Singapore's tallest public sculpture.

Early years David (Dudu) Gerstein was born in 1944 in Jerusalem to parents who immigrated from Poland. Both he and his twin brother, Jonathan (Yoni) Gerstein, showed artistic talent from an early age. At the age of thirteen, he was sent to a camp for the arts in Jerusalem, which he attended for several summers in a row. Later he took classes at the Beit Zvi Art Center in Ramat Gan. where he studied under Chapelain-Midy [ fr].

After the 1968 revolution in France two years in Paris, he moved to New York and attended classes of the Art Students League, where he learned portrait painting under William F. Draper, and oil painting under Jacob Lawrence. He wanted jewelry design to be considered in the same light as contemporary art, no less inferior for being decorative, equal to other forms of art. Years later, Gerstein remarked that his involvement in teaching in the department influenced his transition from painting to sculpture. Thereafter, he exhibited at Jerusalem's Artist's House in 1972 with large oil paintings dealing with interiors and the seaside, work that received enthusiastic reviews. Among others, Gerstein was compared to David Hockney due to the fact that "like Hockney, he, too, had been first and foremost a master drawer with an excellent color sense".

During those years, Gerstein led a struggle to legitimize figurative art, unacceptable in the mainly conceptual Israeli art scene. The conceptual art trend was irrelevant for him and he chose the less accepted orientation at the time, figurative painting. Gerstein numbered among the few artists, such as Avraham Ofek, Uri Lifschitz, and others, who focused on narrative-figurative painting.

Another inspiration at the time was the painter George Gross, to whom he felt an affinity and who also dealt with what Gerstein termed "the human comedy". In addition, he was influenced by David Hockney, Fernando Botero and José Luis Cuevas, who all dealt with the human experience and people' interactions. This series was based on Gerstein's memories of his parents' generation of "little Tel Aviv"; people whom he regarded with wonder and humor. These paintings express the tension between the sabra generation of the children and the relatively "exilic" generation of the parents.

The series contains elderly people, the "old world" reflected in their faces, as seen from the eyes of a sabra child looking at the "generation of the desert"; the generation that founded the country, having had immigrated at a young age, yet still marked by the heritage of "diaspora". The origins of this series can be found in Gerstein's watercolors and gouache on paper from the '70s, parts of which were adapted to canvas oil paintings. In the '80s, Gerstein developed this into another series of paintings, those of bathers in the Dead Sea, about which Avraham Eilat wrote,"the residents of the balconies have gone down to the Dead Sea where they lie about on the shore, covered in mud, exposing their pinkish bodies to the mercy of the sun's rays and the salt and get slowly fried".

Early sculpture Despite the positive response his paintings evoked, both from the critics and the art world, Gerstein felt the need to renew, find new directions and expand his artistic boundaries. During 1980–1987, while continuing to paint, Gerstein experimented with wood sculptures, which were "three-dimensional while preserving a two-dimensional quality".

Gerstein first showed these sculptures at the Horace Richter in Tel Aviv in 1981. This was a bold step for the 36-year-old painter who had not been known for sculpture previously. The works were of aluminum and wood, and the subject matter was a continuation of that of the 1970s: his mother riding a bicycle, cats, flower vases and various still-life elements.

In the following years, Gerstein showed at two main galleries, Sara Gilat and Ruth Debel, with work reflecting the artist's continued "search" for a new language integrating painting and three-dimensionality.

In 1984 Gerstein traveled to New York, the first time since the conclusion of his studies there fifteen years earlier, and began working with the art dealer Marilyn Goldberg, who ordered the production of six limited edition aluminum prints titled "Art Cats". The series included cutouts of cats inspired by those of twelve known artists, from van Gogh to Picasso and Lichtenstein. In the wake of these works, Gerstein was invited to show at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The exhibit in 1987 was presented under the heading, "From Dudu to 3-D", comprising sculptures that were "colorful, cheerful, amusing and reminiscent of toys or paper cutouts". The exhibit was a summary of Gerstein's three-dimensional work of the previous seven years and was a breakthrough for the artist. Most of the exhibited work was purchased by international collectors and Gerstein was subsequently invited to exhibit in the United States and Canada.

Stylistic development

While continuing to develop his sculpture in the '90s, Gerstein returned to painting in the style that constituted a direct link to the balconies and the Dead Sea series, depicted in the '70s and '80s. The series of automobiles created during this period presents people traveling in a car from the perspective of the spectator "peeping" in at the passengers through the front windshield. Similar to the motif of peeping into Tel Aviv balconies, here too, Gerstein chose the perspective of the outsider looking at the driver through the windshield, while at the same time reflecting the surroundings in the reflections on the windshield. The series was created in Paris during Gerstein's residency at the Cité internationale des arts, 1990–1991.

Outdoor sculptures

Gerstein is known for his outdoor sculptures, many of which are installed in city squares or next to public buildings. His sculptures can be found throughout Israel: ten sculptures in Netanya, twelve sculptures in Herzliya, large-scale sculptures in the campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv University, Avdat, the Yoav Dagon Sculpture Garden in Ramat Hasharon, Memorial sculpture in Yahud and a memorial sculpture in Beit Hashanti in Mitzpe Ramon, Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew University in Rehovot, Raanana, Ramat Alon in Haifa, Holon, Kiryat Yam, Ramat Gan, Ashkelon, Mevaseret, Modi'in, and others.

Outside of Israel, Gerstein is known for his large-scale colorful sculptures, including Roman Warrior is in Bromford, London. In Singapore's Raffles Place. The athletic stadium and shopping mall in Hsinchu, Taiwan, Museum of Contemporary Art in Tainan City, Taiwan; eleven sculptures in the Science Park in Taichung, Taiwan, six outdoor sculptures in the Morgan Stanley building in Seoul, Korea; Star City in Seoul. Five sculptures in a park in Guizhou, China; sculptures in a hospital of Taikang, Beijing, China; and "Tea for Two" in Fuliang Province, China.

His sculpture in the Singapore business district is 18.5 meters high and is considered the tallest sculpture in Singapore.

Artistic concepts

The Last Great Smoker

From the 1970s, Gerstein aspired to create art that spoke to the art world while remaining accessible to the layman in the street. His bold use of color came from a desire to "copy nature." His bold use of colors in sculptures came out of his own philosophy. Gerstein explained that just like the brightly colored fruit or flower in nature attracts insects, so, too, his work was intended to be attractive to the observer; and as the fruit is not solely an object of attraction, but is also a source of vitamins, so, too, his works contain added value. "I expressly deal with images of consumerism and the lure of the color is strategic." His work "Shoe Mania", portraying a woman whose hair is composed of shoes is colorful but expresses criticism of Western consumerism. Gerstein maintains "there can be art for pleasure's sake in which its deeper message is hidden."

Another guiding principle in Gerstein's work is leaving the boundaries of the gallery: "I want to break the unnatural division between the museum and the street."

Gerstein's use of vibrant, bright colors has been called "decorative" and "commercial." Gerstein says: "The forms and colors in my work are my way of communicating. Those who taste the fruit will discover that it is not only beautiful, but also replete with vitamins. My work The Human Circle resembles a huge flower or bouquet, but beneath the surface is a tacit criticism of human life; the insight that we come from nowhere, are going nowhere, and in the meantime, are going around in circles, chasing our tails. Whoever chooses to see the work as a decorative bouquet, is welcome. But if you look at the characters comprising the Human Circle, you will see that they are not pretty. In fact, they are even ugly. But the overall picture is beautiful and seductive". 2019 "SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL" – Froots Gallery, Shanghai, China 2019 "BACK & FORTH" – Miva Gallery, Gothenburg / Malmö, Sweden 2019 Belle Gallery, Denmark 2020 "Art in Motion", Galerie Duret, Paris & Brussels, France & Belgium 2020 "U-Turn", Artists' House, Tel Aviv 2021 "Urban Dream", Galerie Duret, Brussels & Paris, Belgium & France

Selected art in public spaces

1985 "Bicycle Rider", Hebrew University, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem. 1988 Sculptural children's playground, Weiller Park, Jerusalem. 1989 "The White Rider", City of Lod. 1992 "Kiosk", Israel Museum, Jerusalem 1992 Six sculptures at Avdat archeological site, the Negev. 1993 "Great Tree", billboard project in Ramat Hasharon 1994 "Ladder of Motives", Open Museum, Tefen. 1995 Two wall pieces for Bank Leumi, Tel Aviv – "The Flower Vase", Bank Leumi, Rehovot 1995 "Jacob's Ladder", Israel Festival, Jerusalem. 1995 Tree of Donors, The Science Museum, Jerusalem. 1996 "Scientific Orange", Rehovot shopping & central bus station & City Hall 1996 "Head Within a Head", the Hebrew University, Jerusalem 1996 "Island of Flowers", Brigada Street, Herzliya. 1997 "Above the Head", Installation, Hebrew University Givat Ram, Jerusalem 1997 "Pupils", Dizengoff Street, Tel Aviv. 1998 "Cow", Raanana Park, Raanana. 1998 "Roman Warrior", Bromford, London 1998 "Cats Hill", Neve Amal, Herzliya. 1999 "A Whole World", Hebrew University, Jerusalem 1999 Homage to Nathan Alterman, Dizengoff Street, Tel Aviv. 2000 "Audience", Jerusalem Theater, Jerusalem. 2000 Seven large-scale wall sculptures, Azrieli shopping mall, Tel Aviv. 2001 "Day and Night", Azrieli Center, Tel Aviv. 2001 "Colors from Nature", Horev Center, Haifa. 2001 "Things that come from the Heart", Ramat Alon Park, Haifa. 2002 "Soul Bird", Holon. 2002 "Digital Sabra", Waddi Nisnass, Haifa. 2002 "No Favorite Color", Kassel, Germany. 2002 "Shalom On Israel", Rabin Building, Judaism Center, Hebrew University, Jerusalem. 2003 "Blue Mermaid", Kiryat Yam, Haifa. 2003 "Rush Hour", Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel 2004 "Journey into the Body" wall installation as well as seven floors with wall sculptures at the Shaha building, Rabin Medical Center, Petah Tikva, Israel 2004 Sculptures to the "Rabin Medical Center", Israel 2005 "Sun Rise" High School, Ashkelon, Israel 2005 "Butterflies", Mevaseret, Israel 2007 "Ohel Moed", Sculpture Park, kibbutz Hatzerim, negev, Israel 2008 "Momentum" CBD, Singapore 2008 "Star City", Seoul, Korea 2008 Six sculptures ("Sport Island"), Netanya, Israel 2011 Hyundai Department Store, Seoul, Korea 2014 Taikang Residence of Elderly People, Beijing, China 2014 Three Free Standing Sculptures for Athletic Stadium, Hsinchu, Taiwan 2014 Eleven sculptures in the Science Park in Taichung, Taiwan 2015 "Presence-Present", Gerstein / Alana Ruben, Jerusalem Biannale of Contemporary Jewish Art 2016 "Windows" – four sculptures in Modiin, Israel 2017 Five sculptures in National Park, Guizhou, China 2017 "Journey Through My Gardens", Taikang's Residence, Beijing, China 2020 Glass Windows, Exterior walls of Taikang Art Museum, Suzhou Park, Suzhou, China 2020 "Boats" Suzhou Park, Suzhou, China 2021 Donors Tree, Soroka Hospital, Gdolim MeHahaim building, Be'er Sheva, Israel 2021 "Tornado", Hsinchu, Taiwan 2021 Six outdoor sculptures in the Morgan Stanley building in Seoul, Korea 2021 "Tea for Two" in Fuliang Province, China.

Books about Gerstein

David Gerstein "Past and Present" (2012) Skira Balconies, David Gerstein (1984) Domino Publishing House, Israel David Gerstein, "Works" (2010) Gerstein Sculptures (2008), Adar Publications, Israel David Gerstein Paints The Passover Haggadah, Rabin Medical Center Publishing, 2015