The artist Yonatan Shatil was born, raised, and has lived his entire life on Kibbutz Galon. His remarkable artistic talent has accompanied him throughout his life.
However, in the reality of kibbutz life in the 1950s, there was little room for this passion. There was neither support nor acknowledgment of art as a legitimate field for work or livelihood. Despite these environmental constraints, Shatil continued to paint over the years, building an impressive body of work in scope and quality.
In the 1990s, Shatil studied under some of Israel’s top illustrators, including Dani Kerman, Ora Eitan, and Avner Katz, who played a central role in his development as a caricaturist and illustrator. In 1998, the caricature book "People on All Fours," in collaboration with Rafi Kishon, was published to much acclaim and success. After a few years, Shatil decided to leave his work as a newspaper illustrator and caricaturist, explaining, "I realized I was only speaking to a particular audience that understood and connected with my views. Caricature as a medium invites disagreement and intensifies divisions, and in these times, I didn’t want to be in that place."
Meanwhile, Shatil’s art as an artist deepened, expanding into a touching body of work. The exhibition “Glow in the Grass” began with the book A Kibbutz Perspective, where he recounts the kibbutz story through a broad, poetic, and distinctive perspective, capturing the kibbutz of both past and present. He explains, “The paintings in the book are of the landscapes I grew up in, landscapes that have accompanied me all my life. I wanted to tell the kibbutz story, which isn’t just about those living in the kibbutz but about the country as a whole.” During the creation of the book, the tragic events of October 7 occurred, giving the project a broader meaning. This unique book is a love letter to the kibbutz that was and the kibbutz that will rebuild and flourish.
Following the book’s release, the exhibition “Glow in the Grass” emerged, evolving into a full retrospective of Yonatan Shtil’s work. He explains, "From an early age, I fell in love with watercolor. It was love at first painting. Watercolor allows me to create an endless range of hues, as each addition of water to the original color changes its tone. The transparency of watercolor lets me create color reflections on surfaces of different shades. Watercolor connects to the landscape I live in and brings me closest to nature. It’s the medium that suits me, matches my character, and fits the way I bring a painting to life on paper."
Yonatan Shatil is a poetic, narrative realist whose paintings tell a story. In his lyrical landscape paintings, there is no continuous storyline but rather a frozen moment—a moment that has a past, present, and future, entirely open to the viewer's interpretation. Much like the American Edward Hopper, who tells the stories of people in their private orbits through poetic realism, Shatil narrates a poetic story in landscapes and still lifes, all open to the viewer's interpretation. Sometimes figures appear in his works, directly interpreting the relationship between people and their surroundings. Like Winslow Homer, who offers a direct and energetic interpretation of humankind's relationship with the wilderness, Shatil observes nature and people, seeking to convey something that touches others as it touched him.
The “Glow in the Grass” exhibition offers a pause—a time when personal opinions do not prevent one from connecting with the person standing beside you, even if they are on the opposite side. This is an exhibition that connects through the fundamental human aspect of beautiful art. Yonatan’s art highlights what surrounds us, calling each person to open their eyes and remember what unites us and forget, if only for a moment, what divides us.
Curators:Dr. Galia Duchin Ariely and Michali Adler- Global Art Gallery
Gallery Hours : שלישי –חמישי : 11:00-18:00 ,שישי-שבת: 10:30-14:30 , closing: 4.1.2025
photo credit: yonatan Shatil
