Help us congratulate Shai Yossef, whose large-scale painting “Free Falling” won in the Best Figure category of the monthly PleinAir Salon (March 2023). Enter your best work today at PleinAirSalon.com.
On “Free Falling”
By Shai Yossef
shaiyossef.com
“Free Falling” was created by the influence of two different sources of inspiration: my concealed love for dance, and my love for the story of Jonah the prophet. These two sources are perfectly interwoven in Hozier’s wonderful song and great video – Movement.
Jonah experiences a divine revelation and receives a mission to deliver a prophecy of rebuke to the people of the city of Nineveh. His attempt to escape from the mission and his desire to free himself from it even at the cost of his life when he is thrown into the sea, expresses a frustrating entrapment and complete helplessness in a situation where we sometimes want to escape and live our lives peacefully and without obligations, but we don’t have that ability.
The movement in my painting is the fall of Jonah into the great sea. A very stylized, dramatic, and ceremonial fall … Dance.
Large canvases give me space to move and work freely with the colors which in most of my paintings are usually very colorful. In this painting, the shades are unusual and are especially certain to emphasize a feeling in which our soul is in conflict and lack of control.
The size of the fabric is also extremely big – like the fall of a big man who wanted to stay small and big like a small dancer on a large stage. In both situations, he cannot really disappear. There are things greater than him – crowd, sea, God.
About the PleinAir Salon:
In the spirit of the French Salon created by the Academie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, this annual online art competition, with 11 monthly cycles, leading to the annual Salon Grand Prize winners, is designed to stimulate artistic growth through competition. The competition rewards artists with $50,000 in cash prizes and exposure of their work, with the winning painting featured on the cover of PleinAir Magazine.
Winners in each monthly competition may receive recognition and exposure through PleinAir Magazine’s print magazine, e-newsletters, websites, and social media. Winners of each competition will also be entered into the annual competition. The Annual Awards will be presented live at the next Plein Air Convention & Expo.
The next round of the PleinAir Salon has begun so hurry, as this competition ends on the last day of the month. Enter your best art in the PleinAir Salon here.
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