All photos by Ingrid Muller
In May we put together an exhibition of our son Gadi's drawings in a local gallery space, to mark the year since
his passing. While Gadi created some wonderfully detailed artwork over the
years, we never expected to be putting together a show of his art for a long time to
come. It was something that I hoped - no, believed - would happen one day in the
future. The events of
21st May 2022 changed all that and when a friend, curator Shira Friedman, approached
us with the idea of putting together an exhibition of Gadi's work, we thought it was
the perfect way to remember Gadi and to share his talent.
Gadi loved to draw. He would spend hours in his room creating highly detailed
pieces based on his passions at the time. He drew football players and
knights, animals and steampunk characters, mythical islands and maps. There
was a long period when he drew football stadium after football stadium,
concentrating not on the pitch but on the crowd. These stadiums are not the
stadiums that Gadi visited in his short life. We can’t see Ironi Modi’in’s
stadium, nor Hull City’s. He didn’t draw Camp Nou, which we toured back in
2017, or the Emirates. These are the stadiums of Gadi’s imagination, filled
with animated crowds waving flags and banners and setting off flares. He drew
each piece in great detail, using an extra fine pen to add each and every
member of the crowd and to include even the wording on their banners.
Football stadiums aside, Gadi’s work was almost always in black and white.
Though he had drawers full of felt tip pens and coloured pencils, he preferred
a simple graphite pencil and, later a super fine black pen. His early drawings
are sweet and simple but with a strong use of line to define his shapes and
figures. His later pieces are small in scale but full of detail.
Gadi was not precious about his work. He was proud to show us his drawings
when he was satisfied with them but many, many pieces ended up in the rubbish
bin as well. The reason we were able to hold this exhibition was because I
carefully saved what I felt were the best of them when tidying up Gadi’s
incredibly messy room! Aviv, Gadi’s best friend, did the same when Gadi would
leave his drawings lying around at school.
Gadi was still drawing when he was in the IDF (Israel Defence Forces). His sketchbook was found in his tank. He had told friends that he wanted to make better use of the many spare hours he had, when he found himself sitting around doing very little.
The exhibition was visited by hundreds of our friends and many others who had
heard or read of Gadi's story in
The Jerusalem Post, Israel's most-read English newspaper. The mayor of
Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut came, as did senior members of the IDF and many of
Gadi's soldier friends. The opening night - after months and months of
planning - was somewhat stressful because four hours before the exhibition was
due to open, missiles started coming over from Gaza. We decided to go ahead
with the evening anyway, posting on social media where there were protected
spaces if needed!
Gadi was still drawing when he was in the IDF (Israel Defence Forces). His sketchbook was found in his tank. He had told friends that he wanted to make better use of the many spare hours he had, when he found himself sitting around doing very little.
Gadi was also a brilliant writer.
His short stories, written from the age of six and upwards, were very,
very funny. Characters such as Felinius the Genius and Mister Bakewell
Tart were so very English that it was hard to believe they had been
thought up by a young boy living in Israel! I don’t remember ever having
made a Bakewell Tart in my life, but Gadi was a voracious reader and
probably learnt all about them from a book. As he got older, he wrote
less, but the stories remain as amusing as the day he penned them.
A particular favourite of ours was a long story he wrote for Mister
Handmade in Israel's 50th birthday back in 2014. In fact, the name we gave
to the exhibition, "The Good, the Bad and the Snoring", was the name 11
year old Gadi gave to the story. With the help of Mister Handmade in
Israel's brother and his amazingly talented friends and colleagues in the
UK, this story was made into a wonderful short film which we showed on
the opening night of the exhibition.
I have posted it below for you to enjoy too.
I am sure that Gadi would have been very proud of the exhibition and happy
that so many people were able to see his work. I only wish he had been there
to enjoy it for himself.
* This post has been shared on My Corner of the World and Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday).
17 comments:
such a wonderful tribute to your son. I am terribly sorry for your loss.
What a wonderful way to remember Gadi. I loved 'The Good, the Bad and the Snoring'! xx
What a great tribute for you son.
What a beautiful tribute to honor Gadi.
It was the perfect tribute to the incredibly talented Gadi
What a beautiful tribute to your son.
Sending love and hugs. x
Can you have the written work collected and self published? Even if you only have 100 copies made, to distribute to proud members of the family, schools and suburban libraries.
So lovely
An amazing tribute, Dear Lisa. I'm sending a big, strong hug. I'm sorry I haven't been to visit for a while, I was on a blog break.
Amalia
xo
What a wonderful tribute to Gadi, he had such amazing talent. Sending lots of love and hugs from across the miles xx
This is a wonderful celebration of Gadi's life and talents. It is bittersweet and touches my heart.
That sounds like such an incredible tribute to your son's memory.
What a beautiful way to celebrate Gadi and his amazing talent.
The Good, the Bad and the Snoring is brilliant! I take it you didn't like Richard's green hat hehe.
Sending you all lots of love and big hugs. xx
What a wonderful tribute to Gadi. It's lovely that you have such a collection of his creative work to remember him by.
#MMBC
What a wonderful way to celebrate Gadi's amazing talents. Sending much love xx
I just watched the video and was deeply disappointed that the monkey, the gorilla, had eaten that insect. Fortunately, it was just a dream. Wow, what a brilliant story!
Thank you for sharing it.
This is a wonderful tribute to your son. I feel so sad to learn what happened to Gadi, but still, his creativity is there to remember him. He was such a talented guy!
#MMBC
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