Illustrations by David Polonsky 23 September 2022 – 2 February 2023
A new exhibition entitled Illustrations: David Polonsky will open at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art on September 23. This is the first comprehensive exhibition at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art dedicated to Polonsky, among the most prolific illustrators working in Israel today. The illustrator was born in Kyiv in 1973 and immigrated to the country aged 8. After completing his studies at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design worked as an illustrator for newspapers and TV. He received major public recognition for his illustrations in the Golden-Globe award film Waltz with Bashir (2009, dir. Ari Folman).
Since then, his body of work has extended over numerous projects manifesting the breadth and variety of his multimedia output in children’s books, animation, comics, editorial illustrations, costume and toy design. The exhibition reveals the elaborate processes involved in the medium of illustration and Polonsky’s creative and technical virtuosity by displaying dozens of preparatory drawings, digital prints and animatic animation, along with final prints and other documentary materials.
Polonsky’s illustration style is uniquely adapted to the content and genre of each project. It is common for illustrators and comic artists to form a signature style. Polonsky, in contrast, is something of a style chameleon, determining the correct style for each project by way of research supported by subjective associations, while internalizing the characters’ dispositions and motivations. Each project is informed and inspired by many, varied visual sources, from the near and far surroundings: the history of art and film, the work of notable illustrators from the past, documentary materials, popular culture and scenes from his immediate surroundings, such as an interesting tree or the appearance of a neighbour’s child.
His illustrations for books and films feature surprising viewpoints, refined sensitivity and attention to facial expressions, and bold use of colours and movement. All these give the illustrated stories a personal understanding and contribute to a layered reading of the works. Illustrations, generally, are usually commissioned by writers and filmmakers. The process begins with sketches, and the overall work is a collaborative effort involving professionals from different fields.
The exhibition presents screenplays, preliminary drawings and animation preparation stages by other artists who worked with Polonsky. It seems at times that Polonsky’s works are rooted in a different culture, that they are somehow “foreign.” His gaze ambles between European sources and the Tel Aviv locality. The landscapes in his illustrations feature the typical city window-shutters, balconies and water heaters; the figures walking about in vests and flip-flops look like people encountered in the street, and the strong shadows are projected by the hot Israeli sun. Between Haifa nights and Tel Aviv gardens, between the destruction of the Second Temple and the First Lebanon War, Polonsky, with the internal and external gaze of an artist who is both insider and outsider, captures and defines Israeli visual culture.
