Is it a damp cold winter, is it a hot and humid summer? – The conference room of Kings Bay Library is a sweet escape from all weather’s freaks. And this time as we enter it, we – already seasoned by variety and magic of all previous exhibitions, are still amazed by variety of colors and drawing styles, which are used by Simon Shoykhet. His paintings are diverse, they depict different places, and every painting has a descriptive poem attached to it. These poems are no less artistic then paintings, and explain artist’s feeling of the way he decided to draw the painting.
On one of the paintings – we see the old house in Odessa, where Shoykhet is from and where exactly he used to live. Other painting – depict picturesque street of Venice, there is also still life painting of scenes on Neva River in St Petersburg, and a colorful drawing of Paris. As he read a poem about it – many hidden details of his personal experience about Paris were revealed.
As Simon said – he does not merely paint to copy the place like photographs do, he tries his best to convey the air and atmosphere of the place he sees. For example – look for colorful is the Western (wailing) wall in Jerusalem on his paintings.
As I told you – Simon is a poet as well, but he is even more remarkable as a writer and novelist. His novels are not only about the bright and finest side of life, he writes about wars and conflicts as well.
The desk was laid with books of the novels he publishes, and which can be obtained through Barnes and Nobles. Not every writer deserves that honor. And the book, Simon decided to read aloud at the presentation is “No One Left Behind” it’s a slogan of US Army, as well as of Israel Defense Forces.
He read two stories from the book, each of them is dedicated to soldiers of Israel Army. One story is about David, another about Kazimir. Both of them are remembered as young kids and youths, and after turning 18 they become warriors and defenders of Jewish nation and people at all. Speaking about soldier David – Simon wrote how touching was his two day return for home, how his mother saw him, how friends were happy – but his mother was still saddened in anticipation of his leave for army service. Simon’s tale about soldier Kazimir – can make any spectator’s soul shake or cry. The story tells how Kazimir encounters his enemies and always gets them over, as some of his friends are scared and cry out his nickname “Kazya”. Simon makes us believe that Soldiers are still young boys, and they put their life on line in order to protect their families, loved ones and Jewish nations.
And still – the art is the main object of the exhibition. As Leonid Alaverdov said – his works are diverse in techniques. Not all works are equal but some are remarkable, and Leonid can feel it as if he was there. Simon has searching nature of character; he always searches what to draw. As Regina Averbukh, well known guild member mentioned – his soul is very wide, immensely great, and look how all look how he treats all that happens in Israel! Like it happened inside his soul.
Like many guilds members Simon worked as an engineer. He holds Professional Engineering license in field of electrical engineering. He can not only perform and project work, he can start it from scratch and to be a leader in any electrical construction project. But after retirement – he decided to dedicate himself to art, literature and poetry, because these two fields of research make the work finest