Mahtohk

Mahtohk. 2010. Daniel Falk. Pen and pencil on paper. A bird eyes a distant horizon within a landscape of joyful exploration.In Hebrew, Mahtohk means 'sweet', and certainly this bird is enjoying a sweet landscape to be joyful in.

Entity: Reaching for Peace

Entity: Reaching for Peace. 2012. Tel-Aviv. Daniel Falk. Pen and Colored Pencil on Paper. A dove in the center reaches toward the sky, perhaps towards the sun or heaven, as a sign of peace being possible for human beings to achieve. The horse-like figure appears to be flying, encouraging and supporting the climb to achieve peace in our time.  

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Grateful Soul - Tribute to the life and music of Jerry Garcia

Grateful Soul. 2012. New York and Tel-Aviv. Pen and Pencil on Paper. Daniel Falk.

Surrounded by a swirl of life and musical memories is Jerry's sagely face.  A 'steal your face' image appears faintly in the lower right portion, inhaling and breathing the very fire that the Dead's music conjured up for Deadheads to dance to and spin new webs of magic.  A Tye-dyed foundation honors the community Jerry proudly lead for so many wonderful years, and all along, the music never stopped.  Thank you Jerry.

Daniel Falk - Art Show! Tel-Aviv, Israel

A man and his selves (Hollow Man). Series A-4.

A man and his selves (Hollow Man). 2008. New York. Pen on Paper. 18 x 13.2 cm Series A-4

Rooted to an invisible ceiling, a hollow man evolves as two separate selves.  His outer self manifests as a human interface that manages various things, like work, friends and romance; his inner self is where all the wild stuff happens, desires rise, intentions form, reactions occur.  He tries to remain hollow, ready to adapt and cope with new circumstances, but things keep growing on him, forcing him to constantly manage nature’s inertia in a biologically sticky world.  Luckily, Hollow Man can manifest helpful characters: a sexy blonde woman floats in his inner eye’s mind-space, balancing his moods; and a teenage antelope that forms his right ear guards both thoughts (inner) and actions (outer).  A fire-like substance appears in his throat that keeps biology at bay and channels his mind’s experiences and visions into a passion-rich life.

Goat and the Farmer. Series A-3.

Goat and his Farmer. 2008. New York. 18 x 13.2 cm. Pen.

The farmer in profile and his skeleton is all that remains from his wayward goat, which has eaten almost every ounce of muscle and organs from his defenseless body.  The drab, expressionless farmer seems somehow relieved to shed his earthly form.  The goat becomes his captive savior.  Like the artist himself, the farmer shifts roles to relate viscerally with generations of artists who’ve suffered their master’s requirements while sneaking some time for their other interests beyond mere survival. The goat, slightly above and left of the farmer, shows its exaggerated darkened eye and vertical pupil, one that so vigorously enjoys the loom of its captive feast. But how did the farmer become captive?  He lost a wager with two vagabond angels, cupids in fact, that fell from a heavy sky onto a branch in one of the farmer’s fields.  Mesmerized, the farmer joined in a long night of “story-telling” with the angels, which found him elevating beyond his worldly body for a time.  Seeing the farmer vulnerable and seemingly occupied elsewhere, the goat feasted. 

A Horse Runs Up The Mountain, Series A-2.

A Horse Runs Up The Mountain. 2008. New York. 18 x 13.2cm. Pen. 

How does a goal come into focus?  And why does one goal become more preferable than another?  Is it based on mere survival, this common churning and yearning that drives living beings and flora to develop ever more effective approaches to living, of improving their quality of life?  Visible here is a progression, from valley, guarded by an extending tree-trunk, up to mountains glowing with future promise.  A bird-like creature in the middle helps guide the horse safely to its goal: the peak.  But a horse has little reason to charge up to the mountaintop.  Something else has caught its attention above the mountaintop.  This is a fable of reaching beyond the observable and for something one perceives to be within reach, but is perhaps more a part of their imagination, which has created a powerful drive to climb higher, to explore, to unite the solid internal nature of living beings, the mind, with the will to connect with external forces.  Connection with external elements, secular or ethereal, suggests searching for a source of validity of one’s life.  

Series A - Pen Drawings 2008 -2010 - Series A-1. Woman Emerging from the THicket of Time.

Woman Emerging from the Thicket of Time, 2008, 18 x 13.2 cm. Pen on paper. 18 works.
2008-2010.

My explorations with my first pen series begins with a dominant figure surrounded by chaotic, yet orchestrated movement and characters involved in their own stirrings and tasks.  Somehow they are swept together, each heading in different directions at the same time (is there really such thing as the "same time" experientially?).  A slice of time reveals characters blended together, each generating their own scene, or are they just manipulating to the best of their ability?  Figures appear to dance as part of a larger image that provides energy to relate, progress, persist and expand.

I'm excited to share this series with you and look forward to your comments.  Thank you.

Recommended music to listen while viewing: Rodrigo y Gabriela & CUBA, 11:11. 2012. 

 

Give Flight, 2008; Colored Pencil, 52 x 32 cm, - An evolutionary realm churns to produce new life forms…burning, adjusting, and evolving in its own rhythm. Daniel Falk.

Daniel Falk - Artwork: Digital Bunny-Segment 240-Tumblr link

Daniel Falk art work, Tumblr link