Reuven Dattner’s Pattern-rich Israel

Interview by Marcia Milner-Brage

Tree with Yellowing Leaves

I’ve followed your work on Flickr and Facebook, ever delighted by your densely patterned drawings of Israel’s cities and countryside. Your work has a Naïve Art simplicity to it. Tell us about your path as an artist and how your unique style developed. What are your influences?

I do tend to simplify things and I think that is what can be seen in the sketches. I have been a Friday painter for 45 years—until about two years ago when I stopped my regular job and became a full time artist, something I dreamed about all my life. For 35 years I had my own business, manufacturing printed packages. I always sketched, but the last few years it has become a very important part of me. I couldn’t say how my style – thanks for calling it unique – developed; it just did. I am sure I have been influenced by a lot of artists. I have always loved seeing art. But I can’t pinpoint one in particular. When I started seeing Urban Sketchers on Flickr, I remember thinking: I want to sketch like x or y. But then I understood I should be myself and not somebody else.

Sprinklers, Kefar Ganim, Petach Tikva

Many of your cityscapes are of Petach Tikva where you live. Collectively, your drawings make me feel as though I’ve been there. Have you lived there all your life? How big a city is it? Do you draw all over town?

I have lived in Petach Tikva since I got married, 45 years ago. It is a small city of 210,000 people. I draw mainly in the area I live in. But I walk a lot so I sometimes draw other parts. Once I was afraid I would finish all there is to sketch here, but the more I look the more I see. I confess I make it much prettier than it really is  – but so what?

The Petach Tikva that you represent is packed with apartment buildings and structures found in many a large, modern city, yet nature – trees, fields of flowers, sky – often “steal the show”. Can you speak to this?

Clouds over Kefar Ganim

Petach Tikva was once an agriculture community. Modern buildings have been built in place of orchards, and this gives a chance to sketch old and new.

Tree in Winter Apparel

Do you go to other places in Israel specifically to draw?

Our three sons and their families live in different parts of Israel. Every time we go to see them is a sketching opportunity. I am always with my sketchpad. My oldest son lives in a settlement on the way to the Dead Sea above Wadi Kelt. It is a beautiful place. Jerusalem can be seen from his window.

Jerusalem above the green wadi

On the way to see them we sometimes stop in Jerusalem and I sketch there.

Beit Tsefafa, Jerusalem

My second son lives in a moshav called Ein Ayala and it is under the Carmel near Haifa. 

Entrance to moshav

House behind hedge, Ein Ayala

My third son lives in Raanana and he used to live in Yad Eliyahu, which is part of Tel Aviv.

Flags, Yad Eliyahu

Tel Aviv Port

You have an ongoing series of drawings called Flowers for Shabbat. Every Friday you post a new one. A drawing theme, inspired by a cyclic cultural or religious ritual, appeals to me. The ones that are apropos to our Urban Sketchers context include the flowers with the city as part of the composition. Can you tell us how this series reflects your celebration of the Sabbath? As an aside, do you draw on the Sabbath?

I don’t draw on Shabbat. I am what is called an observant Jew. Shabbat is a holiday. We meet with family and friends. No sketching and no smartphones. It is a rest from the week’s rat race. A lot of people bring flowers home for Shabbat. Venders sell flowers on the roadsides on Fridays. My father would bring home flowers every Friday. Since I paint on Fridays, my wife brought the flowers home. I liked them very much. They brought colour and light into our home. They make Shabbat a different day. A few years ago, I started sketching them and posting them on Facebook. Suddenly, I found myself doing it every Friday, and looking forward to it. Recently, I started a Facebook page Flowers for Shabbat.

What tools do you use for these drawings? Tell us your process for executing them.

I sketch with colour markers. I sketch on site, but a lot of times I finish the little details at home. The colour is watercolours and that I always do in my small studio. I don’t change the drawing but I am very free with choosing colours. I use my memory and my imagination. I work fast. A drawing can take from a few moments to one hour.

Thank you, Reuven! I’ve enjoyed this email conversation and getting to know you and your work better. And thanks for supplying this photo of you.

The photo was taken on a sketchcrawl with my friends in Urban Sketchers. We meet once a month, mostly in Tel Aviv. Our organizer is a wonderful artist, Marina Grechanik.

I don’t remember writing so much since university days. I hope I didn’t write too much. I am just a sketcher.