Yehouda Chaki ~ Painter

Yehouda Chaki was born in Athens in 1938, lived in Tel Aviv from 1945 until 1960, and then emigrated to Montreal, Canada in 1962 where he continues to live and work. From 1967 until 1989, Chaki was head of Painting and Drawing, Department of Fine Arts, at the Saidye Bronfman Centre. Presently, he still acts as an artistic advisor for the centre.

Chaki was educated both in Tel Aviv and at the École des Beaux Arts, Paris. He began exhibiting in group exhibitions in 1959, and solo exhibitions in 1962. Chaki is represented in collections around the world, and the subject of “Chaki: A Language of Passion”, published by Buschlen Mowatt Fine Arts, Vancouver, 1994.

The essence of Chaki’s work has been described as a collision of the outside world with the artist’s innermost visceral perceptions. His most recent work: landscapes and still-life’s, are created by selecting and assembling commonly known elements of nature so as to present us with a newly ordered vision of the world. Although no element in his artworks can be traced to actual places and plants, he presents us with a believable reality yet entirely of his own

making. The essence of the painting is to be found in their execution. Shapes are defined by forceful lines or clashes of colour, distance is conveyed by subtle shadings contrasting with brutal overlaps, light and mood proceed from chromatic interplays laced with telling brushwork.

Emotion and reason coexist and complement each other in these works. Reason being the product of Chaki’s extraordinary drawing skill, emotion guiding his sense of colour. When read in depth, a landscape done by Chaki leaves us with substantial intellectual pleasure and vast emotional enrichment.

Excerpts from “Introduction”, “Chaki: A Language of Passion”, by Leo Rosshandler, IAAC.