Gabriel Zalkin

Lives and works in Woodridge, NY, USA

Artist statement

Born in the USA to a Nicaraguan and Jewish family, Gabriel Zalkin is a painter and illustrator with a practice in his hometown of Woodridge New York. He earned an undergraduate degree from the State University of New Paltz in January of 2019, and is also a fiction writer. His painting practice concerns spirituality and the imagination through the lens of a blended mythology. Along with these themes, he uses the versatility of oil paint to create original reflections on the mysterious. These paintings, while not classical, are traditionally made and very figurative, albeit whimsical. He prefers wood panel to canvas and looks back to the old Northern European Masters for inspiration, but also to Central American and Medieval manuscript art. For his illustration pieces, he employs watercolor, colored ink and black ink to make portraits and illustrations that hearken to ukiyo-e style portraits and modern manga, as well as western-style cartooning. For this he prefers paper as a medium though he is adapting to digital. His illustrations are more spontaneous reflections of his fancies and concentrated attempts to evoke a certain feeling or mood. "I don't ascribe to any artistic movement and I'm always learning through art, language, and literature. Rather, I find it better to develop in the direction that moves me and to see what comes out of that, to let my art come out of the wellspring of my internal influences and pressure from the external world. My work focuses on...

Artwork