Anatoly Metlan was born in 1964 in Yalta, a city in the southern Ukraine on the northern coast of the Black Sea.
Metlan’s interest in art developed at a young age, the child of two parents who both experimented in art themselves.
He pursued a formal education to sharpen his skills, graduating from the local high school of the arts in 1985 and going on to study at the Krivoi Rog University in Ukraine.
Metlan began exhibiting his work while in college, and soon was recognized in the surrounding community of art and was accepted to the Artists Guild of Ukraine in 1989.
After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Metlan and his family immigrated to Israel, where they continue to live.
Metlan enjoys traveling during the summer to Italy and France, capturing the warmth, light, and bold, vibrant color in the seascapes and villages of their coastal regions.
Metlan’s work has been exhibited around the world, including France, Israel, and throughout the United States. His work is eagerly collected by art lovers worldwide.
These days the artist is focusing on painting women, flamenco dancers and gypsies. The paintings are highly esthetic and full of feminine movement and passion.
Peter Max (born Peter Max Finkelstein, October 19, 1937) is an American artist known for using bright colors in his work. Works by Max are associated with the visual arts and culture of the 1960s, particularly psychedelic art and pop art.
Peter Max in one of his studios
In 1938, Max’s parents fled Berlin, Germany, his place of birth, to escape the fomenting Nazi movement, settling in Shanghai, China, where they lived for the next ten years. In 1948, the family moved to Haifa, Israel where they lived for several years. From Israel, the family continued moving westward and stopped in Paris for several months—an experience that Max said greatly influenced his appreciation for art.
1950s
Max and his parents first settled in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn in 1953 where he attended Lafayette High School, where he was classmates with future actor Paul Sorvino. In 1956, Max began his formal art training at the Art Students League of New York in Manhattan, studying anatomy, figure drawing and composition under Frank J. Reilly who had studied at the League alongside Norman Rockwell.
1960s
In 1962, Max started a small Manhattan arts studio known as “The Daly & Max Studio,” with friend Tom Daly. Daly and Max were joined by friend and mentor Don Rubbo, and the three worked as a group on books and advertising for which they received industry recognition. Much of their work incorporated antique photographic images as elements of collage. Max’s interest in astronomy contributed to his self described “Cosmic ’60s” period, which featured what became identified as psychedelic, counter culture imagery. Max’s art was popularized nationally through TV commercials such as his 1968 “un cola” ad for the soft drink 7-Up which helped drive sales of his art posters and other merchandise.
Peter Max invited Satchidananda Saraswati to New York in 1966 for a two-day visit which turned into a permanent residence for Satchidananda, who became surrounded by many students who formed Integral Yoga International.
Max appeared on The Tonight Show on August 15, 1968. He was featured on the cover of Life magazine’s September 5, 1969 edition under with the heading “Peter Max: Portrait of the artist as a very rich man.”
1970s
U.S. postage stamp featuring Max’s artwork commemorating Expo ’74
In 1970, many of Max’s products and posters were featured in the exhibition “The World of Peter Max,” which opened at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco. The United States Postal Service commissioned Max to create the 10-cent postage stamp to commemorate the Expo ’74 World’s Fair in Spokane, Washington, and Max drew a colorful psychedelic scene with a “Cosmic Jumper” and a “Smiling Sage” against a backdrop of a cloud, sun rays and a ship at sea on the theme of “Preserve the Environment.” July 4, 1976, Max began his Statue of Liberty series leading to his efforts with Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca to help in the restoration of the statue.
In 1976, “Peter Max Paints America” was commissioned by the ASEA of Sweden. The book project commemorated the United States Bicentennial and included the following foreword: “Peter Max Paints America is based on works of art commissioned by ASEA of Sweden on the 200th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America, in sincere recognition of the historic bonds of friendship between the people of Sweden and the people of the United States, recalling that Sweden was one of the first countries to extend its hand in friendship to the new nation.”
1980s–present
One of Max’s art galleries, at The Forum Shops at Caesars in 2008
Max has been the official artist for many major events, including the 1994 World Cup, the Grammy Awards, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Super Bowl and others. In 2000, Max designed the paint scheme Dale Earnhardt drove at the Winston all-star race, deviating from Earnhardt’s trademark black car. He was also the Official Artist of New York City’s 2000 Subway Series, the World Series of Major League Baseball, between the New York Yankees and the New York Mets.
Max first painted Taylor Swift’s portrait as a gift to the singer for her Grammy-winning albums Fearless and Speak Now, and has recently painted new portraits of Taylor Swift to commemorate her worldwide success.
Max is on the Board of Selectors of Jefferson Awards for Public Service.
In 1989, Max designed the cover photo – as well as the 45 (single) picture-sleeve photo – of Aretha Franklin’s ‘Through The Storm’ album.
In 1990, Max purchased a collection of Chevrolet Corvettes for an intended art project, but never used them and let them rot in a series of garages.
In 1994, Max designed the artwork for progressive rock band Yes’s fourteenth studio album, Talk. In 2012, he was chosen to paint the hull art of the New York themed ship Norwegian Breakaway by Norwegian Cruise Line. In 2017, Max did the cover art for the Aug/Sept issue of AARP magazine.
Itzchak Tarkay was an Israeli painter known for his Post-Impressionist portraits done in watercolor and acrylic. Influenced by the work of both Henri Matisse and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Tarkay’s expressive, use of color lent a dream-like quality to his serigraphs, prints, and paintings.
Born in 1935 in Subotica, Serbia, Tarkay and family settled in Israel after Allied forces freed them from a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. The artist went on to study at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem and later the Avni Institute of Art and Design in Tel Aviv.
Later in life, Tarkay mentored younger Israeli artists, including Yaacov Agam and Yuval Wolfson. He died unexpectedly on June 3, 2012 during emergency heart surgery following a visit with the director of Park West Gallery in Detroit, MI.
Itzchak Tarkay was born in 1935 in Subotica on the Yugoslav-Hungarian border. At the age of 9, Tarkay and his family were sent to the Mathausen Concentration Camp by the Nazis, where they survived until Allied liberation freed them a year later. In 1949 his family immigrated to Israel and was sent to the transit camp for new arrivals at Beer Yaakov. They lived in a kibbutz for several years, and in 1951 Tarkay received a scholarship to the Avni Art Academy where he studied under the artist Schwartzman and was mentored by other important Israeli artists of the time such as Mokady, Janko, Streichman and Stematsky.
Tarkay achieved recognition as a leading representative of a new generation of figurative artists. The inspiration for his work lies with French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, particularly the color sophistication of Matisse and the drawing style of Toulouse-Lautrec. He drew upon the history of art to create many of his compositions, designing a kind of visual poetry from the aura of his cafes and intimate settings.
As well as being an acrylic painter and watercolorist, Tarkay was a master graphic artist and his rich tapestry of form and color was achieved primarily through the use of the serigraph. In his serigraphs, many colors are laid over one another and used to create texture and transparency.
“The color is coming. When it’s finished, sometimes I’ll change the colors. It’s not something I think about.” -Itzchak Tarkay
When asked about his technique, Tarkay said it’s impossible to describe. “Can you explain your own handwriting?” he asked. He used his instinct to choose his colors and couldn’t define any other reason. “The color is coming,” he said. “When it’s finished, sometimes I’ll change the colors. It’s not something I think about.”
Most of his choices were instinctive – inspired by his surroundings, the music he listened to, the places where he traveled and nature. Very often, Tarkay painted “en plein air” and brought his sketchbook outdoors. As it grew dark, he would take a series of photos and finish the work in his studio. Tarkay said that the most difficult part of his painting is realizing when a work is complete. He recalled going to a show once after he had not seen his paintings in about three months, having the urge to re-touch each piece.
Tarkay, Agam and Albert
In the later years of his life, Tarkay shared his gifts by mentoring younger Israeli artists including, David Najar, Yuval Wolfson and Mark Kanovich who often visited his studio, worked alongside him and received his critiques. Tarkay was also the only artist to collaborate with Israeli master, Yaacov Agam (1928).
Tarkay and Agam created two paintings which incorporated both artists’ imagery in a single painting. View the video here.
Tarkay spent between five and six hours each day in the studio, six days a week. While he had very little free time, he enjoyed going to concerts, reading books, listening to music, and visiting friends. Tarkay expressed how much he enjoyed meeting his collectors and his happiness to work with the other artists when working with Park West. He felt no sense of competition with them and was proud to have such a rewarding relationship with the artists, collectors, and gallery.
Today, Tarkay is considered one of the most influential artists of the early 21st century and has inspired dozens of artists throughout the world with his contemplative depiction of the female figure. Three hardcover books have been written on Tarkay and his art, the most recent, “Tarkay, Profile of an Artist,” was published in 1997. For more information, view the artist’s bibliography and article pages.
Tarkay passed away on June 3, 2012 after emergency heart surgery. He is survived by his wife Bruria Tarkay, and their two sons, Adi and Itay Tarkay. Tarkay was 77.
Emerging alongside the artistic renaissance of his native country, Israeli artist Yuval Wolfson, born in 1966, possesses both the technical edge of a printmaker and the virtue of a painter. As a result, Wolfson not only arrests our understanding of identity, he projects it in representation.
Wolfson’s talent was discovered at an early age when he was granted a scholarship from the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. His work demonstrates the rare and unique quality sought by many artists: the ability to catch, with gentle and sensitive brush strokes, the changing seasons, their vivid hues, and the declining light of each day.
Wolfson’s artwork personifies the inner-world of emotion, reflection, and consciousness through three central visual motifs: flightless birds, automobiles, and fragmented landscapes.
As the precursor to photography, portraiture evolved to perfectly replicate the appearance of a subject. In Wolfson’s body of work, however, a portrait has symbolic potential. Instead of illustrating an individual’s likeness, the artist uses peacocks, chickens, cars, still life, and landscapes to visualize the complexity of human emotion. Flightless birds personify romance and relationships, vintage automobiles examine progress, and landscapes express “changing feelings and changing moods,” he says.
By repeatedly depicting only a number of motifs in his work, Wolfson poignantly sheds light on the inevitability of change—nothing stays the same, not even in representation.
“I mainly reflect what is inside. The outside is not real to me anymore; [it] is a reflection of what is happening inside myself,” he explained in an interview with Park West.
Away from Black and White
Wolfson exclusively used black and white pigment to create his artwork until he was 18 years old. The renowned Impressionist, Claude Monet, played a pivotal role in Wolfson’s arrival to color and the virtue it signified.
In his first one-person exhibition, “Monet’s Garden”, his painterly qualities were reviewed with much acclaim by the critics. He created 24 variations of one image where the colors differed gradually according to the declining sunlight – hour by hour. Wolfson divides his time between painting and teaching and is also an accomplished serigrapher.
Patrick Guyton fuses his experience as an animation background artist and sign painter with ancient leafing and glazing techniques to create contemporary masterpieces.
Whether depicting mysterious women, flitting hummingbirds, or moonlit ponds, Guyton’s artwork is adored by art lovers and collected around the world.
Guyton’s Personal History
Born in Newcastle, Pennsylvania in 1964, Guyton set the groundwork for his artistic career by the age of 6 under the guidance of his parents, a commercial artist and an interior designer. Guyton’s father taught him the tenants of sign painting, such as concept strategies, font design, hand lettering, and pin-striping.
His industrial town’s traditional career offerings didn’t interest Guyton, so in 1984 he attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh where he studied fine arts, sculpture, and design theory. He graduated with an associate’s degree in visual communications.
Guyton moved to Southern California in 1987. He had aspirations of launching a music career, and to support himself, he worked as a fine and commercial artist, creating airbrush illustration, murals, and signage. Guyton also taught fourth grade art at Vineyard Middle School in Anaheim, California.
In 1997, Guyton joined Linda Jones Enterprises/Warner Bros. as a background painter for legendary cartoonist and animator Chuck Jones. Guyton was also commissioned by Looney Tunes/McKimson Productions where he became the background painter for Robert McKimson, Jr., the son of famous Warner Bros. animator Robert McKimson. Guyton worked on McKimson’s Limited-Edition Sports Animation Cels. Shortly thereafter, Guyton was commissioned by Hanna-Barbera as a background artist and celluloid painter.
During this time Guyton was privileged to study under Maurice Noble. Noble played a role in shaping the animation industry since the 1950s, working on Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Bambi,” “Dumbo,” and “Pinocchio,” as well as the 1966 version of “The Grinch That Stole Christmas.”
“There is no other word than ‘surreal’ for such a thing,” Guyton says. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that seemed to just keep unfolding. I got to work with a lot of iconic animators, background painters, and studios.”
Mixed media on aluminum with sized gold or silver leaf, veined by hand. Hand-signed in pigment lower right by the artist. A unique work
The image was created using a combination of urethane, UV curable ink, acrylic paint and a chemical cocktail that is proprietary to the artist. It is then covered with high-gloss urethane clear coating
This piece was hand created by the artist and is a unique work, yielding characteristics which vary with each work in the series.
Anatoly Metlan was born in 1964 in Yalta, a city in the southern Ukraine on the northern coast of the Black Sea.
