Tomer Itzhak Portfolio
Hello, My name is Tomer Itzhak from Rishon Le Syion, Israel. I am currently pursuing my 3rd year of design studies in Visual Communication Department at Holon Institute of Technology, Israel. My favorite classes are Typography and Photography. Often creating art and design in socio political identity is my forte. Being very influenced by the changes in the society of Israel, allows me to express design through a conceptual medium. I am very curious in learning new ways of thinking and approach which would allow me to see a different perspective of design. I would aspire to learn through sharing of knowledge which will open my thoughts to a varied extent of learning by broadening my horizon as much as possible, because the more I know, the more I will experience. So... here are few of my works, I hope you will like them. Thank you for your attention Tomer Itzhak
“Mom: All right? Me: Of course, what a question ?! We make jokes”
White Lies
Event design: Scarred Design and development of a fictitious event……….. My personal expressions. The pain of combat troops lost from sight of society and fighters dragging images are etched into the soul of their own. They are in the grey area that has no answer. Event included: Scars, what the soldiers unload, tell, sing, and recite in front of the audience, segments they realized to the community what they are going through in their hearts. The project includes: Poster, booklet, songs, website, and video.
Series of events : Video to convey the feeling of being in war Scars - Warriors, unload
Series of events : Soldiers expressing through unloading Scars - Warriors, unload
Series of events : Takeaway cards - notes and poems from anonymous soldiers Scars - Warriors, unload
Tools in the event - war of inspiration
לוחמימ פורקימ -ערב הקראת שירה 10למאי ,19:00 2016בית י ד לבנימ ,שדרות קוגל ,11חולונ
Poster for the event: Scars - Warriors, unload 70cm X 100cm
Booklet for the event: The booklet contains poems and visuals of various incidences faced by soldiers during their serve in the military 15cm X 15cm
Artist Ed Ruscha’s hard-edged brand of
Utility Modern. Inspired by the truncated edges of
California Pop is as singular as it is evocative
the Hollywood sign, the typeface is transformed
of contemporary Americana. But along with the
as letters take the place of characters on a
highway iconography and gauzy California light
stage, hovering in middle distance with a three-
that characterize much of his work, there’s another
dimensionality all their own. The result? Images
element at the core of the artist’s oeuvre: text.
that land somewhere between clarity and mystery, symbol and signifier, art and poetry.
Ruscha’s first brush with artworld acclaim came in 1960s
In the lithograph Mark Twain Quote from 2012, Ruscha takes his ongoing relationship with text
with a series of paintings of single words rendered in polished logo-like typography. Set against plain colored
and image to an even more meta dimension. Here,
backgrounds, the text stood out like enigmatic messages the words themselves easy
of the shadow cast by the letters—the image holds
he “borrows” from an artistic predecessor, while casting doubt on the very idea of the ownership of ideas with his dubious citation. Regardless, as the viewer reads English—or German, as in the case fast as a visual statement. Layers of meaning are wrapped up in a sleek visual package as language dissolves into form.
to read, but their meanings entirely ambiguous. That intersection between text and image has been a recurring theme of Ruscha’s artistic output ever since. By superimposing quotations and other deadpan sayings over landscapes, starkly lit backdrops, or flat fields of color, like title cards from film, Ruscha elevated words to the status of subject. Since 1980, he has delved deeper into this uneasy relationship with the introduction of the (now-iconic) self-designed font he calls Boy Scout The Mountaim, 1998. 193x182.9 cm
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Catalogue design: Text and Image Typography project Design of a catalogue, a fictive exhibition of art and language of 20th century. Idea of art and language inside conceptual art into different levels of typography. The artists are: Barbara Kruger , Ed Rusha, John Baldessari , Joseph Kosuth , On kawara This is the first student book displayed in the library of the college. Original size: 19.5 x 24.5 cm. Current number of pages: 169
I was getting tired of hearing the complaint,
I’m curious about your longtime interest in language. Were you always fascinated by words?
Interview by Susan Sollins
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“ WE DON’T GET IT. WHAT’S MODERN ART? “ John Baldessari
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he wrote: “Dear Karlyn, I’ll be in touch with On and get back to you as soon as possible. He will say no most probably, and of course that will signify he is still alive. With best wishes, Jonathan” I appreciated his support very much and was full of hope. Would there still be a chance to hear from On Kawara? Two days later, on 24 March 2011, Watkins wrote again: “Dear Karlyn, It’s a ‘no’ I’m afraid. With best wishes, Jonathan” At first, I was thrilled about the email. But did this ‘no’ come directly from On Kawara himself? I asked Watkins kindly for a confirmation. Until today, I did not hear from him anymore.
No answer.
January 16, 2009
Dear On Kawara, Do you think the meaning of your work will change essentially after your death? Daniel Marzona Director, Konrad Fischer Gallery, Berlin, Germany
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Just an
Artist
I think I wanted to be a social worker. My father was Catholic and my mother was Lutheran. We went to a local Methodist church and I
John Baldessari discusses language and communication, and how many years of teaching, from preschool to college level, influenced his work in the studio. [Interview]
certainly got a love of literature reading the King James Version of the Bible. I got a real sense of moral obligation and I think that’s why I was a late starter in art because art didn’t seem to do anybody any good that I could see. It didn’t heal bones; it didn’t help people find shelter. Teaching juvenile delinquents was a real eye-opener for me, because they had a stronger need for art than I did. And they were criminals. We had no other shared values, but they cared more about art then I did. It dawned on me that it must provide some sort of spiritual nourishment—as terrible as that sounds—but it must.
I’m curious about your longtime
exactly how this happened—it seemed
words. That’s a description that seems
two years of living in Los Angeles. I
aware of all of the art around me and I
San Diego Fine Arts Gallery. Then I
interest in language. Were you always
to me that a word could be an image
to make me feel comfortable. And I
needed a job, so I started teaching
probably would have been laughed at.
got a job teaching in San Diego public
fascinated by words? It might have
or an image could be a word. They
still have the idea that an image and
in San Diego public schools. That put
In fact, when I tried to show my work
high schools. And then I taught at the
started back when I was painting, this
could be interchangeable. I couldn’t
a word could be interchangeable.How
me back in National City, where I was
around galleries in Los Angeles, that
La Jolla Museum for preschoolers,
idea, which wasn’t unique to me, that
in my mind prioritize one over the
do you feel about people applying the
born. At the time I felt pretty isolated,
was pretty much the result. I’m glad I
a program that was funded by Ted
language could also be art. I never
other. For a lot of early work, I would
term “conceptualism” to your work?
but looking back on it, it was very
stayed in National City because I was
Geisel, Dr. Seuss. Then I taught junior
quite understood categories. Words
have files of photographs that I would
if you asked any artist that you might
valuable. I had the idea that I would
able to find out what was bedrock for
high in a ghetto district. And I taught
are a way we communicate, images
take off TV and then I would have an
think of as conceptual now, if he or
just lead a normal life in National City.
me about art. So what was bedrock?
juvenile delinquents for the California
are a way we communicate, and I
assistant attach on the back of the
she would use that term, the answer
You know, I’d get married and have
That art making is essentially about
Youth Authority. I taught adult school
couldn’t figure out why they had to be
image a word that she thought could
would be, “No, I’m not a conceptual
kids, paint on weekends, teach high
making a choice. I felt that was
and community college prior to
in different baskets. I was getting tired
be its surrogate. And then I played:
artist.” Once I said to Claes Oldenberg,
school, and that would be it. But my life
fundamental. My guess is that when
teaching at the University of California,
of hearing the complaint, “My kid could
I would make a sentence out of the
“You’re a pop artist.” He said, “No, I’m
began to change after I moved back.
you were a teacher you did a lot of
San Diego. Then I was asked to teach
do this,” and “We don’t get it. What’s
words. And then for that sentence, I
not; I’m an artist.” And Roy Lichtenstein
I thought no one was looking or
provoking, provoking students to
at CalArts. In the mid-1980s, I got
modern art? Blah, blah, blah.” And I
would use the images instead of the
said the same. I have the same feeling.
listening at that point, so I decided to
think and to look. What age groups
a Guggenheim grant and left for a
wondered what would really happen
actual words, kind of flip-flopping. In
Conceptualism doesn’t really describe
use text and never touch a canvas. I
did you work with? I’ve taught every
while. I started to miss teaching, so I
if you gave people what they wanted,
my multiple image pieces, I probably
what I do. If somebody wants to use
hired a sign painter to paint the text
level imaginable. I got my B.A. degree
called up friends at the University of
something they always look at. They
had the idea that there was a word
that term, it’s fine, but I’d prefer a word
for me and I’d purposely say to the
at San Diego State University and I
California, Los Angeles and said, “I’ll
look at magazines and newspapers,
behind them and I was building blocks
that’s broader and better. I’m really just
sign painter, “I don’t want it to look
began teaching right away because
teach half time.” They said, “Fine.” And
so why not give them photographs or
or frames. I don’t do this so much
an artist. Tell me about growing up in
decorative in any way but more like
one of my instructors got ill and
I quit working there about four years
text? That was the motivation and
anymore, but some parts of my work
a small town and moving back there
‘keep out’ or ‘no trespassing’ signs.”
asked me to take over his classes.
agocurriculum. Students about in the
when I moved in that direction, thinking
are multiple frames that I’m probably
after college? I was going to Otis Art
I don’t think I could have gotten away
My second experience was teaching
classroom and vice versa and they’re
about language—and I don’t know
building like a writer or poet builds with
Institute and I got tired of that after
with it in Los Angeles, because I’d be
a Saturday life drawing class at the
interchangeable. work.
Interview by Susan Sollins at the artist’s studio in Los Angeles, California, July 2008. Published: June 2013.
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© Art21, Inc.
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if you happen to be in London, Skarstedt Gallery revisits the early works of the conceptual artist Barbara Kruger, from the 10th of February until April 11. The exhibition features her seminal early works of the 1980s, the characteristic large-scale black and white photographs in an equally characteristic red enamel frame overlaid with
whole world. Her chosen method is the overlaying of images she gathers from newspapers and magazines and small sentences, sort of slogans.
quite provocative captions in bold Futura type;
Barbara Kruger This is her story in her own words
The artist communicates all these messages with an
this body of works consists of the captions in her choice of font, though the artist has said that as far as the type of captions is concerned, whatever works!
economy and consistency of typography and means. Her critique on society and culture is very dense and direct, both very important elements, especially in a time when the attention span of people is extremely limited. The observer simply cannot neglect Kruger’s work. Some emblematic captions such as “I shop therefore I am”, “Love for sale”,
On how she perceives art making
“Your body is a battleground”, challenge the sensitive
“It is about objectifying your experience of the world,
Born in Newark, New Jersey in 1945, she studied in
themes of consumerism, identity, feminism and are open
transforming the flow of moments into something visual, or
Parsons instructed by Diane Arbus, whom she considers
to multiple interpretations. Barbara Kruger unfolds in a
textual, whatever. Art creates a kind of commentary.”
to have been a great influence. After leaving Parsons,
very laconic way hypocrisies and puts the observer in the
she started working as a graphic designer at Condé
position of the sinner and the saint, the criminal and the
On the letterforms she uses
On culture and American cities
Nast Publications, where she learned how illustrations,
victim through her bold messages.
“I’ve done pieces that don’t have Futura. Actually, when
“If most American cities are about the consumption
I need type that has to be set very tightly I always use
of culture, Los Angeles and New York are about the
messaging and mass media semiotics work but decided that this career was not for her so she transitioned and
What is so powerful about her oeuvre is that it has proved
Helvetica Extra Bold caps because it sets tighter than
production of culture, not only national culture but global
pursued a career in art. So far, Barbara Kruger created
to be timeless as she keeps expanding her work according
Futura. It cuts through the grease. That’s why I like it. I don’t
culture. You can make good art anywhere. But these two
a very consistent body of works, an art form with an
to the changes of today maintaining their high criticality. The
like to talk about my influences, but certainly they include
towns have an incredible density of cultural producers:
undeniably recognizable aesthetic.
artist is always present, she observes the contemporary
30 years of New York tabloid newspapers, plus the films of
people who migrate to them in order to define themselves
society and continues to form a critique with her own
Sam Fuller, that black and white stuff.”
through their work that they do.” On fame and recognition
Her background resulted in the continuous exploring of
signature style taking into consideration the explosion of
the themes of power, control, body, money, consumerism,
social media in the highly digital environment we live in.
On her artistic vocabulary
identity, Barbara Kruger believe.
Kruger’s work still influences a lot of young artists and
“The so-called language of Barbara Kruger is vernacular
“It’s good to keep in mind that prominence is always a mix
serves as food for thought every single time. There is one
language. Obviously, I pick through bits and pieces of it and
of hard work, eloquence in your practice, good timing and
tiny concern though; the artist has undoubtedly created a
figure out to some degree how to objectify my experience
fortuitous social relations. Everything can’t be personalized.
group of works that is effective, powerful and emblematic.
of the world, using pictures and words that construct and
Prominence is cool, but when the delusion kicks in it can be
a bit apathetic towards well-meaning provocation and
contain me as artist and as person.”
a drag. Especially if you surround yourself with friends.”
Barbara Kruger keeps challenging the American culture and society which has strongly influenced the
criticism. But as she says,Talk is cheap. Words by Dimitra Nikolou, Art historian and Lawyer at art
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Branding : 223 cocktail bar Designing for a bar - brand identity To develop a visual language by designing 5 elements for the brand which includes - logo, menu, website, accessory and standee. The idea is find the right balance between classic and american art decor.
Photography design: Israeli Jewish Arab Design in the context of Freedom of expression The Project talks about expressing self- identity and racism through the medium of photography and typography – interpreting the ironical existence of discrimination. Display of these expressions in the gallery, appreciated by people with similar thoughts. The project includes: Poster photograph and type Size: 100cm X 70cm
Logo Design: For Wine by wine Designing a simple wine bottle opener. The logo was designed from wine. The smaller logos are sketches, the large one is the final logo.
The Cat - A mixed media art from oil ink and water.
Application Design: Coll Haitzuv To design tools of application for accessing to the requirements of the students in the college. The idea to connect students within college to the informative environment and better accessibility to the facilities, events, art and design exhibitions within. The application is brought by Holon Institute of Technology, Israel.
Commercial Art design: Brain Wash This piece of conceptual art design shows the intensity of media penetration into the minds of people influencing the decision making in a larger picture.
“GOLDEN� Tel Aviv This painting represents the socio mass centralization in Tel Aviv faking the charmness and ignoring the reality