Alex and Shimon Zonis

Parent/child exhibitions are fascinating -- especially this one where the daughter, Alex, is so different from the father, Shimon.

 

Alex really is an incredible painter - both for the jewel-like craftsmanship, but also for the design (aren't those red and yellow cups beautiful?) -- and the weird, brittle, vulnerable feeling that these pieces give me.

They are disarming - like the screeching sound of chalk pulled across a chalkboard.

There's so much intensity - anxiety - and control.

They remind me of my favorite Wisconsin magical-realist, John Wilde.

 

This piece won the "best still life" award at the 11th Annual Juried Show sponsored by the International Guild of Realism.

Here is a landscape by her father, Shimon

These fantasy landscapes feel so middle-eastern  to me -- like they might illustrate a tale  from Arabian Nights or the Shahnameh.