About

Yaniv Dror-Fogel, born in 1975 in Israel, is a painter and painting teacher.

Graduating from industrial design studies at Bezalel and art studies at Beit Berel College, for the past two decades- Yaniv has been teaching painting in his studio in Nes Ziona using a unique teaching method he developed.

Yaniv paints using oil on canvas, focusing on Israeli nature and figures. The paintings present his feelings in those places he loves, where he lives and instil feelings of calmness, peace and the joy of life.

The variety of painting techniques and styles he uses, allows him to express his unique impression of the landscape before him. The painting does not claim to imitate reality exactly, as in photography, but to express the ideas and feelings of the artist regarding reality and how to describe it. 

In his paintings, Yaniv uses diverse techniques to create a realistic look, with different degrees of reference, and to describe different textures of nature (soil, rocks, water, etc.). The focus of attention in the picture is drawn precisely and with great attention, and other areas, those more distant, are depicted with free brush strokes with a paucity of details, sometimes to the point of complete abstraction. In his paintings that combine abstract and realism, layers of color are placed first to create an abstract painting. These layers give the painting an atmosphere, emotion and randomness that will be preserved later on. From the abstract emerge the objects, processed with a level of detail, precision and different techniques. The abstract adds to the figurative motifs an atmosphere and a feeling that goes beyond a simple three-dimensional representation. Yaniv's paintings can be seen as influenced by artists who throughout history have been involved in describing reality while emphasizing style and atmosphere such as El Greco and Turner. You can also see an influence from Cézanne's paintings and the tension created in them between description and abstraction.

Yaniv's paintings echo the preoccupation with questions about the selective human gaze. Beginning the work on the painting as an abstract painting, allows a central place in the creation for coincidences, divine intervention and unconscious creation. This is a subjective view condensed with charges of emotion, randomness, impression and thinking.

Yaniv's paintings echo the preoccupation with questions about the selective human gaze. Beginning the work on the painting as an abstract painting, allows a central place in the creation for coincidences, divine intervention and unconscious creation. This is a subjective view condensed with charges of emotion, randomness, impression and thinking.