Let’s make faces this Holi!

In this festive time of Holi-Dhuleti and colours, i’m bringing you a versatile artist Hanoch Piven and his artworks that can open an alternative view of observing the world.

Greetings of Holi and Dhuleti, folks! I wish you all a colourful and happy days ahead! Both Dhuleti and Holi have cultural significance in India (which you can always google.) However, the Dhuleti day is looked forward to for the reason it gives to play with colours and paint our loved one. In this festive time of colours, i’m bringing you a versatile artist Hanoch Piven and his artworks that can open an alternative view of observing the world.

Last February, i had an opportunity of attending Hanoch’s talk at Bookaro, Festival of Children’s Literature. (Yes, I still read children’s books.) He is an artist, an author of children books, of television programs and of Ipad Apps. He divides his time between Tel Aviv and Barcelona. His unique collages using everyday objects bring art to life. His talk was titled ‘Let’s Make Faces’ and was supported by the Consulate General of Israel, Mumbai.

Hanoch’s amusing session was aimed at discovering an alternative way of observing the world and how intuition, right brain thinking, serendipity, trial and error and above all, a healthy amount of fun, can trigger our creativity. His friendly talk taught children and adults with children-like-curiosity to look at the world around us with fresh eyes.

I was inspired by his quest of searching the right thing for himself and paving his own path. More than anything else, I loved the fact how he opted for his childhood hobby of creating art as his profession after completing his architecture degree. He did not stop at making such amazing and super creative artworks for commercials, magazine covers etc., but also authored witty books for children. Have a look at his books.

And further on, he is conducting workshops/talks, where more people can learn his art and along the way, find out many more things. Another thing that touched me was his workshops in which both Israel and Palestine nationals participated. The workshops were intended at generating peace by working on the same art project.

Recently, when I was going through my scrap book, I came across Hanoch’s business card. So, I thought of sharing his journey with you all and also asking him a few questions (Three to be exact) by an e-mail. And he, so kindly agreed to answer them. So, here they are,

• Have you explored India? If yes, then how were your experiences?

Very very sadly I have been twice in India this year and yet my free time to explore around was very limited. I have not seen many places besides Mumbai, The Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, and a little bit of Pune.

But..and that is more important to me, I have had the chance to meet a variety of people in my workshops and that is always more interesting to me. I am a people’s person and I learn a lot from these encounters and mainly enjoy them.

• Do you experience satisfaction or joy or bliss when you complete your art works? Tell us something about those moments.

I just finished a new book for children. It is in Hebrew but its prospected English name is Glove Story.

It is about a glove who gets lost and slowly needs to find a purpose on her own. The more she does alone the more empowered she is and eventually decides to go and find her partner. I have been working on it for 1 year and it will print next week.

So right now I have a combination of joy, and fear, and satisfaction, fatigue and anticipation.

• You’ve shared real stories of generating harmony between the people of Israel and Palestine while they worked on the same Art projects. In this time of extreme conflict that many regions of the world are facing, what role art can play for peace?

I have been thinking a lot about this. My thought is that Art can create a space in which people ‘play’ together, and that creates a ‘new beginning’.

A new form of communication exists through the joint art experience. Hopefully some of it will stay after the art experience ends.

It can create a peace dialogue for those who participated in the experience.

It is difficult to imagine Art can change the world but it can change the small world of the participants and that is something worthy enough.

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We wish Hanoch best of Luck for his new book as well as all his creative endeavours. Here is the link to his website, where you can find everything about him, including his TED talk. http://www.pivenworld.com/ And here is the self portrait of Hanoch.