By Rabbi Yitzchok Frankfurter

The Art of yoel Glick

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1 4 I YA R 5 7 7 4 / / MAY 1 4 , 2 0 1 4 / / A MI MAG A Z I NE 75
L
iving between opposite poles, every-
thing about Yoel Glick, who is known
in the art world as Joel Gluck, seems to
be a contradiction. At once both a rigid
chasid and an exploring aesthete, his
long brown beard and peiyos appear
inconsonant with his paints and
brushes. His manner and demeanor,
in fact, clash wildly with his easel.
Yoel lives in the Satmar community of Kiryas Joel. His paint-
ings are exhibited in the Betzalel Gallery, located in the mostly
Lubavitch neighborhood of Crown Heights. Yet upon meeting
Yoel, he strikes one as a model of harmony.
A poet once had this to say about painters: Every artist dips his
brush into his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pic-
tures. If that is true, Yoel Glick must have a very tranquil soul,
because his pictures are not only good but the epitome of calmness.
Art
Aristotle philosophized: The aim of art is to represent not the
outward appearance of things, but their inward signifcance.
Thats quite a weighty concept, but what in fact is art? It is nei-
ther painting, poetry nor music but that indescribable something
that painting, poetry and music elicit.
Indeed, the defnition of art has been debated among philos-
ophers and thinkers throughout the ages. Whether art can be
defned at all is a matter of great controversy.
The description of art as the expression or application of human
creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as
painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily
for their beauty or emotional power is a good working defnition,
but since it lacks clearly-defned parameters it ultimately fails.
One is perhaps best served by the phrase uttered by the late
Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart to describe his threshold test
for lewdness: I know it when I see it. This colloquial expression,
which became one of the most famous phrases in the entire his-
tory of the Supreme Court, is a matchless description of that which
cannot ultimately be described. Art, as every art lover knows, falls
into this category. It is a form of expression that does not serve any
purpose other than to stimulate otherwise inexpressible aesthetic
experiences.
Leonardo da Vinci, the leading fgure of the Italian Renaissance,
wrote about the superiority of painting over poetry and music.
Whether or not painting is indeed supreme, what Yoel and I have
in common is that we both appreciate painting best. Yoel, how-
ever, is a frst-class producer of paintings, whereas I am merely a
spectator.
Yet what makes him so intriguing is not only his understanding
of art, but how art occupies a place of honor on the continuum of
his quest for spirituality. The sincerity of the artist and the degree
to which he feels the emotion he transmits have always been con-
sidered important elements in an artists fnal product. Yoel, at 30,
is genuine and sincere.
I meet Yoel at the Betzalel Gallery and continue our conversa-
tion in Prospect Park. The weather is mildperfect, actuallybut
what I enjoy the most is our engaging dialogue. Yoel is also trying
to paint my portrait as we speak but its a non-starter, since like
every good Jew he talks with his hands.
When I point this out to Yoel, he responds with the anecdote
about the two Jews and the Englishman who are crossing the ocean
by ship. The Jews, who dont know how to swim, start arguing
with each other about what to do if the boat sinks, gesturing with
such vigor and enthusiasm that the Englishman backs away to
avoid injury. A moment later the ship actually begins to sink. All
of the passengers, except for the Jews, who are too wrapped up in
their argument to notice, jump overboard. After a long, exhaust-
ing swim, the Englishman fnally reaches the shore, where to his
amazement the two Jews greet him with a wave. Astonished, he
asks them how they got there. We have no idea, one of them
replies. We just kept talking in the water.
Origins
Yoel shares that he started drawing as a little kid. My mother, as
well as her mother and brothers, used to draw a lot. On Sukkos,
the whole city would come to see my grandmothers brothers pic-
tures. My grandmother was an einikel of Reb Itche Landau, who
was a brother-in-law of the chasidic composer Rav Berish Vishiver.
They were all artistic people. My grandfather was also a famous
baal tefllah in Chust.
Then when I was 12 years old my mother gave me one of her
pencils as a bribe, and taught me the rudiments of drawing. I really
started getting into it, making simple images and drawing mono-
grams. But other than that I was completely untrained. It wasnt
until shortly after my chasunah, about seven or eight years ago, that
I decided I wanted to paint.
For parnasah?
Yes, but also just to pursue my art. My wife thought it was
funny for a yungerman to spend money on art supplies. I prom-
ised her that one day Id be able to sell my paintings and make a
living from it.
Ill never forget the frst time I bought oil paints and realized just
how diffcult it is to paint. I understood right away that I needed
to fnd a teacher. I began with an art teacher in Boro Park but soon
saw that he was doing most of the painting and that I wasnt really
learning anything, so I left him.
Im a big searcher. When I want something, Ill look and look
until I fnd it. I eventually found someone near me in Monroe
who owned some very nice paintings. I asked him who the artist
was and he told me Gershon Becker. So I went to Beckers house,
knocked on his door and asked him to teach me. Why not? he
said. I started going to him once a week. He taught me how to paint
still lifes. Later, I went to learn from somebody else. I acquired a
76 A MI MAG A Z I NE / / MAY 1 4 , 2 0 1 4 / / 1 4 I YA R 5 7 7 4
lot of knowledge and skills from each of my
teachers and even started to sell some of my
paintings.
One of my problems was that they all
wanted me to go to art school. But an ehrli-
che Yid cant go to art school. I told them,
Youll see. Ill act like an ehrliche Yid and
still become a good artist. I was deter-
mined to prove it was possible.
Then I found another teacher named
Paul McCormack. He had a totally differ-
ent mehalach called the academic approach,
which involves making a tight drawing
beforehand and then working around it. Its
important to learn the basic technical draw-
ing skills. Nowadays I dont think you can
detect anything in my paintings of what I
learned from him, but without him I doubt
it could have taken off. He showed me
how and what to see and how to express it,
along with perspective and relativity, how
big and small objects appear in relation to
each other.
After him I studied under Max Gins-
burg, one of the biggest American realists.
Hes a real Yid. He lives in Manhattan and
has a studio near Williamsburg.
Was all of that training expensive?
Not terribly. One teacher charged $70 a
week; another one, $120. Its not the same
as with music teachers, where the good
ones charge a lot. In fact, the best artists
charge the least because theyre not inter-
ested in the money. My present teacher
does it for free.
You still have a teacher?
Yes. I still go to Ginsburg when male
models are posing for him. Were very
close. He comes to my house on Chanu-
kah. He would do anything for me. He told
me that it took me only a few months to
learn certain things that took him 80 years
to absorb. Hes 94 years old.
Ginsburg is a realist, with a style
somewhere between Rembrandt and John
Singer Sargent. Hes similar to the Russian
realists like Shishkin, who made beautiful
landscapes. He has a very strong freehand
with the brushzaftige paint! I go to him
every once in a while.
I used to do other things as well, like
graphic art, but now I paint all day long
for a living.
You seem to live and breathe it.
I do. I feel that if I diluted my focus and
concentrated on other things at the same
time my painting wouldnt come out right.
You have kids?
Four, baruch Hashem.
And you support your family through
your art?
My wife still works and I teach painting
to boys age seven until bar mitzvah. I also
give music lessons in the evenings to a few
bachurim. Together we support our family.
How many students do you have?
Around 40.
I fnd it surprising that parents in Kiryas
Joel send their kids to art and music les-
sons, I say.
Fathers want their children to develop
their talents, he counters. I actually
encounter more resistance to music lessons
than painting.
What instrument do you play?
Self portrait
Setting up at the Betzazel Gallery
Mostly fddle. Also clarinet and a little
guitar.
Do you play at weddings?
A little. Im not the most professional
player yet.
Two Sides of the
Same Coin
Which do you consider the higher art,
painting or music? I ask.
For me, painting and music go together,
he explains. I need to have a tape on when
Im painting because it infuences me a lot.
For example, if Im painting a person I need
to listen to music thats intense. When I
fnish, I can look at it and see the colors and
know which music was playing. Towards
the end of a painting I often put on some
happy music and add a lot of color.
Painting and music speak the same lan-
guage, he continues. They both have
color and rhythm. A painting is also a com-
position, a series of notes. It has a certain
direction and mood. Its mamash the same
thing.
Most of the great violinists were Jewish.
Many grew up in the Jewish towns of
Poland. There were fewer Jewish painters
because they couldnt get the training or
the jobs. But Jewish music was very devel-
oped.
There are far fewer people in the world
who can understand good painting than
good music. Its even easier for the ear to
appreciate music that is off key than the eye
Still Life with Apples
Shuk Meah Shearim
to appreciate visual art.
But youre frst and foremost a painter
rather than a musician.
Yes. Ive studied painting thoroughly.
Im good with music, but I still have a
lot to learn. The study of music is much
harder than the study of art because you
dont actually produce music for quite a
long time, as its all technical in the begin-
ning. When you study art, youre already
making it.
Lets talk about your paintings. I dont
sense a diversity of moods, I tell him.
They all seem upbeat. With Monet, you
can see different moods.
Most of the paintings at the Betzalel Gal-
lery are studio paintings, canvasses that are
produced over the course of a few weeks.
So its harder to see moods in them than
in the paintings I make from life, sitting in
the street. Last week I made a painting of a
tree. You can really sense my mood in that.
I can only paint what I feel. A person isnt
always joyful. Life doesnt work like that.
Some people see painting as a way to escape
from real life; I see it as the opposite. Art
isnt a disconnect from life; its reality. For
some Jewish artists its all about expressing
beauty. Other artists bring out their pain as
well as their joy, all their feelings.
Rembrandts paintings are rich with
emotion, I assert.
Rembrandt kept on painting his own
face; he and van Gogh. There are reasons
why a person paints himself. When I paint
a person from a photograph, sometimes
people say that I didnt capture the true
him. But when I paint a person from real
life, I connect and capture his spirit. I feel
his nefesh. Its totally different. Thats why I
try to work as often as I can from real life.
You can see the neshamah on his face, in his
facial features.
Why do you paint from photographs at
all?
Because its very hard to paint Jewish
scenes from life. Its hard to get three kids
to sit still for you. But for every painting I
make from a picture I need to make four
from life: still lifes, portraits.
Why do you keep painting street scenes
of Meah Shearim?
My dream is to live there. I know every
stone, every nook and cranny. Ive studied
it. I know the place better than people who
have lived there their entire lives.
Someone once observed me painting in
Meah Shearim and asked, How can you
paint such a dirty place?
I dont know what you mean, I replied.
I see so many colors here as well as beauty.
Painting is a very complex art, because it
also entails knowing what not to paint. You
have to know what to select; you cant paint
everything and you have to move things
around. A good landscape artist captures
the feel of a place but rearranges it how he
thinks is best.
Youre also a photographer?
Yes. In a certain way, photography is the
same chochmah as painting.
Aesthetics
Sitting in Prospect Park, I point to an
old and twisted tree. If you notice, I say,
theres a bit of pink in the foreground.
The composition of the colors and the
expressiveness of the shrubbery make it a
masterpiece. The old tree still has life in it,
but it looks like an old man.
Green and red are colors that are very
striking when you put them together, he
says in agreement. Can you see the purple
and green in the shadows?
I confess that I cannot.
Another thing, he continues in a philo-
sophical vein, is that you really cant paint
a tree or a nose. You can only paint paint.
An artist has to know his paint and know
what it can do and create an illusion of a
tree or a nose. I cant just copy what I see. If
you only copy, its going to lack life. I have
to translate what I see into the language of
art.
If an artist has his own feelings, youll
feel it in the painting. If the artist is an
empty person, a cipher who just paints,
you wont understand what the painting is
saying.
How important is it for you to paint out-
doors?
Its one of the most important things to
me.
En plein air, or outdoor painting, which
was so important to the Impressionists,
isnt so popular today, I say.
But my teachers did it a lot. My current
teacher paints mostly faces but says that he
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sometimes has to go outdoors to paint the poetry of nature. Only
nature provides you with all the colors. You can only capture them
when painting from real life.
Im 30 years old. Young painters are usually much tighter.
Rembrandt became increasingly looser the older he got. That
means allowing the viewer into the painting to see the process
along with you. A lot of times paintings look half-fnished because
the artist is letting the viewer in. It also shows that the artist hasnt
solved all the problems. Hes left it open to the viewer to complete.
When I paint, he adds, Im not thinking about the subjects
nose or mouth. I think about color and form, in the abstract.
Every painting starts with a concept; its about color or light or
direction. This tree would be about shade.
What about perspective?
Every painting consists of a lot of things. The question is what
you want to bring out.
Some painters have said that painting is all about light. What
are your thoughts on that?
Rembrandt painted light and put fgures into it. Other artists
painted fgures and put light on them. Rembrandt was all about
light. His genius was in understanding its nature. Shadows are
transparent; light is opaque. Light hits an object with a sharp edge.
There are so many things that go into painting: soft or hard
edges, color, form, concept and paint quality, thick or thin paint.
Thick paint brings the painting out to the viewer. Thin paint is about
transparency. The viewer feels he can go through the painting.
Painters sometimes fudge the eyes, I remark.
Thats because either they dont know how to make edges or
their technical drawing skills arent good. The rule is that the fur-
ther something is from the source of light, the more defned its
Fabrengen with Reb Mendel Foterfas
edges. Shadows are separate. Also, light and color dont work
together. You have to put color in between the light and the
shadow.
The artist directs the viewer where to look by putting the
focus only on that. The main focus is always different. It could
be the subjects face or eyes but its never right in the center. Its
always at least a little bit off to the side.
Some rebbes have said great things about Rembrandt, I say.
He lived in a Jewish neighborhood, he responds. The model
for his Yoshke was a Jewish yungerman. He understood that he
needed a Jewish face. They say that his Biblical paintings are
much less goyish than his other works.
Whos your favorite painter?
Rembrandt. I can stare at his paintings for hours. I also like
Sargent, Zorn, a famous Swedish artist, and the Spanish artist
Sorolla. These three combined realism with elements of Impres-
sionism. Sorolla is full of color. He painted in the Spanish style
with certain Russian elements.
The original Russian abstract painters were trying to express
musical notes through paint and called their works composi-
tions, I add.
In older paintings you see a lot of people. Later, you begin to
see more color and abstraction. Its all about color and movement.
Then Impressionism developed into abstract Impressionism. A
lot of abstract paintings want you to feel a certain emotion when
you look at it in a museum, and its often a foreign feeling that
Im not comfortable with. And a lot of abstract paintings are full
of anger and angst. An artist can bring that out very strongly.
When I paint, I dont look at detail. I usually use a big brush
and then fll it in afterwards.
Chasidic Identity
Most people would be surprised to learn that theres a chasi-
dishe yungerman from Kiryas Joel whos an accomplished painter,
I tell him candidly.
When I paint, I dont think about what other people might
say. I think about who I am and what I want.
How does it work? I want to know. How do you combine
your Yiddishkeit and your art?
When I sit quietly with my painting all day, I feel connected to
Hashem. I talk to Him while Im painting. I truly feel that some-
one who has this talent and doesnt use it is a farhakte person
[disjointed]. He cant be a true oved Hashem because then hes
farhakt in other areas as well. He cant daven or learn because he
has strong feelings and hes not developing them.
My art teachers would often tell me that Im handicapped in
what Im allowed to paint. I would answer that I dont need to
draw women. I believe in Yiddishkeit very passionately. My art
stems from my Yiddishkeit. Hashem gave me a talent so I could
use it. A lot of Jews are strengthened in their Yiddishkeit through
art.
Im very infuenced by the chasidic masters, especially the
teachings of Chabad and Breslov. Im very close to Rav Kluger of
Breslov. All of that has an infuence on my art.
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You got into Breslov after you started painting?
Yes, four or fve years ago. The frst thing Rav Kluger asked
me was whether my paintings add nefesh, if Im not just copy-
ing from nature. I send him a lot of my paintings. He likes to see
what Im thinking and creating.
How often do you go to Eretz Yisrael to paint?
I only went once, working mostly from pictures. Its diff-
cult to set up in the street and paint. But once I start painting I
dont notice anything else. Someone once showed me a photo of
myself painting surrounded by about 100 people, and I wasnt
even aware of it at the time.
Will you be moving to Eretz Yisrael soon?
If my wife agreed Id move there today. I daven in a Breslov
shtiebel in Kiryas Joel, so thats not the reason I want to go. There
are actually seven Breslov shtieblach in Kiryas Joel.
Youre attracted to the poetry in Breslov?
Its not just that, although nature is one of the biggest things
in Breslov, listening to the briah singing to Hashem. For me,
hisbodedus is speaking to Hashem and opening my heart. When
I paint its like singing a song, sometimes happy and sometimes
sad.
You got that from Breslov?
It added a lot for me.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe encouraged painters. Is that your kin-
ship with Lubavitch?
For me, Chabad is part of my neshamah. I spent many years
poring over Chabad sefarim. I learned Chabad chasidus for hours
at a time.
I get a lot of encouragement from a letter the Lubavitcher
Rebbe wrote to Zalman Kleinman instructing him what to paint.
He also gave him a lot of chizzuk, describing how an artist can
transmit much good to people.
You left Chabad for Breslov.
I didnt leave it, I just added to it.
So youre involved in everything: Satmar, Breslov, Chabad.
Did you learn in Satmar yeshivah?
No. In Nitra.
What would you tell young people who want to develop their
artistic talents?
That talent isnt a contradiction to Yiddishkeit. Hashem doesnt
give talent to a person for him to waste and suffer his whole life
because he knows its unused. Developing a kids talent is tricky,
because youre worried that itll take time away from learning.
But an older person who doesnt share his talent for the bene-
ft of others is a broken person. Thats someone whos going to
have diffculty with friends and with shalom bayis. I have a lot of
friends who also wanted to develop their artistic talents but never
had the guts like I did. Some people think it would mean giving
up Yiddishkeit, that you have to cut off your beard and play goy-
ishe music. But thats narish; its just the opposite. Who says we
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have to play jazz at a Jewish wedding?
Recognition
Where are you right now in your career in terms of recogni-
tion?
A lot of people have started noticing me over the past year or
two. Theyre suddenly excited about my work and buying my
paintings.
Who represents you?
The Betzalel Gallery, where there will soon be a solo exhibition
of my paintings. Its owner, Shmuel Pultman, is a real art lover. He
encourages me a lot. An artist needs a gallery to represent him or
else he cant manage.
Some people warned me that he wouldnt accept my paintings.
But when I frst met him he said, Wow! I get emails from at least
15 artists a week and I dont take anyone. But youre going to be
one of the next great artists. When I saw that I had this freedom
and that someone was pushing me, it helped me to develop.
Im still young and in the middle of growing. But in terms of
skill, I feel that my art is starting to say something. Ive heard this
from a lot of artists who are older than me.
My wife gets a lot of the credit. She was always very supportive
and encouraged me to develop my talents. Not everyone has to be
like everyone else. If not for her, Id never have done it.
I know a lot of our readers will still fnd it surprising that some-
one like you is a consummate artist.
I get a lot of reactions like that even in the non-Jewish world.
People say, Youre an artist?!
I try to bring out the beauty and geshmak of living a Yiddishe
life and the Eibershters creation. I go out into the street and hear it
screaming shirah to Hashem. I can see the beauty in a bent-over,
wrinkled Yid at a chasunah and I want to pull over a chair and sit
down next to him.
Is there such a thing as Jewish art?
In Israel, they wanted to make an Israeli style of painting. That
was in the days of Reuven Rubin. It feels very Eretz Yisraeldik. But
I dont think you have to follow all of their technical rules.
The artists who came from Russia and Europe to Israel were all
painting in very dark tones and it didnt work. They had to change
to a much lighter and looser palette, I say.
He nods his head in agreement. Ive heard from a lot of musi-
cians that playing the violin in Eretz Yisrael feels totally different
from playing in America or Europe.
The sun and the light change everything, I say.
People cannot imagine how many colors there are in Meah
Shearim, in the white stones! When you try to paint white on
white its called high-key painting. But there are actually many
colors that most people dont notice.
If a secular person views my paintings he can sense the Yiddish-
keit. Even my teacher says that hes inspired by my Meah Shearim
paintings; it opens his heart more than any drashah.
Just as Jewish music makes every Yid, even the most secular,
feel Jewish, he states emphatically, so too can Jewish paintings
elicit the same emotion.