About Me

I was born in Ashkelon, Israel, and that is where I first picked up a brush.

I was eight years old. The first painting I remember making is of my grandfather — sitting in his chair, one leg crossed over the other, a cigarette in his hand. I can still see him exactly as he was that day. From there I kept painting people: portraits, mostly, and for years a long series of rabbis. Faces have always been where I start.

Realism is my foundation. I love the discipline of it — the patience it takes to get a hand, a fold of cloth, the light on someone's face to sit right on the canvas. But over time I found there were things I needed to say that a likeness could not hold. That is where abstraction came in. Now I move between the two, and each one keeps the other honest.

Colorful abstract portrait of the Lubavitcher Rebbe with a warm half-smile, eyes turned to the side, by Eliya Siani — Two ways of seeing. Drag across the painting to move between them.

Soft realistic portrait of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, head turned down and away, eyes lowered in thought, by Eliya Siani — Two ways of seeing. Drag across the painting to move between them.

Alongside painting I play the violin. To me they come from the same place. Art and music are the two clearest ways I know to say something true about being alive — and the reason I keep making both.

Every piece in this shop comes out of that.

— Eliya Siani