A talk with Marek #1
“For a few years I had a room on Abyssinian Street. I shared an apartment at number 13, right across from the church. Today it’s known as Ethiopia Street. The houses there were very beautiful. Beautiful rooms, beautiful walls, stone entryways, courtyards between the houses. I painted a lot while I was there – the place itself. The room, the windows, the doors. I spent a few years there and that was all I did. I didn’t take pictures. I didn’t photograph the paintings; I didn’t realize that I should. I painted and I lived there; there was a bed, a kitchen. This period is full of nostalgia for me.
This was the window of my studio and my apartment. The objects I chose to paint were also in the spirit of the place – of the neighborhood and of the room. This was a prolific/fruitful period for me. I lived, slept, ate, and painted. This window appears in many of my works.”
Window Still Life with Red Carpet, Marek Yanai, Oil on canvas, 85*88 cm (detail)
