Author: G. Li, V. Iyengar, Megaphone Editor-in-chief

📍Los Altos, CA

Ayelet Gal-On is an artist based in the Bay Area, in California. She has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions, winning awards such as the prestigious “Best of Show” at the San Ramon Wind and Art Festival. Her passion for art stems from her teenage years, and she has continued with it ever since. Additionally, she spent many years as a scientist and engineer in the silicon industry, but, during the past fifteen years, she has dedicated her time to creating art. Her recent works are based on using fabric, painting with it and incorporating it as “a sculpture into the painting”. She describes her subject as the “Fabric of Life”, delving into the connections between humans, and their significance in our world.

📍San Francisco, CA

We Were Hanging There, from Ayelet Gal-On’s Storyline Exhibition

We sat down with her to ask her about her life, her artistic process, and if she had any advice for younger artists.

Vrinda: Okay. So, first off, thank you so much for agreeing to do this interview. My name is Vrinda and I’m joined by Grace and, we’re going to be interviewing you today. So, before we get started, would you mind giving us a brief introduction about yourself and your art?

Ayelet Gal-On: So I’m an artist. My background is also in high-tech and science. But, currently, I’m an artist. I’m working, I’m painting with both oil paint and acrylic, and I’m also working with mixed media. Recently, you referred to my solo show, that I did called Storyline (our email to Ms. Gal-On mentioned her collection, Storyline), and that was about the subject of hanging clothes and things that stay around it. 

Grace: Thank you. So, the first question we would like to ask would be, which qualities about a certain subject make you want to paint it? 

Ayelet Gal-On: You know, that’s, I would say it’s kind of a process. It’s something that intrigues something, intellectually and emotionally. So, when I started to do my painting that with hanging clothes, I was kind of, debating with myself what to paint. I was in Costa Rica, and I tried to do landscape. But it didn’t intrigue me mentally and emotionally until I kind of walked on the beach and I saw their hanging clothes, and I felt that there is both a depth that I can search and there are things that I can convey beyond the subject itself, but, also, I can play with the subject itself.

Grace: Yeah. That’s great. Thank you! 

Vrinda: When we were looking at your portfolio (find some of her works here), we saw that a majority of your paintings contain, like, articles of clothing or fabric. Additionally, on your website, it says that your subject can be described as, “the Fabric of Life” and that you “aim to examine the connection between humans and their meaning in the world.” We were wondering as to why you chose fabric as the vessel to explore that subject and convey that message. 

Ayelet Gal-On: Thank you for the question. I’m not sure that I know exactly how to answer because there are things that are very intuitive. But, I think if I think about it again, fabric has— we all are wearing clothes and it’s kind of, you know, it’s kind of like our second skin. Yes? So I’m kind of getting fascinated. So I think part of it is what fascinates you, what excites you. And, yeah, I think it’s something very simple. There is the simplicity and the complexity also to paint clothes, it’s not so easy either. Yeah? So, if you open the clothes and put it flat, it’s also not necessarily easy [to paint them]. But if you have all the folds, it’s also not so easy. So there is this kind of in-between the simplicity and the complexity. 

Grace: So, building off of the things that inspire you, have there been, like, any artists or moments in your life that you think have really contributed to the type of art you want to make? Or are there any artists that you would say inspire you?

Ayelet Gal-On: I think I have so many, but, I think, probably when I was your age and [I] started to get more inspired, I really liked Impressionist artists. Yeah. I liked the the immediacy, the colors, Van Gogh, for sure, and Frida Kahlo. I very much so like Lucian Freud. I don’t know if you are familiar [with him]. He’s the, grandson of Sigmund Freud. So his grandson, he’s a very good artist.

But also, since I’m going from painting with oil and acrylic [which are] more representative to things that are more contemporary, I always like to see other people doing art. I don’t necessarily remember the names, but I’m going around and I see what other people are doing, for example, with fabric and including fabric inside a canvas and how they do it. So, I don’t remember all the names. 

Grace: Yeah, I also really like Impressionist artists too. And I’ll check out the artist you mentioned.

Ayelet Gal-On: Lucian, Lucian Freud. 

Grace: Okay. Mhmm. 

Ayelet Gal-On: [I’m trying to] think about other names to give you. He comes to mind. And he doesn’t necessarily focus on fabric. It’s just he’s doing figures. I did a lot of figure painting growing up. 

Grace: Oh, I see. 

Ayelet Gal-On: Or some. So his figures are really interesting. 

Vrinda: Thats great! Do you have a favorite one of your own pieces, or, like, what qualities of a piece make you more proud of it than others? 

Ayelet Gal-On: *Laughs* You ask a very tough question. I mean, it’s [her paintings] like children, you know, and you don’t want to say that you prefer one or the other. And in different times my preferences change, it feels like almost the most recent thing that I’m doing, I think it’s the best for a while, then I’m changing my mind. I’m working with oils now, on hand made clothes. So I like this series right now. So wherever I am, I’m trying also to improve and do my best and try to enjoy. And then, yeah, there are things that I look back and say, “Oh, yeah. That’s great too.” 

This concludes part one of our exclusive interview with Ayelet Gal-On, please go to part two of this article to see more insights behind her work. Additionally, please see her website linked here to view more of her pieces.