Meet hilla Spitzer | painter and teacher

We had the good fortune of connecting with hilla Spitzer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi hilla, what inspires you?
When I come to think of what inspires me immediately comes to mind a feeling of separation. separation between inspiration in life and inspiration at work. What makes me want to wake up in the morning and what makes me want to create. Then I realise it’s all mixed up for me. Inspiration in life is also inspiration at work and vice versa.
My favorite feeling is the feeling of having a new idea pops into my head, it’s a surprising and refreshing feeling, full of a sense of life and enthusiasm.
When I have a new idea in my head I feel the excitement all over my body. This feeling is a very significant engine for me, it gives me a lot of energy to believe in myself and in my path and to keep on going/
The best ideas usually come with no effort, when I am most calm and relaxed, when I feel good and amused and when I do not take life too seriously.

Another thing that inspires me is colors.I love looking at colors. Colors of trees, sky, buildings,
How colors react to each other, how they change during the day. It is a magical and a sensational phenomenon to be surrounded by colors all the time.
mixing colors is one of my favorite things to do, the ability to mix colors is a gift for human kind. So simple and yet so wonderful.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

My art is based on observing life.
looking at the environment closest to me, my home. For years the theme that most motivated me to action was people’s homes.
For me looking at the way a person builds his environment is a fascinating thing, like a huge installation that took years to build and is constantly changing.
How cups stand on a coffee table in the living room, how the lighting changes them during the day, it’s to me like a statue, like a physical manifestation of human consciousness. Precisely things that happen by chance, without paying too much attention to them, are the most significant I believe.

For years I only painted in oil paints, it was my main material. About three years ago I discovered more materials, gouache, markers and tools that gives me mobility.
I used to take them with me everywhere and I painted all the time, outside not just in the studio. That experience changed my work, I suddenly became very aware of how matter changes the way I act, its limitations made me look differently at things and my hands moved differently.

Since then I started being attentive to my body during the painting process, what does my body need now? What is it asking for?
Now days I’m in a process of discovering and I’m doing a little experiment with myself, I choose a material not according to what I want the end result of the painting to be but according to what kind of relationship my body is now seeking with the painting, for example if my body seeking for intimate movement, small and simple – I will choose markers, or if for example my eyes want to see far away I will go to a place that gives me that point of view, like top hill of a mountain or a top flour at a building in the city.
Or if my body wants to be wrapped, in a room, at a very close look I will paint in pastels or colour pencils from photos that I can zoom in to.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

First thing I would take my friend to the beach, preferably in the middle of the week, when there are not many people. And we would go into the water and look at the shoreline of Tel Aviv.

Then I would take him for a tour of the city, we would go to the library in Migdal Shalom, from which you can see the view of Tel Aviv from a height, which is something I really like seeing. Then we would take a tour to see art galleries scattered throughout Tel Aviv.

I would take him to eat pizza at Lila pizza in Florentin , which is the best pizza in Tel Aviv in my eyes right now.
And also to a special Indian restaurant called Munar in Nahalat Benjamin street.

And in the evening, to get a homy intimate feeling I would take her to a small bar two steps from my house of a guy named Lior who is the owner of the place and also the guy that serves the drinks.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to dedicate this shoutout to all the students who ever came to one of my workshops and every one who ever liked one of my paintings. It is always special to feel that what I do has some kind of effect to other people ’s life.

Website: https://www.hillaspitzer.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hillaspitzer/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatiseeandbeyond

Other: workshops website: https://www.paintingineverydaylife.com/