I have only discovered Emek's work this year. I found a used copy of his book: Emek The Thinking Man's poster artist and although the term blown mind has been overused in our world to the point that it has lost it's original intended meaning, my mind was indeed blown. Shattered even. I've been told that if you want to strive to draw and paint like a master then study and copy the masters. Well Emek is surely a master. Don't be thinking that "poster artist" is some kind of lesser artistic designation. His work is much more than an advertisement for music concerts. What I enjoy (beside the obvious artistic skill) is the subject matter that is incorporated into the work. Things like machines, gears, cogs, robots, cyborgs, skulls, flame, trees, plant life, outer space. No limits. And talk about detail! I just love looking at his work, scrutinizing it as I attempt to copy it in order to learn and develop my own artistic voice. There are few things in this world like learning to get comfortably lost in the details of a drawing. I've actually started a piece at 6:00am and looked up to find out it is 6:00pm and I haven't even noticed! That is a great zone to play in.
I recently purchased his father Yuval's book The Flavor Of His Youth and it is a work of special genius. I wish now that a big book of Yuval's 50 years of making art will be published. I've only been able to study his work from online photos. In the next week or so I will be writing a review of both Emek and Yuval's books. In the meantime, don't wait. Go find them, buy them and study some of the best art around.
