Draft:Uri Shavit

= Uri Shavit = Uri Shavit (Born Jan 11th, 1967) is a contemporary Israeli artist and portrait painter. Born in Jerusalem, Israel,

Early life and education
Born in Jerusalem, Israel on January 11th, 1967. From an early age he was a very active child, studying music and playing the guitar focused mainly on classical jazz. He was engaged in athletics and marshal arts.

Career
Studied computer Science at Touro College in New York. He worked in the Software industry for 30 years as a programmer, team manager, Chief Architect, and later moved to the Netherlands to work in various business related capacities. He lived in the Netherlands for 11 years.

Built his own painting studio in Or Aqiva, Israel where he teaches drawing and painting, art anatomy and art history for a variety of students in Israel both privately and in groups.

Established the "Uri Shavit Fine Art" business that includes a presence in: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and a website.

Built a professional film and sound studio that is being used to film and record his works and teaching for a worldwide audience through his popular YouTube channel under Uri Shavit Fine Art

In addition you can find his website at: UriShavitFineArt.com

Artistry and Style
Uri's style of painting is contemporary realistic and influenced by the classic renaissance and baroque art style. Painting mainly portraits in oil he self studied from artists such as Cesar Santos and Andrew Tischler Uri sees the interpretation of light and dark values and the emotional state of the human experience as well as the connection between the main subject(s) and viewer of the art work as a critical element in his paintings. He believes that there is a story in each painting to tell the viewers.

"I paint to tell a story of people. From a technical perspective, I try to feel the person, what does he say to me and what is my interpretation of him/her. I think of nature and how to involve and represent it in my work" Involving abstract ideas with realistic figures in his work is a conceptual representation of his thoughts, feelings and dreams mixed with the classical art of the renaissance.

In his teaching, he emphasizes the importance of understanding the human anatomy, light and nature and he teaches that:

"Exploration is key, always challenge yourself as a human and as an artist, open your eyes to nature and focus your feelings on your art. Technique comes from training, art comes from the soul"