Gadi Dadon

Gadi was born to an ulra religious Moroccan family in Bnei Brak, Israel. The artist's parents were from Morocco. His mother married at 13 years old to a man who worked with his father. The two men hand decorated saddle blankets. Gadi's father and grandfather traveled from village to village in the Atlas Mountains selling the blankets.

In kindergarden Gadi remembers his father being very impressed by a picture he drew and his father's reaction is where Gadi's inspiration for drawing comes from. The aspiring artist drew pictures of people, ghosts, and giant spiders. He remembers drawing scary pictures which depicted things he learned about the holocaust.

In Search Of The Artist's Way

At age 14 Gadi was accepted into an art school in Tel Aviv called Vitzo Tsarfat (France). Unable to attend do to financial hardship in the family, Gadi became discontented in his life and left the ultra religious world to explore himself and life's options.

In the ‘90's Gadi traveled around the world and suported himself by painting sidewalk murals in Tel Aviv, South Africa, and Germany.

Gadi returned to Israel in 1999. After a long inner struggle the artist found his truth in Judaism and returned to a religious life.

Settling Down

In 2002 Gadi married and moved to the mystical city of Safed. He began painting in his home where he and his wife tried to survive on nothing: but everyone who passed through his house and saw his work sensed his talent and told him to open a gallery, open a gallery. The municipality of Tsfat commissioned him to paint street murals around the town.

The self taught artist derives his inspiration from the religious society around him.

Gadi manages to capture the spirit of the people in his paint and, with his brush, molds it onto the canvas. The light of the life shines through his landscapes of the ancient mountains and mystical views.

Gadi Dadon exhibits at the Iris Gallery on Josef Caro Street in Tzfat. He can be reached at 972-4-6970163.