Michael Ajerman (b. 1977), an American artist living in London, belongs to a generation of talented young artists who completed their MFA studies at the Slade School of Fine Art, London. Typified by a blend of genres, his painting style introduces a re-interpretation of Expressionist painters or, alternatively, a new version of "bad painting." Ajerman attests that he is mainly interested in depicting people with whom he is immediately familiar. "I want to paint people I know because it brings a lot more into my work. I enjoy having them around, and enjoy having the difficulty of trying to make a valid image of them."² The familiarity helps him focus on their facial expressions in order to delve into their essence. The inclusion of animals transforms and emancipates the dynamic of a single-figure composition. Strangely, Ajerman removes almost every figurative fragment, yet adds layer upon layer of rich color, translucent or impasto depending on depiction and sensation. In other words, he takes off layers of human representation, yet concurrently adds layers of color. He century, such as the German "Die Brücke" (The Bridge) group, whose members reported distorted moments in history. The Expressionists became a formal group in 1905, offering a stark reflection of reality as seen in the work of Nolde and Beckmann. At the same time, Ajerman is also inspired by Klossowski and De Kooning, from whom he learned to follow an image as it unfolds and builds up, thus transforming the piece."The history of my Jewish family is very important to me. Both my parents are children of Holocaust survivors. In a way, you can see my Jewishness in my work, and in a way, you can’t. It is not conscious."³ Michael Ajerman has never exhibited in Israel. His first solo show, this is a formative event, which has reconnected him with his identity, allowing expression of his inner sense of belonging. Showing here is, in a way, also an act of continuation, leading from the Jewish School of Paris to contemporary Israeli society. In many respects Ajerman is inspired by Soutine, being a talented Expressionist, connected to his Jewish roots: he too uses a rich color palette and an extremely thick impasto, and departs from a real figure which he transforms into a distorted abstraction.  Michael Ajerman takes his place between Soutine's past and the present a la Alice Neel, Philip Guston, and Susan Rothenberg, allowing his dark side to be expressed where innocence becomes dramatic and where humor and horror are linked to vibrant paintings.