ARTIST YONI ALTER

With bursting colours he integrates between between the graphic and the artistic, between the figurative and the abstract and between form and space.

Alter studied art and design in Jerusalem before completing his MA Graphic Design at University of the Arts London and has since called London ‘home,’ constantly using the city as a source of inspiration. Yoni created the art for a piece of break-through branding for London’s TV Channel. He's also behind a best-selling merchandise range for Tate. His art can also be seen covering double decker buses, on a 25m long banner in Shoreditch and in the acclaimed "100 Years of Graphic Design" exhibition. Alter's fashion collaborations include a collection with Karl Lagerfeld and designs for Hermes.

Greatest inspirations or influences?

I was submerged in art all my life as my father is a great contemporary-art enthusiast so I'm probably not even aware of all my sources of influence. But I follow contemporary art myself and soaking-in everything I see in the real world as well as the digital world.

I mostly enjoy colourful, powerful, bold art. Some of my favourite artists are Koons, Lichtenstein, Opie, Josh Sperling.

Tell us about your creative process and some of the work you are most proud of?

I see my creative process as 'play'. I experiment and explore, trying different things. Not sure what I will find. When I discover something that I like, it's extremely rewarding. During the process of working on a certain artwork I will always get new ideas for new artworks.

The work I'm most proud of is always the latest one that I've finished. I recently did a permanent sculpture in the park nearby. I feel proud every time my son and his friends are passing by it and talking about it :)

I'm always excited about the things I'm currently making. These days I'm working on making a series of tables. In the summer some nice fashion items that I worked with Hermes on will hit the shops so that's cool.

How has this year changed your creativity

I've definitely got a lot more time to concentrate on my art this year as many commercial projects/collaborations got put off.

And I definitely noticed that more people are buying my art online.

No idea if things will go back to the way they were or not, but as long as I can keep creating then I'm happy.

Icons of our time?

Wow, no idea. But thanks `god it's not Trump anymore. For 4 years one couldn't stop hearing the word "Trump". Let's hope it'll be an artist.

I'm trying to think what other icons of our times were there. Micheal Jackson, Michael Jordan? Bill Gates? Maybe Elon Musk is an icon of our current times.

How do you see the art world changing as we move forward?

It's changing and it will change. Covid closed museums and galleries. There's the NFT hype at the moment.

Thank you Yoni Alter for chatting with us today, check out his work here.