Salvador Dalí & Long Meditations: An Interview With Ruben Cukier

Established artist Ruben Cukier’s work is rooted in classical Surrealism and his distinct pieces are inspired by his investigations into the unconscious mind.

Ruben's captivating pieces invite the viewer to decipher their own meaning and discover the hidden messages within.

Here he talks about his creative process and how his fascinating ideas evolve.

You grew up in Argentina — how did you end up in Israel?

RC:  I was born and raised in Argentina, at the age of 20, my wife and I, seeing that there was no future for us there, and believing that socialism was the social system that had the most affinity with our way of seeing the world at that time and at that age, we decided to go live in a kibbutz, that is, a socialist community agricultural farm in Israel.

Ruben Cukier. Mother Nature.

Where do you get your inspiration from? Can you talk about your ideas and how they evolve?

RC: My Inspiration usually arises from long meditations on recurring themes, such as the role of religion in our time, the repercussion and significance of the founding myths of our culture, power structures and their disguises.

These meditations I try to translate into images that synthesize the idea as well as possible and at the same time contain all kinds of hidden messages, sometimes hidden even from myself.

Then there is the question of the aesthetic and how not to turn the work into something pamphleteering, but into a work that transcends the present and that retains its meaning beyond the cultural or the temporal, that is, that appeals to what Jung described as the collective unconscious.

Is it possible for you to separate your work from your life?

RC: Absolutamente no.

Ruben Cukier. Castas.

 What kind of impact do you hope that your work has?

RC: I hope that my work bears witness to the concerns of our society, its recurrent mechanisms of oppression, its fears and hopes.

Personally, I would like my work to reach the majority of people who are still looking for the conjunction of the ethical and the aesthetic, of the people who are not looking for the semi-digested art that prevails in the mainstream.

Let them see in my work a human being trying to communicate with other human beings.

What does freedom mean when it comes to art?

RC: Freedom means freely managing each aspect of the work, seeking my own satisfaction with the final product, not pleasing others or thinking that others may like it aesthetically.

Of course, this freedom is constrained by aesthetic rules that help convey the message in efficient and harmonious way.

Ruben Cukier. Immersed In Plastic.

Do you remember the earliest memory of when you wanted to do what you do today? 

RC: At the age of 3 I discovered the effect of my drawings on adults, of attention and admiration, unconsciously at that age I discovered a very effective form of communication.

At the age of five I discovered by chance the work of Salvador Dalí, and the freedom to juxtapose presumably disconnected and absurd elements, since then, my language was surrealism, but I introduced the social elements, another of my great concerns, perhaps the concern for the social is because I never felt integrated into society and its symbols and ceremonies.

What is your main mode for selling original work now?

RC: My main way of selling my works is through my site and through social networks, collectors connect directly with me.

Ruben Cukier. Sleep, Wakefulness And Death.

What are you watching, listening to or following that you would recommend?

RC:  No comment

What advice would you give somebody who has just started their artistic career?

RC: Have a lot of patience, study the different techniques of the discipline that you want to use to choose the one that best suits your taste, not do things to please others.
Study, study and study, and of course practice.