Me and My studio
I am Tal Rak — an architect, tattoo artist, and visual artist based in Israel.
I was never interested in creating art that just sits quietly on the wall.
I love pieces that have a presence in the space,
take it over, and make you look twice.
That is how my ant collection began.
Each ant is handcrafted from epoxy resin, a small artwork with its own color, character, and attitude.
No frames, no rules.
Place one in an unexpected spot, let three crawl up the wall, or create a small invasion of your own.
My background in architecture taught me to see space differently.
Tattoos taught me to be obsessed with detail.
And art gave me the freedom to break the rules of both.
Art is where it all comes together.
A bit of art. A bit of humor.
And something you definitely didn't expect to find on your wall.
Why ants?
Two years ago, we discovered that my daughter, Yuli, (yes, the red fire ant in the collection, is named after her) has a life threatening allergy to fire ants.
Fire ants are tiny red ants that sting.
For most people, a sting is simply painful and uncomfortable.
For my daughter, it can trigger a severe allergic reaction.
That experience completely changed the way I looked at ants.
I became curious about them, I started learning about their world,
their behavior, and the way they move and live.
Eventually, I decided to take something that had entered our lives through fear and turn it into something else.
I turned it into art.
For me, the ants are about transforming something frightening into something beautiful, playful, and unexpected.
Taking a difficult experience and giving it a new meaning, something positive, something that makes you smile instead of feeling afraid.
