"Irit's paintings consist of delicate intertwined pictorial gestures. Most of the canvasses
are quite small in scale, arranged in groups. In order to grasp the whole the eye of
the beholder wonders from left to right and backwards, up and down, above and below.
One can discern certain similarities of shape and color, the repetition of certain
graphic signs along with free, spontaneous brush strokes. The task of "making a
picture" never ends, starting always afresh."
Michal Naaman- Artist, Writer - April 2004
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Artist’s Statement
I regard my work as simple, essential, and primary. Each piece seems to have a direct reference to past forms and present experience, or perhaps from my remembrance of events.
It is a process where it all joins together with a natural sense, spontaneity and rhythm.
As Picasso said, “To be able to understand a painter’s mind, one need only to follow his hand.”
It has been twenty years since I began painting. During these years, I evolved from essentially
realistic landscape painting to Abstract Expressionism. A process of reevaluation has led to an
emptying-out of formal elements in my work.
Moving from Tel Aviv to New York in 1994, I became influenced by the American school of Abstract
Expressionism, from Jasper Johns through Rothko, and most recently the contemporary Mexican minimalist GabrIel Orozco.
My interest is also in the exploration of the visual experience and how technology can enhance the sensation of seeing, providing views we could not otherwise experience.
In my art I created a personal language using colors, patterns and hidden symbolism, subject to a blend of influences that include the urban environment of New York City and the timeless rhythms of the Middle East.
The paintings have their roots in digital graphic, industrial technology processes, as well as classical painting.
In my last project I constructed a seemingly endless series of 16” x 16” canvases. Combined into one art work, the resulting painting is at once dynamic and interchangeable, each canvas itself an independent and complete painting.
While all canvases are designated as “Untitled,” they incorporate a variety of different and sometimes clashing imagery: Some of them recall wallpaper from the 1950s, while others evoke the quietness of the desert, the deepness of the sea or television screens depicting war zones. But all of them are abstract paintings by definition.
Coming from an area of political conflict, I choose not to make political statements with my art but
rather to deny the intrusion of war into my work, which is my answer to the absurd fact of its
existence.
Technically, I use a combination of brush strokes, old wallpaper rubber rollers and cutout patterns. The colors are acrylic. I also use letters and text as texture and at the same time as hidden text in English and Hebrew, which represent clues of past events.
My paintings also reflect changes in my own personality: While the older paintings feature intense colors and movements, the more recent appear more relaxing, peaceful, clean and quiet.
Currently my intention is to show my most recent project, though it incorporates influences from the last 15 years of exploration in life and in art.
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Exhibitions:
2004
Ellul Art Auction House, Tel Aviv, Israel (Group show)
2003
Group exhibition against the war in Iraq, March 2003, Tel-Aviv, Israel (Group show)
1999
Emerging Artist USA, Dumbo, Brooklyn, NY (Group show)
1998
Emerging Collector Gallery New York, NY1997
Emerging Collector Gallery New York, NY (Group show)
__________________________________________________________________________Biography:
Irit Blumenthal was born in Kiryat Tivon, Israel in 1967, and for as long as she can remember she has always drawn or painted.
Blumenthal studied architecture and art at Betzalel Academy of Design in Jerusalem, and graphic design at Parsons School of Design in New York, where she received her BFA. During the 1990s she studied art under different teachers at The School of Visual Arts in New York, and also at the "Midrasha" at Ramat Hasharon in Israel.
She has held 1 one-person show and participated in 3 group shows in New York, and 2 group shows in Tel Aviv. After spending seven years in New York City, she now divides her time between Tel Aviv and New York. In addition to painting, she currently works as a web and graphic designer.
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Contact Information:Irit Blumenthal
237 E 33 St #2A
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212.684.5451
M: 212.920.6140_______________________
9 Antigonus St
Tel Aviv, Isarel 62264
Tel: 011-972-3-605-9623
M: 011-972-58-331-064
E-mail:Irit@ibdesign.net
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