Rotenberg Elena
This Rock and All of the Remaining Ones | Winner of the 2019 Osnat Mozes Painting Prize for a Young Artist
Curator: Sabah Avi
Opening: Saturday, 7 September 2019
Closing: Saturday, 9 November 2019
Gallery talk: Tuesday, 15 October 2019 18:00
Elena Rotenberg is the winner of the 2019 Osnat Mozes Painting Prize, awarded annually in collaboration with the Jerusalem Artists’ House. The Prize was introduced in 2007. It includes a 10,000 NIS award and a solo exhibition at the Jerusalem Artists’ House. Rotenberg’s exhibition will open at the Jerusalem Artists’ House on September 7, 2019; the award ceremony will be held on October 27, 2019.
In their statement, the prize committee members—artists Shai Azoulay, Miriam Cabessa, and Zoya Cherkassky—noted:
Elena Rotenberg’s paintings arouse curiosity, attesting to painterly intelligence rife with “street knowledge” and “studio wisdom.” They call upon the viewer to draw nearer and linger on the elusive details comprising their subjects, which are simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar.
Rotenberg introduces an innovative, up-to-date painterly language originating in graffiti and snapshots such as those readily available and easily disseminated in the social media. As in photography, she edits and manipulates the painted image, which thus becomes dynamic, while also harnessing its built-in flaws, such as masking, blurring, and lack of focus. Using airbrush as her painting technique, Rotenberg transforms these shortcomings into a sophisticated language which infuses the painting on canvas with street qualities.
Seemingly banal, mundane scenes—e.g. a mass outdoor barbecue (Alaesh, 2018), or a selfie against the backdrop of tourist sites (Abduction of Europa, 2019)—surrender great thought and a painterly dialogue with the “subject,” while every mise en scène/snapshot surrenders both detachment and belonging, both dissociation and fusion.
For the proficiency, wisdom, and beauty of execution we have decided to confer the 2019 Osnat Mozes Painting Prize on Elena Rotenberg.
Jury: Shai Azoulay, Miriam Cabessa, and Zoya Cherkassky
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Elena Rotenberg
1991 Born in USSR (Russia)
1993 Immigrated to Israel
Education:
2014 BFA, Shenkar – College of Engineering, Design and Art, Tel Aviv
2018 MFA, Bezalel – Academy of Arts and Design, Tel Aviv
Solo exhibitions:
2018 “Press.Push.Spray”, Beit Kandinof, Tel Aviv, Curated by Naama Klaiman
2018 “Choose a Landscape”, Hazit, Tel Aviv
Group Exhibitions (selected):
2016 “First congress of the Union of Soviet Artists”, Tranzitdisplay, Prague, CZ
Curated by Avdey Ter-Oganyan
2016 “Belonging”, Museum of Rishon LeZion, IL, Curated by Carmel Gofer
2017 “The Victory of Painting”, Gate 3 Gallery, Haifa, IL, Curated by Natalia Zurabova
2018 “This is where the tree from which the cross was made once grew”, Hacubia,
Jerusalem (collaboration with Maayan Boni)
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Gallery talk in the exhibition This Rock and All of the Remaining Ones | Winner of the 2019 Osnat Mozes Painting Prize for a Young Artist
Gallery talk in the exhibition This Rock and All of the Remaining Ones | Winner of the 2019 Osnat Mozes Painting Prize for a Young Artist:
Tue., 15.10.19 at 6 pm