The winners’ tribute: 10 years of the Osnat Mozes Painting Prize

The Osnat Mozes Young Artist Painting Prize was envisioned by a modest family
with art and culture in their heart and soul. The uniqueness of this prize lies in the
multitude of the award-winners’ styles thus reflecting a dynamic variety. Since its
inception, the consistent periodic awarding of the Mozes Prize has become a
tradition on the local art scene.

A glance at the winning paintings reveals that contemporary art in Israel has
no set formula or singular path; rather it is open to various interpretations.
There are vast differences between the painters in the way they think, handle
representation, approach the surface, address still life and figures, engage space,
relate to space, and more. Thus, it is unlikely to assume that they all grew up in
the same surroundings.

And yet, despite the distances and distinctions between the painters, most
will attest that the act of painting is like walking eyes wide open into the darkness,
into the pale murky encounter between material and idea. Contradictory factors
are likely to manifest in the work: fatigue, seriousness, idea, narrative, pretension,
doubt, rapidity, idleness, weakness, silliness, wisdom, foolishness, confidence,
and helplessness. These human qualities are found in varying proportions in
all of us human beings. Taking this in to consideration, the painting will become
clear, take flight or collapse, and, whether it survives or not, it will make way for
its successor. The next painting will be not a direct descendent, but a new creation
in an unending chain. Lessons will not always be learned, nor will problems
disappear. Experience may be a trap and one’s spirit may sink low, but necessity
overcomes all.

As long as the world, time, and events remain, painting will flourish. Some of the
artists rise in the morning to encounter the Divine, while others set out for a day’s
work; some sip coffee and smoke cigarettes, others prefer water and dried fruit.
But all feel it necessary to enter the studio and paint.

Painting is a complex, fascinating craft full of desperate attempts to rescue
segments of memory from oblivion, and an isolated process in which
negligence may be valuable.