Rotem Reshef

Rotem Reshef was born in Rehovot, Israel. Her maternal grandfather is the Zionist leader Moshe Smilansky.Prof. Avraham Balaban (July 10, 2018). [https://www.haaretz.co.il/literature/tarbut-sifrot/tlvlist/2018-07-10/ty-article/.premium/0000017f-e0d1-d9aa-afff-f9d968cc0000 Tel Aviv reflections: Want of Matter opposition]. Haaretz. Her parents are Yehezkel (Hezi) Avivi, honorary citizen of Rehovot(May 9, 2023). [https://www.myrehovot.co.il/%D7%97%D7%96%D7%99-%D7%90%D7%91%D7%99%D7%91%D7%99---%D7%99%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%A8-%D7%94%D7%A2%D7%99%D7%A8-%D7%A8%D7%97%D7%95%D7%91%D7%95%D7%AA Hezi Avivi, honorary citizen of Rehovot]. My Rehovot. and Tsila Avivi. She has two siblings; her brother is the film producer Gidi Avivi.[https://gen.rlzm.co.il/en/persons/%D7%99%D7%97%D7%96%D7%A7%D7%90%D7%9C-%D7%97%D7%96%D7%99-%D7%90%D7%91%D7%99%D7%91%D7%99/ Avivi Yehezkel Hezi, family tree]. Digital Families Album. Genealogy Center in the name of Sir Arthur Gilbert, Rishon LeZion Museum. She attended and graduated from the HaMidrasha – Faculty of the Arts, Ramat HaSharon (1985–1988). During her studies, she was the recipient of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation (AICF) Sharett Prize for Young Artists. She took part in a group exhibition of the awarded artists at the Ramat Gan Museum of Israeli ArtYonatan H. Mishal (December 22, 2019). [https://www.erev-rav.com/archives/50787?unapproved=109873&moderation-hash=7e4b859ab9e41067faca19cccdaebec0#comment-109873 Learning to Paint All Over Again]. Erev Rav. She received her Master's in Museology from Reinwardt Academie, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2002–2004).

In 2010, Reshef won the Arte Laguna Prize. Her paintings covered two of the winery's bottle labels.[https://artelagunaprize.com/network/tenuta-s-anna/ Rotem Reshef. Winner at 4th edition]. Tenuta S. Anna, Venice, Italy. Her work, “Deep”, was awarded an honorable mention in the London International Creative Competition (LICC) in 2014.[https://licc.uk/winners/winner.php?id=1484 Deep by Rotem Reshef, honourable mention in painting]. London International Creative Competition (LICC). She participated as an artist-in-residence at the following institutes: in 2015 at the School of Visual ArtsJames Kipton Cronkite (August 21, 2018). [https://curator.kipton.com/rotem-reshef/ NY & Tel-Aviv Based Painter, Rotem Reshef]. in New York City, in 2021 at Residency Unlimited[https://residencyunlimited.org/residencies/rotem-reshef/ Rotem Reshef]. RU (Residency Unlimited) Residency. and in 2022 at The New York Art Residency and Studios (NARS) Foundation, both in Brooklyn, New York.[https://www.narsfoundation.org/rotem-reshef-israel Rotem Reshef (Israel)]. NARS Foundation.

Murals by her are on permanent display in Detroit, MichiganAshley Zlatopolsky (June 8, 2023). [https://www.thejewishnews.com/culture/arts/midtown-mural/article_58dd9b6b-4b4c-5a68-944b-f1041fec5e37.html Midtown Mural]. The Jewish News (Detroit). and in Zaritsky Artists’ House in Tel Aviv.[https://artistshouse.org.il/en/about/ About]. The Artists’ House in Tel Aviv.

Rotem Reshef is married to Shai Reshef, the founder and president of the University of the People. She has four grown-up children.Julie Wiener (January 8, 2013). [https://www.jta.org/2013/01/08/ny/an-israeli-citizen-of-the-world An Israeli ‘Citizen Of The World’]. Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

In an article about Reshef in Haaretz, Prof. Avraham Balaban characterized her as a student of Raffi Lavie from the Want of Matter art school, who took the opposite path and followed Ofakim Hadashim school of Joseph Zaritsky, an Abstract Artist, painted in a vivid abundance colors. Her style brings to mind Action Painting or Process Art, which works in two and three-dimensional forms in sculptural painting installations. Her work is based on the tradition of Jackson Pollock, following the footsteps of Katharina Grosse’s site-specific installations and Sam Gilliam’s large-scale indoor/outdoor works.Sagi Refael (2016). Control l Release exhibition catalogue, pp. 7-11. Reshef's installations are site-specific and relate to the surroundings of the exhibition space. She used to collect foliage and place them on a scroll, according to her scheme.Rachel McCullah Wainwright, Bakersfield Museum of Art curator (2023). Vista exhibition catalogue. The Curator and art critic, Peter Frank wrote: “In her painting installations, Reshef looks for circumstances, historical and contemporary. And in those circumstances, she identifies social and economic factors... Reshef alludes to discrete but simultaneous conditions and standpoints, not to judge them so much as to share them with us so as to prompt our own investigation. Reshef provides the metaphors, we pursue the comprehensions... She seeks... to... translating a social and scientific discourse into aesthetic sensation.”Peter Frank. The Bright Side, Gallery RAM, Bakersfield, California catalogue.

In earlier works, starting in 2010, Reshef used a painting technique in diluted acrylic paint and intuitive work without brushes. For her first installation exhibition in Art Space TLV in 2016, Sagi Refael, the exhibition's curator, named it "Control | Release," a method of painting described her creation style ever since. It comprised 44 meters (142 feet) of painting scrolls hung from the ceiling to the floor and surrounding the gallery. In 2017, Reshef installed her wide-ranging composition “Time Traveler” in a solo exhibition at the Tall Wall Space in the University of La Verne, California. Photographer and videographer Eric Minh Swenson documented the formation of that composition on-site. "Time Traveler" was created with six scrolls of paintings interwoven horizontally and vertically into a color-blended big grid. Symbolizing the passage of time, the four seasons interlaced to create a cohesive tapestry in the entire installation.Jacqueline Bell Johnson (December 14, 2017). [https://artandcakela.com/2017/12/14/time-traveler-rotem-reshef/ Time Traveler – Rotem Reshef]. Art and Cake. The canvases were rendered with diverse techniques, colors, and ambiance, reflecting our period and inundated by images from all directions. The six scroll paintings are blended in a clash of simultaneous climates, denoting the climate change phenomenon as rain and storms in the summer and heat waves in the winter.Sagi Refael (2017). Time Traveler. Exhibition catalogue. “Time Traveler” was in a new contour at the Kwan Fong Art Gallery at California Lutheran University, renamed “Time Traveler: Part ll - Compass”, as a more political expansion of the original artwork. By "Compass", Reshef offers the viewers inner introspection in an era of visionless leaders who cannot navigate their countries and communities onto havens. The artwork rendered a sanctuary of silent observation and vast interpretations to the viewers, suggesting that they follow their path and inner passions and not necessarily the objectives politicians acquaint them.(2018) Time Traveler Part II – Compass exhibition catalogue.

In the summer of 2018, Reshef presented two new bodies of work: the outdoor installation “Intervals” on the facade of the Zaritsky Artists’ House in Tel Aviv and “Spectrum” at the Soho House in West Hollywood, California. “Spectrum” manifested Reshef's interest in the process of art making and in different ways to depict the elusive nature of the passing time and the fleeting seasons. The 22 paintings in this series presented monochromatic stages inspired by the different wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum, accentuating the existing yet invisible rays of light. The ultraviolet radiation waves are on the shorter end of the spectrum, while the infrared wave of light is on the longer end. These ends also mark the shifting tonalities and full range of hues between warm colors of reds and yellows to cold colors of blues and purples, sensualizing a change of moods and atmospheres, from somber to cheerful, from coolness to passion.Nicole Behnam and James Kipton Cronkite (July 22, 2018). [https://jewishjournal.com/uncategorized/236326/rotem-reshef-new-art-series-spectrum/ Rotem Reshef on her New Art Series: ‘Spectrum’]. The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles.

Between 2018 and 2024, Reshef exhibited four site-specific outdoor murals on the facade of the Zaritsky Artists׳ House in Tel Aviv. The first mural, "Intervals" (2018), presented an optical illusion with twenty faux "windows" revealing bold, abstract monochromatic paintings. Embodying tonal transitions from warm to cool colors, these works illuminated an atmosphere scale in passing the seasons through the shades, temperatures, and emotional qualities affected by shortening and lengthening cycles of hours and days during the year. Reshef's second mural project at the Artists’ House, “Eden in Two Acts” (2019), was split into two parts and responded to the second round of the Israeli legislative election in September 2019.[https://artistshouse.org.il/exhibition/%D7%A2%D7%93%D7%9F-%D7%91%D7%A9%D7%AA%D7%99-%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%97%D7%9C%D7%A7i/ Eden in Two Acts - Part I: Rotem Reshef]. Artist House, Tel Aviv. In 2020, Reshef presented the painting installation: "A Heartfelt Event" in The Lab, Tel Aviv. The work was accompanied by a sound composition based on a voice recording from the protests against Benjamin Netanyahu that Reshef collected near the Prime Minister's Residence on Balfour Street in Jerusalem in the summer of 2020.Sharon Toval (2020). Rotem Reshef: A Heartfelt Event. Heartfelt Event catalogue, The Lab, Pp. 34-36. In October 2022, she staged her third mural, "Encore: At the Rate of a Heartbeat," on Tel Aviv's Artists House façade, a few weeks before the third round of the Israeli legislative election in November 2022. Alongside Reshef's immersive painting installations, she continued developing her "imprinting" paintings, which resulted in her "Ghost Libraries" and "Fossil" series of 2017–2018 and "Habitat" of 2019.(August 15, 2022). Rotem Reshef: Ghost Images. Tussle Magazine.

In October 2019, Reshef presented her solo exhibition "Arcadia," a painting installation at the Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York. She was referring to Nicolas Poussin's painting Et in Arcadia ego. The installation deals with the tension between the picturesque landscape and environment of the museum's natural surroundings, the potential of turmoil, and the suspended belligerence below the surface, both in American and Israeli societies.Michele Wije, Katonah Museum of Art curator (2019). An interview with Rotem Reshef. Rotem Reshef ARCADIA catalogue. Katonah Museum of Art.

In June 2022, Reshef presented the installation "Passage" at the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv. The installation aimed to elevate the awareness of human impact on the environment and encourage nature conservation. To create "Passage," Reshef used trimmings from Tel Aviv's parks and the Tel Aviv University's botanical garden near the museum. She alludes to the museum's laboratories and depicts its libraries.[https://smnh.tau.ac.il/en/exhibitions-at-the-museum/passage_en/ "Passage" by Rotem Reshef]. Steinhardt Museum of Natural History. In October 2022, she presented “Terra Incognita”, her first ceramic installation, as part of a group exhibition at the Center for the Arts at Towson University, which was chosen as one of the ten best Baltimore exhibitions by BmoreArt magazine.BmoreArt Team (December 30, 2022). [https://bmoreart.com/2022/12/bmorearts-ten-best-baltimore-exhibits-of-2022.html BmoreArt's Ten Best Baltimore Exhibits of 2022]. BmoreArt. Art critic Fanni Somogyi wrote: “As I look at it, I yearn for the smell of wet grass and freshly dug up earth... I'm drawn to the way this sculpture holds memory for both the artist and the viewer.”Fanni Somogyi (October 5, 2022). [https://bmoreart.com/2022/10/excess-and-access-contemporary-ceramics-at-towson-university.html Excess and Access: Contemporary Ceramics at Towson University]. BmoreArt.

In 2023, Reshef presented her site-specific installation "Vista" at the Bakersfield Museum of Art, Bakersfield, California. She was fascinated by the Panorama Vista Preserve, Bakersfield, and how it merges with Kern River Oil Field. She amassed permitted native foliage (trees, shrubs, and flowers) and then imprinted parts on the canvases.Stefani Dias (January 25, 2023). [https://www.bakersfield.com/entertainment/arts-theater/a-scenic-vista-unfolds-at-bmoa/article_d30c99e6-9cf5-11ed-a3f5-335f76e4d0f7.amp.html A scenic 'Vista' unfolds at BMoA]. The Bakersfield Californian. Curator Peter Frank wrote: “With “Vista,” Rotem Reshef portrays Bakersfield – from the inside out. Reshef does not simply look at the city, she re-embodies its salience. “Vista” brings forth the inner dynamic of a municipality that encompasses and embraces both nature and industry, a town in which extractive commerce is integral to the ecosphere. Reshef does not judge this reality, but recapitulates it, presenting – re-presenting... she seeks... to... translating a social and scientific discourse into aesthetic sensation".

In 2024, Reshef presented her "Family of Earth" exhibition at Moshe Smilansky's Culture House, Municipal Gallery in Rehovot, Israel. The exhibition deals with Moshe Smilansky, Reshef's maternal grandfather and one of the founders of Rehovot, his Zionist vision and its partial fulfillment in current Israel reality alongside its partial clashing with it, and the generation gap.(January 24, 2024). [https://www.maariv.co.il/culture/theater-art/Article-1070638?utm_source=whatsapp Faimly of earth deals with intergemerational connections]. Maariv Online.

Image: Rotem Reshef VISTA 2023 Bakersfield Museum of Art Installation view.jpg|"VISTA," Bakersfield Museum of Art, Bakersfield, California, 2023

Image: Rotem Reshef Passage 2022 Installation view.jpg|"Passage", Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2022

Image: Rotem Reshef Walking on Dry Land 2022 Installation view.jpg|"Walking on Dry Land", The Laurie M. Tisch Gallery, New York, NYC, 2022

Image: Rotem Reshef, Arcadia, 2019, Installation view, Katonah Museum of Art, NY.jpg|Arcadia, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY, 2019

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• 2009 Orange Sunset, The Heder Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Israel.Ellie Armon Azoulay (August 27, 2009). Gallery conversation, [https://www.haaretz.co.il/gallery/2009-08-27/ty-article/0000017f-f864-d887-a7ff-f8e49a630000 New exhibitions]. Haaretz.
• 2010 Breadths of Spirit, Artists ́ House, Tel-Aviv, Israel.Avital Burg (April 1, 2010). [https://www.haaretz.co.il/gallery/2010-04-01/ty-article/0000017f-f85f-d887-a7ff-f8ffd0a60000 Art For Sale]. Haaretz.
• 2015 Making a Mark, School of Visual Arts, New York, New York.(30 September 2017). [https://www.meer.com/en/30924-rotem-reshef Rotem Reshef]. Wall Street International Magazine.
• 2016 Control l Release, Art Space TLV, Tel Aviv, Israel.Irit Cohen (August 11, 2016). [https://www.atmag.co.il/%D7%94%D7%AA%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%95%D7%94%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%A2%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%94%D7%9B%D7%99-%D7%A0%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%9C%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%A5-%D7%94%D7%A7/ Control l Release, Art Space TLV]. At Journal.
• 2016 Phantom Stream, dual exhibition, Kibbutz Be'eri Gallery, Israel.(2016). [http://canartmagazine.com/Heb/GalleryDetails.asp?id=145 Phantom Storm]. Can Magazine. p. 19-20.
• 2017 Time Traveler, University of La Verne, California.Emily Body (March 14, 2018). [https://web.archive.org/web/20180718093631/https://www.vcreporter.com/2018/03/on-exhibit-navigating-cultural-and-personal-borderlands-at-clus-kwan-fong-and-william-rolland-galleries/ Time Traveler: Compass, Kwan Fong Gallery]. VC Reporter.
• 2017 Something Blue, Alessandro Berni Gallery, New York, New York.[https://aicf.org/artist/rotem-reshef/ Rotem Reshef]. America-Israel Cultural Foundation.
• 2018 Time Traveler Part II: Compass, California Lutheran University, Kwan Fong Gallery, Thousand Oaks, California.(February 15, 2018). [https://blogs.callutheran.edu/kwanfong/2018/02/15/time-traveler/ Rotem Reshef | Time Traveler: Compass]. California Lutheran University.
• 2018 Intervals, outdoor mural, Artist House, Tel Aviv, Israel.Reut Barnea (July 15, 2018). [https://www.calcalist.co.il/consumer/articles/0,7340,L-3742287,00.html Intervals puzzles the spectators with Its Unique Technique]. Calcalist.
• 2018 Spectrum, Soho House West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.Peter Elston (November 2022). [https://newyorklifestylesmagazine.com/articles/2022/11/nyny03.html Time Out With...]. New York Lifestyles Magazine.
• 2019 Eden in Two Acts, outdoor mural, Artists House, Tel Aviv, Israel.[https://artistshouse.org.il/exhibition/%D7%A2%D7%93%D7%9F-%D7%91%D7%A9%D7%AA%D7%99-%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%97%D7%9C%D7%A7i/ Eden in Two Acts]. Artists House, Tel Aviv.
• 2019 Arcadia, Katonah Museum of Art, Bedford, New York.[https://katonahmuseum.org/content/press_features/Westchester%20Jewish%20Life_Israeli%20Artist%20Rotem%20Reshef_Nov%202019.pdf Katonah Museum of Art Features Israeli Artist Rotem Reshef].
• 2020 A Heartfelt Event, The Lab, Tel Aviv, Israel.(December 2, 2020). [https://artoday.art/2020/12/02/%D7%A8%D7%AA%D7%9D-%D7%A8%D7%A9%D7%A3-%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%96%D7%A8%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%AA%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9B%D7%94-%D7%97%D7%93%D7%A9%D7%94-%D7%90%D7%AA-%D7%A4%D7%A2%D7%99%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%9C/ In her exhibition "Heatfelt Event" Rotem Reshef intertwined heartbeats with the protest trumps]. Art Today.
• 2022 Passage, Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv, Israel.Hagit Peleg Rotem (August 26, 2022). [https://www.prtfl.co.il/archives/169448 Rotem Reshef is making it in New York (and Tel Aviv)]. Portfolio.
• 2022 Walking on Dry Land, The Laurie M. Tisch Gallery, New York, New York.(August 15, 2022). [https://www.tusslemagazine.com/rotem-reshef Rotem Reshef: Ghost Images]. Tussle Magazine.
• 2022 Encore. The Artists' House, Tel Aviv.
• 2023 Vista, Bakersfield Museum of Art, Bakersfield, California.Tony Hoffman (March 2024). [https://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/respiration-in-rotem-reshef-vista/5953 Transcription, Articulation, and Respiration in Rotem Reshef: Vista]. Whitehot Magazine.
• 2023 The Bright Side, Gallery RAM, Bakersfield, California.Stefani Dias (April 12, 2023). [https://www.bakersfield.com/entertainment/arts-theater/enjoy-an-afternoon-of-art-with-rotem-reshef/article_0f9a7756-d8bb-11ed-9697-075ad54992c7.html Enjoy an afternoon of art with Rotem Reshef]. The Bakersfield Californian.
• 2023 Open End, Mural, Midtown Detroit, Michigan.
• 2024 Family of Earth, Municipal Gallery, Rehovot, Israel.Sharon Meirovich (February 21, 2024). [https://www.news08.net/%D7%AA%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9B%D7%94-%D7%9E%D7%A9%D7%A4%D7%97%D7%AA-%D7%90%D7%93%D7%9E%D7%94-%D7%A2%D7%9C-%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%94%D7%AA%D7%99%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%91%D7%95%D7%AA/ The exhibition "Family of Earth", depicting Rehovot establishent and continuing to present times]. 08 News.

• 1987 America-Israel Cultural Foundation (AICF) Award Winners, Ramat Gan Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat Gan, Israel.
• 2006 Inaugural Exhibition, Susan Eley Fine Art, New York, New York.(June 8 – 28, 2006.) [https://susaneleyfineart.com/Detail/exhibitions/InauguralExhibition Inaugural Exhibition]. Susan Eley Fine Art.
• 2009 Painting-Law, The Heder Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel.
• 2010 Finalists exhibition, 4th International Arte Laguna Prize, Venetian Arsenal.
• 2013 A Picnic and Smokes, QF Gallery, East Hampton, New York.[http://www.kdhamptons.com/qf-gallery-opens-summer-2013-exhibition-a-picnic-and-smokes/ KDHamptons Art Scene: QF Gallery Opens Group Artist Summer 2013 Exhibition — A Picnic and Smokes!]. KDHamptons.
• 2015 Annual Tallahassee International Exhibition, Florida State University College of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, Florida.[https://web.archive.org/web/20151128044725/http://mofa.fsu.edu/public-reception-the-30th-tallahassee-international-friday-august-28th/ Imrint #10 Rotem Reshef: The 30th Tallahassee International – Friday, August 28th]. The Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts.
• 2015 The 53rd International Exhibition, San Diego Art Institute, California.
• 2015 Scope Miami Beach, Miami, Florida.
• 2019 Dreamin' of a..., Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, California.(July 27 - August 31, 2019). [https://www.cjamesgallery.com/exhibitions/dreamin-of-a Dreamin’ of a...]. Charlie James Gallery.
• 2021 43rd Annual Art Auction, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California.
• 2022 EX-tend EX-cess, Center for the Arts Gallery, Towson University, Towson, Maryland.(November 15, 2022). [https://www.ceramicsnow.org/exhibitions/ex-tend-ex-cess-metamorphosis-in-clay-at-towson-university-center-for-the-arts/ EX-tend EX-cess: Metamorphosis in Clay at Towson University Center For The Arts]. Ceramics Now.
• 2024 Traces: Memory, Nature and the Body, School of Visual Arts, New York.[https://sva.edu/events/artist-residency-summer-2024 Traces: Memory, Nature and the Body]

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.rotemreshef.com/ The official site]
• [https://museum.imj.org.il/artcenter/newsite/en/?artist=Reshef,%20Rotem Rotem Reshef]. Information Center for Israeli Art. Israel Museum.
• [https://sandikleinshow.com/rotem-reshef-action-and-installation-artist/ Rotem Reshef, Action and Installation Artist]. interviewed by Melanie Breault. Sandi Klein's Conversations with Creative Women podcast. January 28, 2020.

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Category:1964 births

Category:Living people

Category:Israeli women artists

Category:Israeli installation artists

Category:Artists from Tel Aviv

Category:HaMidrasha – Faculty of the Arts alumni

Category:People from Rehovot