THE SECOND HOUSE
August 11, 2021
Eran Reshef | The Second House (2009–2011)
Eran Reshef in front of his artwork. Courtesy of Amit Shaal
Visiting the gallery, one will find an impressive, large scale work in oil on wood by Eran Reshef. Rising to more than 9 feet high and 11.5 feet wide, the realistic 1:1 description of the scenery viewed from the artist’s studio in South Tel Aviv juxtaposed against the white walls of the gallery is a breathtaking experience for the viewer.
The painting, executed over the course of 3 years, describes a dialogue between the inner and outer world. This dialogue exists in terms of the physical world it illustrates as well as the emotional content poured into/articulated within the painting.
Reshef, born in 1964 in Israel, is a well-respected, established artist in both Israel and the world at large.
At the beginning of his artistic path, Reshef enrolled at Avni Institute of Painting and Sculpture, Tel Aviv. Then, he decided to move to NYC in 1989 where he studied at the Parsons School of Design. There Reshef earned his B.F.A and M.F.A at Brooklyn College under Lennart Anderson and won the Edward Shaw Memorial Award for Painting (CUNY) both in 1992 and in 1994. Later, he won numerous prestigious awards and grants including the Julius Hallgarten Prize (National Academy of Design Museum), the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 2003, and the The Haim Shiff Prize for Figurative Realistic painting (Tel Aviv Museum of Art) in 2010.
Reshef paints solely from direct observation so that no means are standing between the artist and his subject – as a result, there is a completely authentic dialogue between them. The fact that a list of well-respected collectors (Sharp Cronson, Dubi Shiff, Israel Museum and Tel Aviv Museum to name a few) are regular patrons of the artist’s work allows him to create an independent working-rhythm which results in only a few paintings each year.
Eran Reshef, Courtesy of Amit Shaal
Second House was exhibited in 2011 in Tel Aviv Museum in the show Contemporary Realism – below is an excerpt from the catalogue written by Hadas Maor
“The work The Second House (2009–2011), for instance, depicts part of Reshef’s studio, including the peeling wall, floor tiles and gas canister already familiar from his earlier works. In this case, however, the wide window located at the center of the composition looks out over southern Tel Aviv (whose old industrial buildings bespeak the cultural and political logic that shaped their construction in the mid-20th century), as well as over several trees and two business towers that rise up further north, closer to the center of the city. In contrast to the somewhat dark space of the studio and to the dull, grayish color of the buildings, the sky is a typically bright Mediterranean blue. This work captures the heterogeneity of urban life, and the combination of industry and living quarters, of decorative elements (a planter, a sun umbrella) and practical elements (air-conditioners, a surveillance camera, etc.). In contrast to the laconic quality typical of Reshef’s works, the title of this painting embodies several interpretive possibilities. For although the term “second home” implies the existence of a first home, it remains unclear whether it is being used to refer to the artist’s studio, to a national homeland, or perhaps even to a religious home – i.e., to the Second Temple.”
