Articles

Artist in the News\Chelsea Group Show Celebrates the Poetry of Subjective Vision --Maureen Flynn-- ( JJuly 2007 )

For her choice of sunny hues, the Israeli painter Nava Revital resembles a latter-day Bonnard, particularly in her domestic subjects such as “The Living Room 2.” Living in the melting pot of Jerusalem, however, she has an even wider range of subjects at her disposal, and she captures them in a dynamic style that moves gracefully from the figurative into the semi-abstract and back again, offering us what de Kooning once termed “slippery glimpses” of daily life.

ARTisSpectrum Vol.17 #page 18

Nava Revital’s work shows a glimpse of everyday life. Re-vital’s work captures a fleeting mo­ment of something intensely felt—a particular quality of light, a late-day shadow, a simple gesture or a quiet stillness. Revital achieves her affect of a “momentary impression” with her use of complementary colors, differing levels of opacity and color contrast. Her works have a soft touch; her colors are blended carefully and her brushwork is light, but lush. She states, “I am painting according to my own rules. I am using a special 3-D compo­sition, and make a lot of use with contrast. These techniques add expression to the work.” Indeed, Revital’s work has a quality of a pleasant memory, in which everything is suf­fused with light and edges have become softened. Revital is an Israeli artist who lives in Jerusalem, a city that has a “very strong influence” on her work. About her work, Revital says, “my first consideration in art is how much I enjoy the creativity.” She studied in the Bezalel Academy of Art and sites her most influential teachers as the artists Haim Kiewe, Joseph Hirsh and Tova Berlinsky. She has exhibited her work throughout Jerusalem and recently has participated in the Florence Biennale exhibition, where her work was particularly well received. Nava Revital is an exciting new­comer to the U.S. art market.