The artist Anna Lukshevski lives and works in Haifa and Tel Aviv. She is a member of the artist group New Barbizon, a collective of five female painters who were all born in the Soviet Union and immigrated to Israel after its dissolution. Anna Lukashevsky was first invited to Zurich by message salon embassy in 2015.
New Barbizon is bringing figurative painting back into contemporary art. The painters of New Barbizon are guided by the philosophy that painting in the streets has a place in public life and in people’s lives. They recently released a book, Back to Live, on the occasion of their first major collective exhibition. This fall, the artists are opening the Barbizon Academy in Tel Aviv, a painting school, which is open to all.
Anna Lukashevski paints and sketches her imminent surroundings: street scenes in Tel Aviv, Haifa or in the provinces, at the bus stop, in front of apartment buildings, people drinking in the park, kids in the Arabic quarter, old men playing chess, Russian families at the beach, women with shopping bags; but also, portraits of friends in their apartments or studios. She also paints still lifes or landscapes with street signs and billboards, gardens in bloom, harbourfront views, her studio or her kitchen – at first glance, they are unspectacular views of domestic spaces.
During her artist residency at message salon embassy, Anna Lukashevski continues her painterly journey. From her studio in the 25hours Hotel the artist observes the surrounding area of Europaallee and Langstrasse, an integral part of the current debate about change and development in the city. Anna Lukashevsky sketches the new-fangled office-scape of Europaalee, which strikes her as empty, cold and futuristic, compared to the chaotic daily life of Tel Aviv. Langstrasse, only a few meters away, showcases the other face of Zurich: during the day, a lively neighbourhood with tons of character and urban charm it transforms into a noisy hub of consumption and partying by night.
In her studio, the artist works on multiple medium sized canvasses with oil paint. Some of them are of urban scenes, a view from the hotel onto the tracks and the speeding trains, the concrete architecture and the Zurich sky. Anna Lukashevski will present these paintings as well as an assortment of collected sketches — including quick studies of the design hotel’s guests or portraits of the international hotel staff – in her studio at the end of her artist residency. There will also be a limited-edition publication.
message salon embassy Zine Nr. 7
Anna Lukashevsky ” “Europaallee”, 2017, Edition of 150 Exp.