Fatma Shanan
b. 1986

b. 1986

Two Girls with a Carpet in the Field,
Oil on canvas, 65x100 cm.
Signed on the reverse.

Fatma Shanan is a young Israeli artist of Druze origin who was born and raised in the village of Julis in the north of the country. At the beginning of her artistic journey, Shanan studied at Oranim College, where she completed a bachelor's degree in art education in 2010. Support and recognition for Fatma Shanan as an exceptional artist were evident early in her career, as she received awards and grants, including the Excellence Award from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. These accolades enabled the artist to create and develop her work further. In 2011, she studied painting with artist Eli Shamir. Shanan has held significant solo exhibitions at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, galleries in Berlin and New York, and participated in numerous group exhibitions in Israel and abroad. Her works are included in major collections such as those of the Israel Museum, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and various private collections worldwide. Shanan has received prestigious awards such as the Haim Shiff Prize for Figurative-Realistic Art from the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (2016), the Ministry of Culture and Sports Young Artist Award (2017), and the Ministry of Culture Award for Plastic Art (2021).

Fatma Shanan's figurative oil paintings draw inspiration from her roots, her life environment, the history of art, and her daily experiences as a contemporary artist. Therefore, her works aspire to deconstruct solid definitions related to painting art, as well as gender, national, and ethnic identities. For example, the oriental carpet has been honored in Shanan's works, but the way it is presented gives it a different meaning detached from its familiar context. "I myself come to the carpet and draw a carpet from a subversive and antithetical place to the society's perspective. In my experience, the carpet has become a living being, part of how I experienced the home. There are parents - mother and father, siblings, and there is a carpet... I come out of the carpet as it is in my society, but not necessarily to describe and meet the expectations of orientalist realism, but rather to offer, through the carpet motif, an alternative to the stereotypical perception that has been established over the years in Western art regarding the connection between the carpet, women, and the East" (Fatma Shanan, from an interview with Doron Luria in the catalog for her solo exhibition at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2017). Fatma Shanan's creative process begins when she directs and photographs scenes and characters, creating a preparation for the finished painting. Shanan's physical involvement in the creative process is significant and necessary, as the artist exposes the viewer not only to the painting medium but also to a genuine expression. Therefore, besides the way Shanan's art portrays images from her personal life to create a connection and closeness with the viewer, the artist's working process also serves the same desire to connect with the observer resulting from her physical involvement. Together, they provide an array that will echo Fatma Shanan's figure, a significant artist seeking to bring issues from her private life to the forefront of the stage.

Measurement with frame:

106 x 71 cm