Rosenbach Contemporary is pleased to announce the opening of “Façade”, the first solo exhibition by Israeli painter Osnat Yaheli- Sarbagili.

Yaheli- Sarbagili will present a series of paintings of contemporary Israeli architecture, typical seen in the lobbies of office and residential buildings. Focusing on the detailed patterns of faux-marble tiles, her paintings assimilate abstract geometric compositions. Occasionally an object such as a plant or a garbage can disrupt the severe cold surfaces to create a human scale or reference.

These works criticize the local architecture of the day as a reflection of the pseudo “New Israeli” identity they try to portray. Today mayors and real- estate entrepreneurs join forces to promote unprecedented amounts of new building projects and neighborhoods. These are designed to boost the city image as a place for young families of wealthy professionals. In turn, the Israeli public seeks to ameliorate from their run-down block- apartments and move into “luxury towers”.

Though the works seem like photo-realistic academic painting, they are in fact constructed from a succession of false manipulations- digitally processed photographs create the desired composition, masking-tape helps create the straight lines and splashes of paint create the tile patterns. These images are engineered renderings, absent of people and sentiment. An ironic, shrewd, dry perspective of popular housing in present-day Israel and of Israeli culture as a whole.

Click here to read the article by Gideon Ofrat