Ophrah Shemesh

Ophrah Shemesh (December 9, 1952) is an American artist, best known for her intense, existentially themed oil and tempera paintings of women and men.^[1][2][3]

Ophrah Shemesh at opening of Boundless, 2017

Early life and career

Born in Haifa, Israel, to Albert Shemesh^[4] and Carmella-Daisy Levy. Albert was an important Lehi (Fighters for the Freedom of Israel) activist in Iraq, before the creation of the state of Israel.^[5] Shemesh studied at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design^[6] in Jerusalem (1972-1976).

In 1973, Israeli filmmaker and director Amos Gitai^[7] cast her in a short film, My Mother at the Seashore,^[8] and later gave her a leading role in Golem, the Spirit of Exile^[9] (1991), also starring Hanna Schygulla, Sam Fuller, and Bernardo Bertolucci.

Shemesh attended the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture (NYSS) from 1979-1983.^[6] In 1986, she was one of a new group of teachers brought in by then dean, Bruce Gagnier,^[10] and has been a member of the faculty since.^[11] In 2009, she was interviewed by Stanley Crouch as part of the NYSS Evening Lecture Series, "In Conversation with Stanley Crouch".^[12] Shemesh has also taught and spoken in a variety of other programs and symposia, including the Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts,^[13] Kremer Pigments, the International School of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture,^[14] the Sicily Artist in Residence Program (SARP),^[15] and the College de France.^[16]

Shemesh’s work is in the permanent collection of Collezione Maramotti^[17] and appears in Mario Diacono (2012), Archetypes and Historicity: Painting and Other Radical Forms, 1995-2007,^[18] Ophrah Shemesh: Silence of the Sirens, 2008-2011,^[19] and Max Tomasinelli (2011), Portraits of Artists.^[20]

Solo exhibitions

Ophrah Shemesh and model by Max Tomasinelli for Portraits of Artists,^[21] 2011

• Harms & Twombly,^[22][23] New York, NY, 2017
• Freight & Volume,^[24] New York, NY, 2008
• Stephen Wirtz Gallery,^[25] San Francisco, CA, 2003
• Baumgartner Gallery,^[2] New York, NY, 2002
• Guy McIntyre Gallery,^[26] New York, NY, 1997
• Mario Diacono Gallery,^[27] Boston, MA, 1995
• Galleria S.A.L.E.S.,^[28] Rome, Italy, 1995
• Galleria Philippe Daverio,^[29] Milan, Italy, 1992

Reviews

• Tosi, Barbara, “Tanti Retratti di Divi Non Illustri,” La Repubblica, May 24, 1995.
• Coen, Vittoria, “Ophrah Shemesh at Galleria S.A.L.E.S.,” Flash Art, 1995.
• Sherman, Mary, “Ophrah Shemesh, Mario Diacono,” ARTnews, December 1995.
• Ebony, David, “David Ebony’s Top Ten of 1997: Ophrah Shemesh at Guy McIntyre,” Artnet, December 23, 1997.
• Gagnier, Bruce Mitchel, “Ophrah Shemesh at Guy McIntyre,” Art in America, September, 1998.
• Goodman, Jonathan, “Ophrah Shemesh at Baumgartner,” Art in America, February, 2003.
• Amy, Michaël J., “Ophrah Shemesh: Freight + Volume,” Art in America, November, 2008.
• Cohen, David, “Deliciously Distressed,” New York Sun, March 13, 2008.