With movement and dappled curiosity, Yael Izrai’s art practice is both confrontational and feminine. Her rhapsodic prints and sculptures show the work of a musically attuned visual artist: hands in position to play piano chords dance across many of her pieces posing a recurrent theme of musicality and song. Using her multimedia talents to depict her musings and reflections on the earth and its people, Izrai plays with different mediums, textures, and modalities to find what matches her mood and that of which she intends to portray. Through the use of layering Izrai pushes the boundaries of two-dimensional perception bringing volume and three-dimensionality to her pieces–a practice informed by her prior work in ceramics. Reverberations of Klimt, Picasso, and Magritte become apparent in her works: arching figures, living sculptures, apples, and pomegranates are recurring themes across her pieces. Beginning as a means to express difficult emotions, Izrai’s art practice has evolved into one that investigates the big questions in life, which are the focus of her most recent series. Izrai immigrated from Russia to the United States – her influences reflect a global perspective spanning across cultures and time periods, which range from spiritual to artistic to cultural. By reflecting on these foundational episodes of humanity, Izrai’s work asks the viewer to consider where we come from and why we are here. Izrai lives and works in Long Island, New York.
YAEL IZRAI ON
