* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
Katia Lifshin is a Ukraine born Israeli artist, currently living in Tel Aviv, Israel. at 19, she moved to the U.S and studied visual art, painting and sculpting in Pima College, Arizona. She participated in numerous group shows in the US and Israel, and held two solo shows in Phoenix, Arizona, and Brooklyn, NY. She primarily focuses on oil painting, drawing and cyanotype prints, using old photographs as her guide and inspiration to her works.
Katia describes the work by saying, “In my series ‘All the memories’, I use old monochromatic photographs as my guide and inspiration. Photography is one of the means to save and treasure a memory. Memory on the other hand is ambiguous and deceptive, it constantly transforms and takes new shapes. Relying on photography to capture a moment creates a fragmented piece of it, open for interpretation. I use this opening to create new meaning for old photographs, and recast them as colorful oil paintings. I collect the photos from flea markets and old family albums, usually with little or no information about the people I paint. I enjoy imagining, or reinventing who they are, and often I will modify details in the photographs to match my own narrative, intertwining the vintage scenes with my own experiences and emotions.”
