ILANA ESHEL

1997  PPOW, New York, NY

1993 “Sketches,” Keiko Hatano Gallery, Honolulu, HI

1989  “New Paintings,”  The Contemporary Museum Advertiser Gallery, Honolulu, HI

1986  “Patterns of Existence,” CalArts, Valencia, CA

2019    “Cure,” 81 Leonard Gallery, New York, NY

2019    “Israel Bonds,” Chabad Short Hills, NJ

1997    Group Show, PPOW, New York, NY

1998    “Art Miami,”  Miami, FL

1991    “Thirty years of the Honolulu Advertiser Gallery,”  The Contemporary Museum Advertiser Gallery, Honolulu, HI

1990    “The International Triennial Exhibition of Painting,” Osaka, Japan

1986    “Women Group Show,” CalArts, Valencia, California

1985    “Group Show,” Bezalel, Jerusalem, Israel

1986     “Women Group Show,” CalArts, Valencia, California

1985     “Group Show,” Bezalel, Jerusalem, Israel

Ilana Eshel is an Israeli-American artist currently based in Israel. Eshel’s drawings and paintings explore the vast spaces of the imagination and the creatures that inhabit them, reflecting a deep curiosity for outer space and interplanetary civilization. Utilizing bright and fluorescent colors, Eshel crafts the architecture of imaginary environments and fills them with characters that are neither human beings nor spirits, but something yet to be understood or named. Their beauty, joy, and innocence suggest a vastly different experience from that of the human struggle marred with fear and unhappiness. In this way, Eshel’s work is optimistic about life beyond Earth. Using the Automatic Drawing technique characteristic of Surrealism, Eshel creates without forethought and allows characters to emerge from her subconscious. The resulting whimsical scenes ironically stand in stark contrast to her own personality and temperament. This is precisely where Eshel finds inspiration: in the “newness” outside of her comfort zone. In addition to her fascination with the unknown, Eshel also cites Walt Disney’s fictional worlds as a profound influence on her work. While presenting as something out of a daydream, Eshel’s work offers a hopeful alternative to reality and an unwritten story to ponder.

 Eshel has studied sporadically at the Bezalel Academy of The Arts (Jerusalem, Israel), the Visual Arts Center (Beer-Sheva, Israel), California Institute of the Arts (Valencia, CA), and the University of Hawaii (Honolulu, HI). Equally as formative to her practice, Eshel has lived, worked, and traveled through Europe, the Ivory Coast, and the United States in addition to her home country, Israel. Eshel’s work has been shown internationally throughout the U.S., Israel, and Japan.