Spotlight on works by Nancy Fruchtman

Born: 1948 - Burbank, California, U.S.A. 

B.A. UCLA- 1969

Member of the Israeli Professional Visual Artists Association

Art is a passion, which I steadfastly develop in my own way, getting inspiration from fragments of poetry, photographs or stories, rather than from drawings or paintings of other artists.  Dr. Dalia Hakker-Orion, curator of my solo exhibition in Tel Aviv wrote: “She doesn’t paint according to instructions or styles, but evolves at her own pace, creating original paintings manifesting passages connecting different realities.” 

My story stretches from my childhood home in Southern California to the Sea of Galilee in Israel. My dual citizenship has strongly influenced my perspectives. From multiple traditions, art emerges as the visual expression of movement and multi-layered ideas.

I am currently working with encaustic paint that I make in my studio. My work incorporates a variety of materials: oil, acrylic, pastel, pencil sketches, and found objects. Encaustic is the current medium of my choice. Encaustic art has a 2000 year history, but its contemporary rejuvenation is highly experimental. Translucent, underlying layers impart radiance and mystery. The use of “paint” is slightly different from that of other translucent mediums. Unlike other mediums, encaustic is archeological in that fused layers can be scraped back to reveal substrates, some of which contain embedded objects. It can also be sculpted into 3-dimensional embellishments. However, along with its decorative possibilities, wax pigment sometimes takes on a life of its own. Wax pigments are always on the brink of a spontaneous meltdown, with unusual effects. Once cool, the surface is hard and resilient.