BACKGROUND

Born in New Jersey, award winning oil painter, Ma'ayan has exhibited in the US and Israel for the past 18 years. Painting since the age of 8, she studied at the Art Students League in NYC, the Marchutz School in France and received her BFA from the School of Visual Arts in NYC. Ma'ayan is a fellowship recipient from the Ragdale Foundation and the Vermont Studio Center and is a recipient of the Steven Sprouse Scholarship, the Marchutz Study Grant and the McDowell Travel Grant. 


Towards the end of 2012, Ma'ayan and her husband made aliyah from NY and live in Jerusalem. In 2013, she received an artist grant from the Israeli government proclaiming her a 'unique and exceptional talent.' 


Ma'ayan has exhibited internationally in numerous solo and group exhibitions and has exhibited in numerous Biennales including the Florence, Miami, the 2015, 2017 and most recently her solo exhibition at the 2021 Jerusalem Biennales. Ma’ayan has taught expressionism painting classes at the Montclair Museum art school and is the founder and instructor at Atelier Pnimi in Jerusalem, Israel.


ARTIST STATEMENT

Large in scale, I invite the viewer into the visual universe of the painting, utilizing bold brushstrokes with vivid color and varied opacity. Tension between strokes is pushed and the exploration of 3D in a 2D environment takes place where movement, depth and mystery are revealed, and a sensory experience occurs with the painting and viewer fusing together.

Each of my series begins with a shock, an event in my life that is transformative. Be it the 11 month mourning of the passing of my father, leaving the comforts of my home to journey to a new land, the devastation from my studio fire and most recently living thru corona.


Seeking a way to communicate my thoughts, I enter the studio. Yet it is not until the completion of a series, when I look at the body of work, does the message get birthed. As Dominique Ariel Handelmann writes in her article on my work for the Jerusalem Post, “Ma’ayan is an artist who leaves everything on the canvas. Her raw subconscious, blood and tears come through the paint and whisper of pain and triumph as only true art can.”

My approach is a necessary way of depicting a transcendent reality, whereby the painting and viewer fuse together, creating a spiritual intimacy. At the core of my paintings a deeper, life source message is revealed — one that is universal to all.