MEET:
Milly Barzellai
Childhood Landscape, 2018
Mural and molded crayons, Dimensions Variable, Installation view, MoBY: Museums of Bat-Yam, Israel
Tell us about yourself.
Im Milly, I graduated with my BFA from Bezalel Art Academy in Jerusalem in 2013, and with my Master degree at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago in 2017. I'm an Israeli - Brazilian artist.
Where did your passion for art begin?
My passion comes from my need to be active in passive experiences: I'm in a quest to change images that get stuck in my mind from my past, and do something with it in my present.
Art is a good ground to change images by action with colors.
Childhood Landscape, 2018
Mural and molded crayons, Dimensions Variable, Installation view, MoBY: Museums of Bat-Yam, Israel
How would you describe your work to someone?
My works move from fantastic imagery of dystopia to utopia in a colourful and playful action of art. I wish to use color as a potential of change for a traumatic stuck image. I see art as a just ground to act against the terror of image by playing with the material of the image: it’s colors.
What are you currently working on?
In this period of my work, I concentrate on disconnecting from my surroundings and building utopist worlds that have no time or space. I build small shulters of escapism, where I wish to be.
Utopian Clouds, 2021
22 clouds made of clay, Dimensions Variable, Installation view, Fresh Paint ART fair Tel Aviv, Israel
When you start a new work or project, do you plan what you’re going to create or do you improvise?
When I start a new project I gather literature around the subject, then I set certain rules and a distinctive playground for creative action. In this game I’m obligated to the play and not to the end results.
Can you highlight some of your influences and discuss how your influences have made an impact on you and your practice?
I'm affected by the contradiction between the frozen, stuck image to the fluency and playfulness of the colors it holds. My traumatic images are made in Israel, while my tendency for playing with colors comes from my childhood in Brazil.
Childhood Landscape, 2018
Mural and molded crayons, Dimensions Variable, Installation view, MoBY: Museums of Bat-Yam, Israel
What are your plans for the remainder of this year?
To escape.