Nira Lubanov is an Israeli artist. Her life story is interwoven in the history of this country. Lubanov was born in Kibbutz Kinneret in the Jordan Valley. It was a kibbutz where all the children wore simple shorts and white tank tops. Barefoot or in brown sandals, they all ate together in the main dining room and slept in the children’s houses, which used to be “shared accommodation.” Lubanov recounts: “Like every little child in the kindergarten in the kibbutz, I was seated with the other kids in front of tables loaded with white paper. At first, I was not aware of my abilities and artistic talents. But as time went by, as a young girl and then in high school, I realized I received special treatment and many compliments for my drawings. It was my first significant experience in the kibbutz, where everyone was equal, even though I knew I was better than the others at drawing, and it encouraged me to make more effort to succeed. I was the one who always drew for events, backstage scenery, and painted at every opportunity.”
In high school, one of Lubanov’s teachers was famed Israeli artist Leo Roth. He made aliyah from Germany in the 1930s and lived all his life in Kibbutz Afikim. There is some influence of Roth in Lubanov’s work, in the way she combines colors and the way she takes care of the figures in her work. Solid characters with clear and defined contours stand at the center of Roth’s work, as well as in part of Lubanov’s. As she says: “Leo Roth taught me to delve deeper into the subject of the material from which the elements appearing in the painting are made, to give expression, to show and emphasize the texture of the dress’s fabric wrapping the body of the painted image, to emphasize the texture of the fruits, as well as the texture of the wooden stand where the fruits are located in the market.”
Throughout the years until Lubanov retired, she did not paint much. When she retired, she was captivated by her talent and started painting every day. The teacher who influenced her more than others was Gershon Heiman, a multidisciplinary artist, whose sculptures are located in many places across the country. Lubanov says: “Gershon Heiman opened wide the door to the world of painting for me. He taught me the rules of colors and perspective, the principles of how the human eye observes a painting, and how the brain perceives what the eye sees. The study environment was supportive and pleasant, and thanks to him, for many years I stood painting every day, creating works of art without a break. Additionally, I must mention artist Alex Cherkov, who taught me a lot, and for that I am grateful to him.”
Encountering the art of Lucien Freud
In the 1990s, Lubanov encountered the art of Lucien Freud for the first time at a large retrospective exhibition. “I arrived at the Tel Aviv Museum and was amazed at how Lucien Freud managed to paint the truth in its nakedness without any shame. A naked woman lies with her breasts spread out, a painting of a naked man is placed at the entrance to the museum, sitting with legs apart, and the whole truth is visible. It is an art I appreciate a lot,” she says
Lubanov’s art is naïve. Her works are usually full of figurative details and events from everyday life, expressed on the canvas with smiling simplicity. Everyday scenes are depicted in bright colors, with drawings that are easy to understand and interpret. The captivating simplicity is the hallmark of her work, and the world smiles from the painting in color and overwhelming positivity.■
The writers are curators of Nira Lubanov’s solo exhibition titled ‘What the Eyes See’ at the Global Art Gallery in Tel Aviv.
