ARTIST’S STATEMENT

“I have generally accumulated a great deal of experience concerning the meanings of color and its relationship to observed form. On that level, my work constitutes a contemporary perspective on the relationship of color and pattern in primitive society.

On another level, my ‘masks’ are n interpretation of my life’s experiences, in particular those fro the decade I spent living in South Africa, and reflect a search for the primeval in oneself and liberation from the constrictions of modern society. They attempt to scratch the surface of the present to revel personal and ancient cultural memories through an exploration of the forms of expression of the anonymous artists who created both the paintings on the walls on ancient caves and ritual masks. There is a close connection between the ‘primitive’ modes of these drawings/paintings and mask making, and the ‘modern’ modes of drawing/painting and object making which have sought to express themselves in a ‘new’ way; in short, a close similarity in the mode of expression in primitive art to that of modern artists.

My ‘masks’ accordingly serve as tiny illustrations of the recurrent ‘laws’ of representation, which appear in human history and the tradition that connects past and present artistic expression. The images embody values and beliefs that survive eras, becoming part of an eternal visual vocabulary that floats in collective memory. To this end, expression of time is of the essence, and is compressed into a dense abraded surface; the colors I use are, for the most part, primeval: earth-toned and evocative of soot-smudged cave walls. These works not only lack local coloring or affiliation, but also any sexual identity which serves to reinforce their impenetrability, appropriate to the ‘Darkest Continent’/ We may consider them also as semi-abstract signs, as though the vegetable and animal worlds have undergone some reductive process, but in spite of which the source of their vitality is taken from nature: we live in nature and are influenced by it.

On a more mundane level, the paintings also relate to the lifestyles of the diverse and culturally integrated communities n South Africa that fascinated me there, particularly that of the Bushman (San) people of the Kalahari Desert, and can be said to be variations of the African tribal masks that we have collected and others we have encountered over the years, in other collections, literature, exhibitions, and curio outlets, and of Bushman cave paintings. Each painting is also part of the whole and tells its story best I accompaniment with the rest, just as primitive society does.”

A footnote: “Bill Ainslie, my mentor in South Africa, was killed in a motor car accident in August 1989 and my later works, with their inscribed Hebrew messages, have been executed as tributes to him and his vision.”

PROFILE

Atara was born in Israel. She studied sculpture at the Academia Della Arte in Rome under world-known sculptor Emilio Greco. In London, she studied the human form in various schools, in New York, spent some time at the Art Students League, and in Los Angeles, at Los Angeles City College.

In 1971 Atara moved to new experiences in South Africa, studying full-time under well-known artists, Bill Ainslie, in his school, for six years, and Noel Bisseker, at the Johannesburg College of Art, and generally accumulated a great deal of experience concerning her deep interest in the meanings of color and its relationship to observed form. Late in 1979, Atara settled in San Diego, California, where she studied under Gary Hansmann, who proved to be a prime catalyst in her efforts to translate her African experiences into oil and mixed media, and is at present working form her studio in La Mesa.

Atara has been widely published in the United States, Italy, and Japan, and has exhibited her work in solo and group shows all over the United States. She is a member of the San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild and the San Diego Art Institute, and her work is in private collections in South Africa, San Diego, Los Angeles and Palo Alto, California, Olympia and Seattle, Washington, Ohio, Colorado, Utah, Chicago, Illinois, New Haven, Connecticut, New York, Mexico, and Israel.