BIOGRAPHY

Efrat Baler-Moses, also known as Effi, is a multidisciplinary artist based in New York.

Born in Jerusalem, Israel, Efrat began her artistic journey at an early age, receiving a scholarship from the "Black Panthers" as a teenager for study at the Jerusalem Artist House and a solo exhibition sponsored by the Jerusalem Municipality Youth Department at the Jerusalem Municipal Gallery. She was also selected to take part in the first Artistic youth delegation and exhibitions in Austria and France sponsored by the Jerusalem Municipality in 1977.

 

Efrat went on to complete her BFA in Sculpture and Painting at the prestigious Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, where she was a recipient of the Helena Rubinstein - American-Israeli Culture Foundation grant. Her talent and promise were further recognized when she was chosen as one of the ten most promising artists of the 80s in a publication that honored the inauguration of the new Bezalel campus in 1990.

 

Since completing her studies, Efrat has enjoyed a successful career as an artist, with over 50 group shows and 5 solo exhibitions in the United States, Israel, and Germany, and her works are held in private collections.

 

Efrat has also lectured on the history of Israeli art and her own artworks as part of the Scholar in Residence Series at the San Francisco Library and as a guest lecturer at other prestigious institutions, including the San Francisco State University, San Jose State University, the University of California, the University of Berkeley, and Congregation Sherith Israel. Aside from being a practicing artist, she has worked at the Tate Americas Foundation and as a private art instructor and art educator, teacher, and lecturer, bringing her wealth of knowledge and experience to a range of public and private schools, community centers, and institutions in New York City, Brooklyn, and Jerusalem.

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THE ART

Efrat creates multidimensional paintings that require active examination and engagement from the viewer and challenges traditional notions of what a painting can be. By broadening painting's spatial presence, she explores different ways to make and exhibit paintings, examining the boundaries and semantics between painting and sculpture. Through the use of 3D elements and transdisciplinary techniques, she constructs and deconstructs the painting, creating a pseudo animation that exposes her process, techniques, and forms of artistic practice. Pop culture, current events, cultural trends or concerns, art-about-art, social and personal issues influence her themes.

 

Efrat offers an inside look into the innards of her sculptural paintings, exposing the commonly hidden parts, both physical and hypothetical. Her artworks incorporate elements and materials from outside the realm of traditional painting, including those from different contexts, cultures, and disciplines. They push the boundaries of what is commonly considered to be painting by incorporating 3D elements, challenging spatial conventions, and exploring new modes of exhibition and engagement. They are displayed in a variety of ways, including on walls, stands, pedestals, and turntables, and often incorporate elements that morph on, beneath, or behind the canvas.

 

Using traditional techniques, mediums, and tools, Efrat reimagines and redefines the place and space of a painting. Her goal is to create a more interactive viewing experience that expands the potential of what a painting can be, both within and beyond the confines of the wall. Overall, she seeks to create artworks that provoke thought, stimulate the senses, and challenge viewers to question their preconceived notions of what a painting is or what it can and should be.

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EDUCATION

1980-84 Bezalel Art Academy, Jerusalem, Israel. Graduated with BFA from the Sculpture & Painting Dept.

 

HONORS

2023     Honorable Mention Award, ASIAN INSPIRED ART | Long Beach Artists League

2022     Honorable Mention Award, 66TH ANNUAL MEMBERS’ EXHIBITION | Art League of Long Island

2021     Members' Choice Award Winner, MEMBERS' CHOICE  Long Beach Artists League

1983     American Israeli Culture Foundation Scholarship for 1983-84, The Helena Rubinstein Grant (Keren Sharet)

1977     Artistic Youth Delegation & Exhibitions in Austria and France, sponsored by the Jerusalem Municipality

1976     Scholarship from the "Black Panthers" to study at the Jerusalem Artist House

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2017     SOLO EXHIBITION | Tugboat, PLG Arts, Brooklyn, NY­­

1991     SOLO EXHIBITION | Painters & Sculptures Association, Tel-Aviv, Israel

            SOLO EXHIBITION | Municipal Gallery, Jerusalem, Israel

1985     MUTATIONS | Anatea Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Israel

1976     SOLO EXHIBITION | Jerusalem Municipality Youth Dept., Municipal Gallery, Jerusalem, Israel

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023

            WOMEN CELEBRATE WOMEN 2023 | El Barrios Artspace, PS 109,  New York, NY

            61st LONG ISLAND ARTISTS BIENNIAL | Art League of Long Island, Dix Hills, NY

            NEW HORIZON | Long Beach Artists League, Rockville Center Public Library, NY

            ASIAN INSPIRED ART (Honorable Mention Award) | Long Beach Artists League, Long Beach Public Library, NY

2022

            CELEBRATION OF ART | Long Beach Artists League, Long Beach Public Library, NY

            66TH ANNUAL MEMBERS' EXHIBITION (Honorable Mention Award), Art League of Long Island | Dix Hills, NY

            FORCES OF NATURE | Long Beach Artists League, Long Beach Public Library, NY

            OCTOBER MEMBERSHIP EXHIBIT | Long Beach Artists League, Long Beach Public Library, NY

            THE BEST OF WEST END ART | West End Arts Guild, Long Beach Public Library, NY

            THE LEONA POST SUMMER AWARDS EXHIBIT| Long Beach Artists League, Long Beach Public Library, NY

            WORDS & PICTURES | Long Beach Artists League Member Exhibit, Long Beach Public Library, NY

            65TH ANNUAL MEMBERS' EXHIBITION | Art League of Long Island, Dix Hills, NY

           ANEW – A New Member Exhibit | Long Beach Artists League Member Exhibit, Long Beach Public Library, NY

2021

            MEMBERS' CHOICE | Long Beach Artists League (Members' Choice award) | Long Beach Public Library, NY

            THANKFUL | Long Beach Artists League Member Exhibit, Long Beach Public Library, NY

            REFLECTIONS | Long Beach Artists League Member Juried Exhibit, Long Beach Public Library, NY

            GOOD NEIGHBORS | Amos Eno Gallery, East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY

2019

            LIC FEAR III | LIC Arts Open | The Plaxall Gallery, Long Island City, NY

            DIGITAL EXHIBITION | Artbox.Gallery, Zürich, Switzerland

            GIANT STEPS | Open­­ Gallery, Long Island City, NY

2018

            FALL SALON | LIC Arts Open | The Plaxall Gallery, Long Island City, NY

            FROM MINISCULE TO MONUMENTAL | LIC Arts Open Gallery, The Factory | LIC, NY

2017

            THE 5 NAPKIN SHOW | LIC Arts Open | Gallery II, The Factory, LIC, NY

            DEBTFAIR Biennial 2017 | Occupy Museums project, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY

            ANIMALIA | Local Project Gallery, Long Island City, NY

2016

            LIC ARTS OPEN | LIC Arts Open, Long Island City, NY

            DIORAMARAMA | Club 157 | Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY

            THE FOOD SHOW | Local Project Gallery, Long Island City, NY

2014

            THE SELFIE SHOW | MONA, Museum of New Art, Armada, MI

            ANNUAL SMALL WORKS SHOW | 440 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2013

            PLG ARTS GROUP EXHIBITION | Tugboat, Brooklyn, NY

2012

            GO, BROOKLYN ART | Community Curated Open Studio Project, Artist’s Studio, Prospect Lefferts, Brooklyn, NY

            THE INTERNATIONAL ARTIST FAIR | Parallax Art Fair, SoHo, NY

2011

            GENERATIONS VIII | A.I.R Gallery, Dumbo, Brooklyn, NY

            THE NEIGHBORHOOD | PLG Arts, Brooklyn, NY

2008

            1ST ANNUAL GROUP SHOW | PLG Arts', K-Dog & Dune Buggy Café, Brooklyn, NY

2006 & 2007

            TRACING SHADOWS | Israel Museum Youth Wing, Jerusalem, Israel

1999

            THE BEGINNING…A SPACE EXHIBIT | The Space Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

1998

            GROUP EXHIBITION | The Emerging Collector, New York, NY

            SEND IN THE CLONES | The Emerging Collector, New York, NY

            DIANA FEVER | The Emerging Collector, New York, NY

1995

NATIONAL SHOWCASE IV | Alternative Museum, New York, NY

1992

3 ARTISTS | The Red Building, Tel-Aviv, Israel

1990

            PROMISE,10 Bezalel Artists Most Promising Artists of The Last Decade | Bezalel, Jerusalem, Israel

            ARTISTS PAINTING ON A BILLBOARD | Public Gallery Project, 35 Lang St. Frankfurt, Germany

1989

            GROUP EXHIBITION | Painters and Sculptors Association House, Tel-Aviv, Israel

1988

ARTISTS FOR THE AIDS TASK FORCE | Richter Gallery, Jaffa, Israel

1986

            CATASTROPHE | Jerusalem Theater, Israel

            FIRST SHOWING | Dizengoff Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel

1985

First Line | Ein Harod Museum, Kibbutz Ein Harod, Israel

 

VISITING ARTIST LECTURES/PRESENTATIONS

1998     The History of Israeli Art & Artist's Artwork | Scholar in Residence Series, The San Francisco Library, CA

1996     Slide Work Presentation of Artist's Works and Contemporary Israeli Art | California State University, Hillel House, CA |                      Chico State University, CA | Monterey Peninsula College, CA | San Francisco State University, CA | San Jose State                               University, CA | University of California, CA | University of Berkeley, CA | Congregation Sherith Israel, San Francisco, CA

 

AFFILIATIONS

The Jewish Art Salon | America-Israel Cultural Foundation | Long Beach Art League | West End Arts Artists Guild   | Art League of Long Island