Mark Moore Gallery: Statements introduce a featured gallery artist through imagesand candid interview. From noteworthy early examples to present bodies, the worksfeatured in Statements act as an overview of the varying practices and movementsimplemented by a given artist in tandem with their thoughts and interpretations.

Through his hyperrealistic oil portraits of distinctive young women in lush environments, Yigal Ozeri

brings an ethereal sensibility to his tableaus. With tinges of Pre-Raphaelite aesthetics, Ozeri's works

engage with contemporary theories of femininity and sensuality while offering a revitalized

connectivity to nature.

Ozeri (born 1958, Israel) has extensively shown internationally since 1988. Solo exhibitions have

included those in Munich, New York, Houston, Los Angeles, Basel, Vienna, Israel, Paris, Tel Aviv,

Salzburg, Madrid, Chicago, London, San Francisco and Athens. His work is included in the

permanent collections of the McNay Art Museum (TX), The Tel Aviv Museum of Art (Tel Aviv), the

Albertina Museum (Vienna), the Museum of Modern Art (Haifa), the Nerman Museum (MO), the

Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art (NY), the Kennedy Center for the Arts (D.C.) and the

New York Public Library (NY), among others. Ozeri lives and works in New York, NY.

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When viewing your earlier work, your process seems informed byelements of modernism, more gestural than your current paintings.Can you elaborate on how you arrived at the style you practice now,which is oftentimes classified as "photorealist?"

My earlier work related to the general art world in terms of language andcode. In my early series from 1997, “Unbuilt America,” there were manyarchitectural ideas that came to life in my paintings. After that, I created aseries that was still based on the topic of architecture, but instead focusedon the architecture of faceless bodies. Featuring dresses without theirwearer's faces, “The Empty Dress" series exemplified the concept of thepresence of absence, which generated a major shift in my work.

In 2000 - after my mother died - I created a series called "Tikkun" (as intikkun olam – meaning, “to mend the world”). Utilizing elements of trompel’oeil, I dealt with materials that decay when the body decomposes, and withthe fear of death. That series marked a turning point in my career. Shortlythereafter, I did a series called "The Last Supper," which was inspired byLeonardo da Vinci. Again, I evaluated the notion of decay through all thetransformations that Leonardo da Vinci’s fresco endured. The actual da Vincipiece was continually restored for over 400 years, and that really fascinatedme. This body of work was the first time I used small brushes and the firsttime I used photography as primary source material for my work.

In my next phase, I started painting the view from my Long Island Citystudio. These works consisted largely of windows and pigeons, and wasultimately when the most substantial change in my work was apparent. Iwasn’t focused on reacting to the art world anymore, but rather on my

immediate surroundings. Originally, I painted by looking at the object,observing it and painting it without a secondary reference. Once I startedto photograph the window and the pigeons every day for a year, I exploredpainting from the photographs I took. This change in practice was my firstforay into photorealism. It was also the first time I was able to paintportraits. It was a very gradual process of shifting styles over a decade; itdidn’t happen all at once.

In many written assessments of your work, the term "Pre-Raphaelite"is typically utilized in reference to your compositions. Do you feelthat's an accurate appraisal?

Of course there is a connection to “Pre-Raphaelite” style; I paint women innature. I look at the works of John Everett Millais, such as “Ophelia in theNature,” from the 1850s and am fascinated by similar artists like Millais andRossetti - they worked like a communion. They took the model into natureand just painted.

The first piece that marked this aesthetic shift in my work featured Priscilla,a model from Maine that truly lived in the woods. I created two series, onecalled "Priscilla in Ecstasy," and the other called "Priscilla with Vines." Theseries were photographed in Maine and Costa Rica, respectively. Priscillaactually created her own performance in the natural atmosphere that Idocumented and it was such a unique experience for me to witness. Shesimply said, “Roll the camera." That was the first time my work started withvideo which prompted a drastic change in the energy of my work.

Priscilla wasn’t a traditional model or an actress, she was an authenticperson who connected with nature in ways that I didn’t think still existed intoday’s digital generation. She was able to bring a genuine part of her lifeand her being and shared it with the world without being afraid of beingjudged. I didn’t have to direct her; she did what she felt she should do.

Y I G A L O Z E R IInterviewed by: Catlin Moore, Mark Moore Gallery Director

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What is your typical process when creating a new painting? Doesfilming your models become a critical element of the work?

Photographing is an important part of my work. After I film my modelsinteracting with the natural environment, I return to my studio and uploadthe footage to my computer. I take still frames from my database and usethem as a painting reference. All of these images are real. They aren’t fakeor altered in Photoshop, they are real images of a real girl.

After I choose the images that I want to use, I start the painting process.First, I make a grid on the canvas or paper. I then project the drawing ontothe grid and paint with the actual photograph on hand as an additionalreference. What the camera captures is the closest to life, to one’s reality,to one’s breathing. The camera doesn’t lie. That is why it isn’t photorealismor hyperrealism; it is reality.

The majority of your later works have a common thread in their mood:innocence, naiveté, wonderment and discovery. What do you look forin your models in order to evoke this?

I always look for free-spirited women. I grew up in Israel in the early sixtiesand never got to fulfill my fantasy of being a hippie. I never lived that sort oflife. I always looked at pictures of Woodstock in magazines, in which girlswith long hair were unrestrained and walked barefooted. Today, in being anartist and living in New York, I get to live out my fantasy through my artwork.I found a new generation of women who live as the hippies did, called NewAge Hippies. I found Priscilla this way, and I knew that I had stumbled uponsomething special. She evokes an independent, very open minded, veryinnocent presence. She didn’t have any materialistic qualities about her.She didn’t have any concept of time and lived in the moment. I didn’t haveto work hard to create the gaze or the look because she simply had it.

Is it paramount to the work to have a female figure versus a male figure?

I have painted men in the past. I did a series of works featuring Adam andJessica in 2009. Most of the time, the men I painted weren’t the focal pointof the piece - they acted as a shadow to the women. Right now, I’m still inthe beginning of exploration, and I am very enraptured by what I paint.However, in the future I could incorporate other figures.

Is there a particular texture or quality that you find in paper thatcanvas does not afford you?

Paper is a material that I can control: I can remove and add sections, I canscratch it, I can peel it, I can hide inside it, I can get lost in it. I can win withpaper. Conversely, canvas is a material that doesn’t let the painter get intoit. The surface is hard, it rejects you and doesn’t let you control it.

There are many contrasting opinions about the use of the femalefigure in provocative compositions. Do you find that there is adiscussion as to whether or not your models are eroticized orrepresentative of anima? How does their portrayal operate?

In my opinion, my models are not eroticized. My art is very romantic; thatis what I bring back to painting. Art critics often assess the narrative in mywork as being feminine, as if painted by a woman. I view that as a bigcompliment. It’s as if I approach these girls differently, not like a man withhis sexual gaze but as a part of their minds. As Carl Jung asserted, thereis feminine part in the head of every man.

M A R K M O O R E G A L L E R YY I G A L O Z E R I 5

What do you find to be most influential when developing a new body of work?

It is always the first moment with the model in the natural atmosphere; how themodel connects and interacts with the environment. Her initial timidness,slightly reluctant behavior, insecurity, embarrassment, the model’s direct gaze,her openness - sometimes the model experiences joy from her settings, andthat is the most important element in my eyes.

In this most recent body of work, "Lizzie in the Snow," you recruited modelLizzie Jagger to be your subject. How does Lizzie highlight or challengeyour aesthetic?

Lizzie is a special individual. We cannot forget her lineage – after all, she is thedaughter of Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree- to me she represents a similar sense freedom, joy, and love that her parentsdid. She came to her photo shoot on one of the coldest winter days we had lastyear. The entire park was covered with white snow; everything was frozen. Fromthe moment she arrived, she started to chain smoke. Smoking in nature? Thestaff on the set was a little confused as to why I wasn’t upset at her for takingall these “smoking breaks." Nobody understood why I kept filming. I thought itwas brilliant. This was her connection to nature. That was her passion fornature; that was her joy, her relaxation. It was also a new challenge for me. Shewas wearing a blackish-green velvet cape, had pale skin and long hair - shelooked like a vampire. The white smoke that materialized along with the wetwhite snow was visually invigorating for me. She smoked and smiled with greatjoy and that was enough for me.

“The camera doesn’t lie. That is why it isn’tphotorealism or hyperrealism; it is reality.”

– Yigal Ozeri, 2010

Untitled; Lizzie in the Snow, 2010. Oil on paper, 60 x 42 inches. Collection of Marisa Ho.

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Untitled; Lizzie in the Snow, 2010. Oil on paper, 42 x 60 inches. Collection of Mitchell Kaminsky.

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Untitled; Lizzie in the Snow, 2010. Oil on paper, 42 x 60 inches

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Untitled; Lizzie in the Snow, 2010. Oil on paper, 42 x 60 inches

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Untitled; Lizzie in the Snow, 2010. Oil on paper, 42 x 60 inches. Collection of Paul Schacher.

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Untitled; Lizzie in the Snow, 2010. Oil on paper, 42 x 60 inches. Collection of Pierre Combet.

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Untitled; Lizzie in the Snow, 2010. Oil on paper, 42 x 60 inches. Collection of Wayne Yakes.

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Untitled; Lizzie in the Snow, 2010. Oil on paper, 42 x 60 inches. Private Collection.

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Untitled; Lizzie in the Snow, 2010. Oil on paper, 60 x 42 inches Untitled; Lizzie in the Snow, 2010. Oil on paper, 60 x 42 inches

Opposite page, left to right:Untitled; Lizzie in the Snow (Study), 2010. Oil on paper, 17 7/8 x 12 5/8 inches. Private Collection.Untitled; Lizzie in the Snow (Study), 2010. Oil on paper, 17 7/8 x 12 5/8 inches.

“Reminiseant of thebeautiful and the ideal

or as an effectiveantidote to everyday

harshness, his portraitshave a power that

disarm the viewer.”– Apostolos Mitsios, Yatzer, 2009

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M A R K M O O R E G A L L E R Y S T A T E M E N T S17

Untitled; Lizzie in the Snow (Study), 2010. Oil on paper, 12 3/4 x 18 inches

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Untitled; Lizzie in the Snow (Study), 2010. Oil on paper, 12 3/4 x 18 inches

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Untitled; Lizzie in the Snow (Study), 2010. Oil on paper, 12 3/4 x 18 inches

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Untitled; Lizzie in the Snow (Study), 2010. Oil on paper. 12 3/4 x 18 inches

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Untitled; Lizzie in the Snow (Study), 2010. Oil on paper, 12 3/4 x 18 inches

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Untitled; Lizzie in the Snow (Study), 2010. Oil on paper, 12 3/4 x 18 inches

Untitled, Lizzie Triptych, 2010. Pencil on paper, 12 x 2 1/4 inches. Collection of Eileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation.

“Ozeri’s art concerns thebasic philosophical

premises of perceptionand illusion, and uses theresoulution of realism to

break into a hidden,sensous reality beneath.”

– Gallery Guide, 2009

Untitled; Olga in the Park, 2010. Oil on canvas, 26 x 36 inches. Private Collection.

Untitled; Megan and Olga in the Park, 2010. Oil on canvas, 52 x 78 inches. Private Collection.

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Untitled; Jessica and Adam in the Park, 2009. Oil on paper, 62 x 92 1/4 inches. Collection of Eileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation.

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Untitled; Jessica in the Park, 2009. Oil on paper, 60 x 42 inches. Collection of Eileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation.

“Ozeri responds to today’sdemand for high definition

images, but unlike televisionor video Ozeri uses the

resolution of realism to breakinto a hidden, sensuous

reality beneath.”– Adam Bryce, SLAMXHYPE, 2009

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Untitled; Jessica in the P ark, 2009. Oil on paper, 42 x 60 inches. Collection of Wayne Yakes.

Untitled; Priscilla with Vines, 2007. Oil on canvas, 36 x 54 inches. Collection of Eyal Levy.

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Untitled; Priscilla in Ecstasy, 2007. Oil on paper mounted on board, 16 1/2 x 24 3/8 inches

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Untitled; Priscilla in Ecstasy, 2007. Oil on canvas, 54 x 82 inches. Collection of Paul Schacher.

YIGAL OZERIBorn 1958, Israel Lives and works in New York

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS2010 Lizzie Smoking, Galería Senda, Barcelona, Spain

Lizzie in the Snow, Mark Moore Gallery, Santa Monica, CA Desire for Anima, Contemporary by Angela Li, Hong Kong, China Olga in the Park, Galerie Brandt, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2009 Desire for Anima, Galerie Andreas Binder, Munich, Germany The Return of the Horse, The Subject Matters, Slought Foundation, Philadelphia, PADesire for Anima, Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, NYSmall Death, Galerie Dukan & Hourdequin, Marseille, France Priscilla, Wade Wilson Art, Houston, TX

2008 Singer Gallery, Mizel Arts and Culture Center, Denver, COThe Boathouse, Byron Cohen Gallery, Kansas City, MOYigal Ozeri, Mike Weiss Gallery, SCOPE Basel 2008, SwitzerlandPriscilla in Ecstasy, Charim Galerie, Vienna, AustriaGenesis, Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, NYGenesis, Alon Segev Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel

2007 Priscilla in the Cloud Forest, Mike Weiss Gallery, SCOPE Basel, Switzerland2006 The Montfort, New Gallery / Thom Andriola, Houston, TX

As Early as New York, Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, NY Long Island City, Musée de Lodève, Lodève, France Cafè Hawelka, Galerie Eric Dupont, Paris, France

2005 Long Island City, Alon Segev Gallery, Tel Aviv, IsraelNew Paintings, Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, NYFour Seasons, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel

2004 Long Island City, Galerie Heike Curtze, Vienna, AustriaLong Island City, New Gallery / Thom Andriola, Houston, TX

2003 The Watcher Paintings, Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, NY Memories from the Last Supper, New Gallery, Houston, TXTableau Vivant, Galerie Heike Curtze, Berlin, GermanyThe Last Supper, Hafemann Gallery, Wiesbaden, Germany

2002 The Countess de Castiglione, Galerie Heike Curtze, Vienna, Austria

Presence of the Absent, Stefan Stux Gallery, New York, NYPresence de L’absence, Galerie Mabel Semmler, Paris, FranceYigal Ozeri Full Moon, Galerie Heike Curtze, Salzburg, Austria

2001 Tikkun-The Restoration Series, Stefan Stux Gallery, New York, NYThe Countess de Casteglione, Bineth Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel (Catalogue)

2000 The Mark of the Bite, Bineth Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel (Catalogue)Still-Life, Galerie Hafemann, Wiesbaden, Germany (Catalogue)Tikkun (Restoration), New Gallery / Thom Andriola, Houston, TX

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS2010 Group Show, Museum of Biblical Art, Dallas, TX

I Love You, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Denmark2009 Recent Acquisitions: Moderm and Contemporary Art, McNay Art Museum,

San Antonio, TXThe Old Masters: Re-Mastered, Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, Fort Collins, COSummertime…, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CAOld Masters Reinterpreted, ROLLO Contemporary Art, London UKArt Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NetherlandsThe London Original Print Fair, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK

2008 Five Year Anniversary Show, Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, NY2006 Realm of the Spirit, Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, NY2005 Entourage, Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, NY2004 Tango, Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, NY2002 New York-Atlanta, Momus Gallery, Atlanta, GA2001 49th International Art Exhibition Venice Biennale / Biennale di Venezia, Italy2000 The Figure: Another Side of Modernism, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten

Island, NYThe End: An Independent Vision of Contemporary Culture, 1982-2000, Exit Art Gallery, New York, NY90th Anniversary of Tel Aviv-Yafo Contemporary Cityscapes-Israeli & American Artists, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, IsraelPlace Mark Person Mark, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, IsraelMonumental Drawings, Exit Art Gallery, New York, NYThe Vera, Silva and Arturo Schwartz Collection of Contemporary Art, The TelAviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel

Untitled; Shauna in Central Park, 2007. Oil on paper, 63 x 44 inches.Private Collection.

“The images have the addedpiquancy of media trompe l’oeil.”

– Lilly Wei, ArtNews, 2009

PUBLIC COLLECTIONSThe Richard Massey Foundation, New YorkRema Hort Mann FoundationEileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation, New YorkMcNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TXScheringa Museum Voor Realisme, NetherlandsThe Jewish Museum, New YorkTel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, IsraelNew York City Public Library, New YorkIsrael Museum, Jerusalem, IsraelGeneral American Corporation, Houston, TXEin Harod Museum, Ein Harod, IsraelAlbertina Museum, Vienna, AustriaDa-Da Yanko Museum, Ein Hod, IsraelKuntzwerien, Wiesbaden, GermanyMuseum of Modern Art, Haifa, IsraelKennedy Center for the Arts, DCHudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NYThe Nerman Museum, Kansas City, MO

front cover: detail image of Untitled; Lizzie in the Snow, 2010.back cover: detail image of Untitled; Lizzie in the Snow, 2010.

All images appear courtesy of the artist, collectors, Mike WeissGallery and Mark Moore Gallery. No portion of the contents may bereproduced without the express written permission of the publisher.

© 2010 Mark Moore Gallery and Yigal Ozeri. All rights reserved.

Design and Production: Mark Moore Gallery, Ashley Ayala, CaitlinHurd and Shear OzeriPhotography: Yigal Ozeri and Esther MontoroVideo: 2010 ©Yigal Ozeri, edition out of 5Video Editing: Kevin MessmanAssistant video editing: Caitlin HurdSpecial Thanks: Mark Moore Gallery, Mike Weiss Gallery, ShearOzeri, and Caitlin Hurd

www.MARKMOOREGALLERY.com