Monday, Oct 21, 2013
Large, mural-sized canvases depicting a representational world of fantasy, ambiguity and absurdity
The Rider University Art Gallery presents an exhibit of works by Daniela Bittman from Thursday, Oct. 24, through Sunday, Dec. 1. The exhibit will open with a reception on Thursday, Oct. 24 from 5 to 7 p.m. The artist will discuss her work in a Gallery Talk on Thursday, Oct. 31, at 7 p.m. in the Art Gallery. Admission is free.
The works exhibited in this one-person exhibition at the Rider University Art Gallery are mural size, unstretched canvases that measure 8 feet by 8 feet or 10 feet by 12 feet. They hang freely from the gallery walls like large tapestries. Each canvas is composed of colored pencils, crosshatched over an acrylic wash, which can be characterized as either large drawings or colored pencil paintings.
The world that Daniela Bittman creates is mysterious. It is a world of the mind, that is, all her images depicting people, animals and the still life are totally invented and filled with minute, exquisite detail. It is a representational world of fantasy, ambiguity and absurdity.
Daniela Bittman was born in 1952, in Bucharest, Romania, where she attended N. Tonitza Arts High School. In 1970, she moved to Israel, where she spent two years at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, followed by four years at the Tel Aviv University, where she studied Classics. She has had solo exhibits at the Beyt Levik Gallery, Tel-Aviv, and The Artists’ House, Jerusalem. She came to the United States in 1984, and she has had solo exhibits at the Joy Kreves Gallery in Frenchtown, N.J.; the Anne Reid Gallery at Princeton Day School; at Art Space in New Haven, Conn.; and the Atelier Gallery, Frenchtown, N.J. She also exhibited two large canvases at Ellarslie in Trenton, N.J., as part of the “Artist Chooses Artist” group show.
The Rider University Art Gallery is located in the Bart Luedeke Center on Rider University’s campus, 2083 Lawrenceville Road, in Lawrenceville. It is open Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.