Sara & Elisheva Arsenyuk | Upon a Second Glance

Sara and Elisheva Arsenyuk׳ Upon a Second Glance׳

Opening Event: Thursday, January 9, 2025, at 8:00 PM
Curator: Shalev Shaul

Sara and Elisheva Arsenyuk (27), identical twins and graduates of the Department of Multidisciplinary Art at Shenkar College (2024), present a collection of their past works in their debut exhibition, exploring the boundaries between reality and imagination. This exhibition offers an observation and discussion on the limits of the visible world versus the experienced one.

Elisheva Arsenyuk
Elisheva’s works delve into everyday spaces drawn from her Israeli urban surroundings. Yellow fences, orange rooftops, house facades, and bus stops—all undergo a distinctive transformation. Her paintings start from a realistic place but incorporate imaginative elements: vibrant colors, unconventional perspectives, and a subtle sense of emptiness devoid of human figures. Her familiar landscapes lack street-dwelling humans, giving her works a surreal atmosphere that balances between reality and fantasy.

In her paintings, the street transitions from a clear reality into a scene for encounters with the hidden. Through her artistic choices, Elisheva elevates simple moments, turning them into an urban dream. Her works prompt viewers to reassess their daily routines, uncovering concealed and imagined layers. Her art probes the question: How can imagination reshape the way we experience the familiar?

Sara Arsenyuk
While Elisheva embeds imagination into reality, Sara Arsenyuk constructs fantastical worlds where reality serves merely as a starting point. For example, in one of her works, a woman moves between bare trees in a mysterious field, creating a delicate tension between the tangible and the abstract. Sara designs spaces where familiar elements—trees, the moon, or the sun—are absorbed into an imaginary environment with its own internal rules. In contrast to Elisheva’s work, Sara’s use of human figures anchors her scenes in reality, while Elisheva’s absence of figures highlights the role of imagination in her art.

Sara’s paintings invite viewers to wander into worlds where reality melts into an emotional and imaginative experience. Her use of open spaces, blurred colors, and implied narratives creates a sense of daydreaming, with human figures serving as anchors to their origins in reality. Her works question: What is reality in our eyes and how can imagination expand its boundaries?

Blending Worlds – Artistic Dialogue
When Sara’s and Elisheva’s works are displayed side by side, they reveal a rich dialogue between two distinct artistic approaches. Elisheva takes viewers on a journey where imagination emerges from everyday moments, while Sara opens windows to imaginary worlds inspired by reality. This tension between reality and imagination creates an experience that blurs boundaries and invites questions about the world we see and experience.

Beyond their shared conceptual inquiries, the sisters share artistic qualities, especially in their approach to color. As daughters of an artist, they were exposed to color theory from an early age. For both, color carries deeper meanings and influences beyond vision alone, playing a crucial role in their creative process. By mixing pigments and oil paints, they create a unique and magical palette.

“Upon a Second Glance” invites viewers into a space where reality and imagination are inseparable. It is a creative and conceptual encounter where the sisters offer a renewed perspective on the connection between what we see and what we imagine. Between Elisheva’s dynamic vibrancy and Sara’s dreamy softness, an artistic narrative emerges, challenging how we experience our world. This exhibition offers a multi-layered journey that encourages viewers to move between worlds, ask questions, and rediscover the interplay of reality and imagination.