My Story

Hello, nice to meet you.
My name is Irena Oyffe, member of "Artist in His City", the Kfar Saba Artists' Association.

Art (painting) has always been an important part of my life. All my life I have absorbed the values ​​of art from the great painters whose works are displayed in the numerous art museums and exhibitions that I have visited in Israel and around the world. I was influenced by European modernism of the late 19th and early 20th centuries - impressionists, post-impressionists and expressionists.

I started to study painting when I was in high school. Since then I have painted from time to time in watercolors.

By the year 2022, I turned to figurative oil paintings.

I studied drawing and painting in oil colors at the Avni Institute with the painter Hila Nevo, and at Minshar College of Art in Tel Aviv. At the same time, I have studied art history at Tel Aviv University, avant-garde art and contemporary art among other courses.

I believe that art creation begins with genuine emotion. If I paint something that stirs emotions in me, it is likely to move viewers to connect with my artwork on a deeper level.

It's as if I am transferring my emotions to the people viewing the painting.

I use a pictorial language that is between surrealism and realism, trying to evoke emotions and thoughts in the viewer.

"The judicial reform" crisis and the division within the nation, the tragedy of October 7th, and the war in Israel led me to create the series of paintings "Life as It Is" which depicts feelings of sadness, uncertainty, and empathy with all the affected families.

My paintings engage in a dialogue with various modernist artistic traditions. I am inspired by the painters such as Oscar Kokoschka, Maurice de Vlaminck, Rene Magritte and Gerhard Richter — all of whom worked during periods of historical upheaval, and whose art was a living response to the dramas of their time.