Tel Aviv: Olga Kondina Opens a Balcony to the Aegean at Rosenfeld Gallery

Olga Kondina's work

Rosenfeld Gallery will open on September 4 a new solo exhibition dedicated to the artist Olga Kondina. Entitled Balcony to the Aegean and curated by Maya Frenkel Tene, this presentation extends and deepens a major turning point in the artist’s practice: the shift from a gaze directed toward external reality to a more introspective painting in which the studio and inner world take center stage.

In this new cycle, Kondina weaves a dialogue between the outside and the intimate. Concrete reality, often rendered in a realist manner, is composed of familiar landscapes: the ever-changing streets of Tel Aviv under constant construction, migrant workers, the weekly demonstrations that fill public squares, or the view of the Shapira neighborhood from her rooftop. Confronted with this chaotic daily life, the artist unfolds an inner universe nourished by dreams, fears, and fantastic visions, which she translates into colorful, swift, and expressive paintings, sometimes verging on abstraction. The more oppressive and disorderly the real becomes, the more her canvases open to imagination, dream, and hallucination.

As in her previous series Conversations with Aphrodite, Kondina once again summons classical figures such as Aphrodite and Antinous. Inherited from the academic tradition, they become a kind of ancient chorus, reminding viewers of the link between her paintings and the cultural history of the West. The exhibition also bears the mark of India, where the artist recently resided: its landscapes and symbols appear at times idyllic, at times as nightmarish visions.

Nelly in the Living Room

Among the highlights is the painting Nelly in the Living Room, which revisits the iconic composition of Velázquez’s Las Meninas. The artist’s granddaughter takes on the role of the Infanta, while Kondina portrays herself facing the easel. A monumental cat, both protective and unsettling, replaces the royal dog. Corinthian columns, the horizon of the Himalayas, and the apparition of a golden Buddha compose a scene at once intimate and universal. Whereas Velázquez’s work embodied the stable power of the Spanish court, Kondina builds around her granddaughter an imaginary idyll, sketching the hope for a new order.

The exhibition also extends into the project space (Rozi), where the artist presents a selection of works on paper from her Balfour-Kaplan project. Initiated in 2020, this extensive series documents the major protest movements in Israel: from the Balfour demonstrations during the Covid-19 pandemic to the Kaplan protests against judicial reform, and up to the recent gatherings during the current war, demanding the release of hostages and an end to the conflict. Actively present in these mobilizations, Kondina produced dozens of sketches—some later transformed into large-scale paintings—blending civic engagement with artistic creation.

Kaplan

Born in Moscow in 1965, Olga Kondina graduated from the Institute of Design and Graphic Arts in 1990 and immigrated to Israel the same year. She is a co-founder of the group The New Barbizon and has exhibited at leading institutions, including the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (2016, 2023), De Appel in Amsterdam (2020), Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv (2019), Bezalel Gallery (2019), the Ein Harod Museum of Art in Israel (2017), and the Haifa Museum of Art (2014). Her works are part of numerous public and private collections, among them the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Knesset, and Bank Discount.

With Balcony to the Aegean, Olga Kondina reaffirms the singularity of her pictorial language, oscillating between meticulous observation of reality and visionary escape. Deeply rooted in the cultural and political history of contemporary Israel, her work offers a painting that is both intimate and universal, where the chaos of the present meets the persistence of myth.

The exhibition will be on view until October 25 at Rosenfeld Gallery, 1 Hamifal Street, Tel Aviv.

Caroline Haïat