Ofra Lapid

New York, NY/ Tel Aviv, Israel
Residency: October – November 2015

Artist Statement:
I came to Sculpture Space four months after graduating the MFA program at Hunter College, NYC. The timing was perfect for me to start a new project and the residency provided just that opportunity. The project that I had in mind to carryout was to some extent, a continuation of my thesis project, conceptually and materially.Upon arrival and settling into the new studio, I started questioning my intent to carryout the plan I came with in mind. It felt disconnected to the place I was (Utica), and somewhat out of context. Instead I took my camera and took pictures at different locations in Utica, various architectural structures and interiors that I found inspiring and relevant to my work. Places I visited: the Utica train station, the Fort Schuyler Club, and different abandoned houses in deteriorating states.

The practice of going out into the world and taking pictures has long been absent from my work and I was happy to discover new places through my camera. The pictures I took mostly serve as my personal database of interior spaces and different textures, a mega storage that I'm in process of creating. My studio practice would then be to create small-scale models of the places I visited using prints of the photos I had previously took. I would later photograph the small-scale models and the result would be an image. These works continue my ongoing interest in interior spaces and the transformation of a given place from an image-to model-to an image again, becoming more abstract in the process. I consider these works as part of my ongoing series titled "Interiors" that I started in 2013.

The second month of the residency was dedicated to building the project I had in mind when I arrived. It is a wall relief built from 20 wood squared panels that form an abstract geometric composition on the wall. The composition is based on a wall of a museum in Tel Aviv that I have a distinct memory of passing by on a regular bas s on my way to school. It is a large-scale work and Sculpture Space provided the perfect opportunity to realize such a work. The help of George, the shop manager, was valuable in order to build it in the most professional manner and also learn gain skills in the process. The work is nearly finished and I'm currently looking for the ideal space to show it. In conclusion, my time at Sculpture Space was very productive. I got to realize a new large-scale work in an environment that allowed me to work carefree and uninterrupted. I enjoyed learning new ways to do things I wasn't sure I could, and was very satisfied to be able to experiment and expand my practice. On a social level, I made new friends for life and was happy to interact with professional that passed through Sculpture Space and showed interest in my work.

About the Artist:
Ofra Lapid is a photographer and an image-maker, currently based in NYC. Her works are a visual and conceptual inquiry into the history of modern architecture, a style that conveys social and political traits as well as a narrative familiar to her from growing up in Tel Aviv. What is seen in her works is purposefully deceiving: by appropriating found imagery and constructing small-scale models for the camera, her photographs and images put to play their immanent flatness and question the imageability of the structures that surrounds us. 

Born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel, Ofra Lapid received her BFA at Hamidrasha School of Art, IL and her MFA from Hunter College, NY. She has exhibited in venues around the world, among others the Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, IL; Fresh Paint #4, Contemporary Art Fair, Tel Aviv, IL; Periscope Gallery in Salzburg, AT, and in a recent survey exhibition of New York MFA graduates titled New Work New York in Brooklyn. Residencies include the Artists’ Village Schöppingen. In 2016, she will participate in the Hercules Studio Program, in lower Manhattan, NY.