Ilana
Dotan

In recent years, I have been drawing unbranded industrialized objects in my home environment. Such objects often go unnoticed in our daily lives and get almost no cultural representation, yet they have a significant impact on our lives. I am intrigued by the visual complexity and material story of these objects and the ways they mirror contemporary humanity and reflect our needs, resources, technologies, fears, and desires. My creative process involves taking a photo of the chosen object with my smartphone, editing the image by computer, and then reproducing it on paper using pencils and charcoal. Enlarging the object realistically and meticulously allows me to appreciate its aesthetics, uniqueness, and complexity. This process is a continuation of the longstanding tradition of still life painting, which serves as a concrete description of material reality while also functioning as an allegory about reality.