"My paintings grow out of my observational personality: I regard myself more as an observer than a participant in the situations I find myself in. Through my paintings, I use this lens to analyze human behaviors, scenes, and interactions – learning about myself and my relationship through my surroundings,” comments Yom Shalev, the 26 year old Israeli-born artist.

Shalev paints food, table still-lifes and the intimate relationship with our contemporary culture around the table and food. People are usually kept out of his compositions so that food and the table settings become stand-ins for human participants and interactions. Shalev finds that it is the objects we use and the foods we eat that tell a more compelling story than figurative representation.

"Throughout my body of work I take an introspective look into our celebratory, intimate, romantic, and vulnerable moments – and share those personal experiences in a visual way. With the focus on finding repetitive objects and places in these compositions, we can begin to define an experience, a culture, and a group of people without including the participants.

My body of work is also a way of translating a transformation and catharsis I’m going through in my life as I become more self-reflective.”