Inspiration and Strength to Keep Creating

December 6, 2009 by · 18 comments

Vanya Nikolaeva’s interview with Ronit Baranga

Ronit Baranga has a B.A. in Psychology and Hebrew Literature from Haifa University, Israel. She has also taken courses in Art History (Tel-Aviv University) and Practical Arts Studies (Bet-Berl College).
The first exhibition in which she participated was held in Israel in 2000. Additional exhibitions in a number of Israeli cities followed, as well as in Italy and Great Britain.
Ronit Baranga has given two solo exhibitions – “Abstract” (2001) and “Shells of Wings” (2007).

Ronit Baranga: My art expresses my life as it is at any given moment. It emphasizes my thoughts and feelings at the time. Some sculptures deal with feelings of lost or unused abilities – of which only the remains can be framed for display (“Wings Pictures”). Other sculptures represent the intimacy of a relationship in a minimal way – a single mouth (“Stones”). Also, I have created a humorous sculpture of a grotesque situation, in which “weary” figures attempt to drink tea from an energetic tea set – an attempt to capture an almost impossible moment in life (“Tea Party”).

Who is Ronit Baranga? What is most interesting about her as a person and artist?

Ronit Baranga – I am an artist, a sculptor, a woman, a wife and a mother. I love to learn, read and create all the time.

For how long have your worked with sculpture? Why do you create? What does being a creator give you?

I’ve been creating since I’ve been self-aware. I have always painted, but only began sculpting after I completed my university degree at an Art College, where I was first introduced to the art of clay.

For me, creating is a necessity. Creating is an uncontrollable state of an unquiet being. Creation is an ambivalent state of an endless, unsatisfying search. Sometimes, I succeed in creating things which excite and balance my unquiet state – even if only for a brief moment. These moments are the essence of my existence as an artist.

What is most fascinating about sculpture?

What I find most fascinating about sculpture is the physical creation, feeling the material with my hands. This is why hands, as a sculpting object, are a major part of my sculptures.

Which qualities are most important for being an artist?

The most important quality for an artist is passion, a state of a constant urge to make, create, and articulate all the time, in endless ways.

Another quality is strength. To continue again and again to create, despite the frustration, despite the void, despite the criticism (good and bad), despite the successes, despite the failures.

How do viewers accept your art? What kind of questions and opinions do you usually receive?

My art makes people feel. Viewers of my work almost instantly react: they are either enthusiastic or appalled, but never indifferent. I hope that their harsh physical reaction stimulates them to think about the ideas and content that’s derived from my art.

Which is the best award you have ever received – material or otherwise?

The event I consider as the best “reward” I have ever received is when a woman approached me while I was setting up my solo exhibition a few years ago. She was very upset, her voice trembled, and with tears in her eyes she told me she was a bereaved mother. I was afraid my work might have offended her in some way. Instead, she shook my hand, and while crying told me my art moved her deeply and she felt her son was represented in my work. Her reaction to my art was so direct, so immediate and so powerful, that I was destabilized, frightened and happy at the same time. Someone felt my art at such a deep level. There is no better reward.