KEREN LUCHTENSTEIN
KEREN LUCHTENSTEIN
ABOUT
I paint belongings. They include toys, jewellery, shoes and ornaments. These treasured possessions are painted as portraits, imbuing them with the importance I feel they deserve. The paintings invite the viewer to imagine stories about the objects and the memories and emotions they trigger. Lost possessions can cause a yearning out of all proportion to their monetary value. My refugee father lost everything, not once but twice. In the end, his belongings existed only in his memory. In my work, I try to recapture the hidden past of lost possessions. People who have commissioned me to paint their precious objects are often overcome with emotion when they see the finished work.
After studying at the Royal College of Art in the '70s, Keren was awarded a Major Traveling Scholarship which she spent in China. Inspired she returned to the UK to pursue a career as an artist and illustrator. During this time she worked as a special effects painter at Henson's Creature Workshop on The Dark Crystal, 1982 and Labyrinth, 1986 starring David Bowie. She was design assistant on opera productions for The Royal Opera House, ENO, Welsh National Opera and others.
Keren became an award winning illustrator with commissions for all the major broadsheet newspapers, design companies, publishing houses and advertising agencies. Her linocuts became strongly associated with the fashion brand Ally Capellino.
In the '90s came a phase of illustrating children's books with her husband, acclaimed Music Video Director, Willy Smax. Titles include 'Big Pig's Hat' and 'Big Pig Gets Mad' and The 'Benny the Breakdown Truck' series.
By 2000, Keren decided to focus on painting in oils.
Her still lives see the observation of objects with almost irrational reverence - her attentive and nostalgic paintings playfully investigate the resonance of objects and the powers we give them to protect us.
She makes illusionistic oil paintings portraying items which appear to occupy the viewer’s space. As a child Keren remembers the sensory experience of examining objects with a heightened obsessive focus. Through her paintings she aims to communicate the pleasure thus derived. This connection with childhood feelings informs the subject-matter - the yearning for beautiful shoes and ornaments, the emotional attachment to well-used utility items and to inherited objects. Much of Keren's work relates to fashion and textiles - clothes and interiors being an abiding delight to her.
The paintings reflect her personality- at the same time quiet and controlled but passionate and emotional. Despite the skill-based approach to the work, the paintings aren’t about virtuoso technique, they are about the feelings evoked by contemplation of the objects portrayed.
She reclaimed her father's family name Luchtenstein in memory of her father, a refugee from Nazi Germany who joined the British Army and worked for SOE
Keren's work is in private collections worldwide and patrons include Sir Paul Smith.
Keren gained her BA (Hons) in Textile Design from Hornsey College of Art in 1978 followed by an MA at the Royal College of Art in 1980. She currently lives and works in St Leonards on Sea, having recently moved there from London.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
BEAT 2018
AAF Milan Feb 2017
BEAT 2017
Royal Society of Oil Painters The Mall Galleries 2016
BEAT 2016
“Belongings” Art at 42 Notting Hill Gate London 2015
The Globe Hay on Wye Festival 2014
Affordable Art Fair, Hampstead, London 2014
Go Figurative, Hampstead, London 2013
Green Parrot Gallery, London 2012
St Peter’s Gallery, Notting Hill Gate 2012
Go Figurative, Old Street, London 2012
Deutsch Bank, London 2011
British Society of Oil Painters, The Mall Gallery, London 2011
The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries 2010
Real Hampstead 2010
Real Heatherlys Art School 2010
Real Broadgate 2010
Solo Show, Ally Capellino, Spitalfields, London 2009
The Dog Show, Dollar Street Gallery, Cirencester 2009
The Haberdashery, Crouch End, London 2009
Paul’s Art, SPACE ,Tokyo 2009
Regular shows at The Garden Studio, West London
The Discerning Eye, The Mall Gallery, London 2008
Newblood Art gallery, Homes and Gardens 2007
Affordable Art Fair 2007
The Discerning Eye 2006,
Prelude at Spitalfields 2006
Hidden treasures, Djanogly Art gallery Nottingham 1995
Ten Years of Collaboration Ally Capellino 1996
BEAT 2018
AAF Milan Feb 2017
BEAT 2017
Royal Society of Oil Painters The Mall Galleries 2016
BEAT 2016
“Belongings” Art at 42 Notting Hill Gate London 2015
The Globe Hay on Wye Festival 2014
Affordable Art Fair, Hampstead, London 2014
Go Figurative, Hampstead, London 2013
Green Parrot Gallery, London 2012
St Peter’s Gallery, Notting Hill Gate 2012
Go Figurative, Old Street, London 2012
Deutsch Bank, London 2011
British Society of Oil Painters, The Mall Gallery, London 2011
The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries 2010
Real Hampstead 2010
Real Heatherlys Art School 2010
Real Broadgate 2010
Solo Show, Ally Capellino, Spitalfields, London 2009
The Dog Show, Dollar Street Gallery, Cirencester 2009
The Haberdashery, Crouch End, London 2009
Paul’s Art, SPACE ,Tokyo 2009
Regular shows at The Garden Studio, West London
The Discerning Eye, The Mall Gallery, London 2008
Newblood Art gallery, Homes and Gardens 2007
Affordable Art Fair 2007
The Discerning Eye 2006,
Prelude at Spitalfields 2006
Hidden treasures, Djanogly Art gallery Nottingham 1995
Ten Years of Collaboration Ally Capellino 1996
SELECTED ARTWORKS (Click for full details)
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS (Click for full details)
