Janika Fabrikant (born 1934), is a French-Swiss

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

of urban and industrial landscapes, who was born in Paris, France.Affentranger-Kirchrat, Angelika
"Expressive Sachlichkeit: Janika Fabrikant bei Pérez Rojas"
Neue Zürcher Zeitung 23 April 2007. She lives in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, where her painting is prominent because of its special characteristic of

cognitive dissonance In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is described as a mental phenomenon in which people unknowingly hold fundamentally conflicting cognitions. Being confronted by situations that challenge this dissonance may ultimately result in some ...

. Her style, based on Surrealism, expresses a marked discrepancy between visual reality and terror.

Career

From 1953-1955 Fabrikant studied painting at the

Académie de la Grande Chaumière The Académie de la Grande Chaumière () is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. History The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the A ...

. In 1961 she moved to Zurich, where she enrolled at the

Zurich University of the Arts Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK, ) has approximately 2,500 students, which makes it the largest arts university in Switzerland. The university was established in 2007, following the merger between Zurich's School of Art and Design (HGKZ) and ...

and studied painting from 1982-1985. Her artistic development was inspired by visits to the U.S.A. where she felt a closer affinity to the contemporary art movements compared to Picasso and the Parisian avant garde, with which she had grown up. She was strongly influenced by

Edward Hopper Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American realism painter and printmaker. He is one of America's most renowned artists and known for his skill in depicting modern American life and landscapes. Born in Nyack, New York, to a ...

and

Milton Avery Milton Clark Avery (; March 7, 1885 – January 3, 1965Haskell, B. (2003). "Avery, Milton". Grove Art Online.) was an American Modern art, modern painter. Born in Altmar, New York, he moved to Connecticut in 1898 and later to New York City. He wa ...

. In Detroit Fabrikant discovered her theme Kraft, Simone
Faszination urbaner Strukturen: Galerie Alex Schlesinger in Zürich.
AZ/Architekturzeitung, 26. 2. 2010 which she rendered in her characteristic synthetic colours, removed from nature. In 2013, one of her installations, ''The Butterfly'', was selected as a finalist in the Waste•smART creative competition, run by the European Environment Agency.

Style

To reach out to Fabrikant's visual language some critics have attempted to categorize her style as “Visionary Precisionism” or “Expressive Objectivity” But her work is more complex. Although her paintings certainly have an element of American

Precisionism Precisionism was a modernist art movement that emerged in the United States after World War I. Influenced by Cubism, Purism, and Futurism, Precisionist artists reduced subjects to their essential geometric shapes, eliminated detail, and often u ...

, her irony, her sense of paradox, the monumentalization of the banal shows Fabrikant's roots in Pop art. Since 1987 Fabrikant has participated in group exhibitions in Switzerland, France, the U.S.A. and one in China. Her work was selected to be showcased at the Exhibition 93, Union des Femmes peintres, sculpteurs, graveurs, decorateurs UFPS “Les Contemporaines” at the Grand Palais, in Paris (1993), and she was profiled by World's Women On-Line. Her work was presented at the Fourth United Nation's World Conference on Women in Beijing, China (1995), organized by artist Muriel Magenta at Arizona State University, Tempe, U.S.A. One of her paintings was selected for the electronic

Space Art Space art, also known as astronomical art, is a genre of art that Visual representation, visually depicts the universe through various Style (visual arts), artistic styles. It may also refer to Work of art, artworks sent into Outer space, space. ...

archive stored at the MIR Space Station, as a result of her participation in the Ars ad Astra Exhibit,See ''Ars ad Astra: The first Art Exhibition in Earth Orbit. Art Works selected for the Electronic Archive on Euromir 95'' organized by the OURS Foundation. Fabrikant's first solo exhibition was held in 1987. In total she has had 12 solo exhibitions, mainly in Paris and Zurich. Her work is not only in private collections, but several paintings were acquired by the Bollag Galleries. Since 2010 she is represented by the Galerie Alex Schlesinger in Zurich.

References

* ANGELI, Bruno
Zwischen Pinsel und Pedalen
(Between paintbrush and pedals: The theme of the bicycle in Janika Fabrikant's painting). Velojournal 3, Zurich, 2011: 61. * ANONYMOUS under “Diese Woche”. Unbestechliche Wahrnehmung (Incorruptible perception). Tachles, (Weekly Newspaper) Zurich, 27 April 2007. * BEN YOSEF, Ute. Menschlich fabrizierte Maschinenlandschaften. J. Rundschau Maccabi, (Weekly Newspaper) Basle (Switzerland), 21 November 1991. * BEN YOSEF, Ute. Janika Fabrikant stellt in Paris aus. J. Rundschau Maccabi, Basel, 17 September 1992. * BEN YOSEF, Ute. Janika Fabrikant: Schoene Neue Welt und Kognitive Dissonanz. Zurich, Galerie Alex Schlesinger 2014. . * BERG, Vivianne. Fabriken in Farben, die sich beissen (Factories in clashing colours). I. Wochenblatt (Weekly Newspaper) 48, Zurich, 1 December 1995. * ROSENBERG, Gabi. Schönheit als Sinnbild des Bösen (Beauty as symbol of evil). J. Rundschau Maccabi, (Weekly Newspaper) Basle, 4 January 1996.

External links

Clara database
of women artist, Library and Research Center of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC.
european-art.net
database, Zurich. * Janika Fabrikant at th
Bollag Galleries 2008-2010
Zurich, Switzerland.
SIKART Lexicon
on art in Switzerland, Swiss Institute for Art Research.
VISARTE.SWITZERLAND
visual arts association - Switzerland, formerly GSMBA (Society for Swiss painters, sculptors and architects). * Janika Fabrikant at th
Gallery Alex Schlesinger
since 2010 in Zurich, Switzerland. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fabrikant, Janika 1934 births Living people 21st-century Swiss women artists Painters from Paris Swiss surrealist artists French surrealist artists Swiss painters 20th-century French painters Swiss people of French descent Swiss women painters French women painters Women surrealist artists Swiss contemporary artists 21st-century French painters 20th-century French women 21st-century French women 20th-century Swiss women painters 21st-century women painters 20th-century French women painters