Anat Shiftan's creative vision has always been expressed in both two and three dimensions. Prints, paintings, drawings and most recently digital prints have explored the focus of her three- dimensional output. Her early works were often room sized installations of simple forms, purposefully sited on the floor of the space in interaction with her two-dimensional works. Additionally, Shiftan would create individual sculptural works, composed forms rooted in geometry and seemingly balanced, precariously, on a narrow plinth. The forms were simply surfaced, oftentimes monochromatic with a modernist sensibility.
Shiftan is well read and incredibly intelligent. Thoughtful in all that she does, her most recent work explores and examines the painterly traditions of the still life. Referencing the globalization of our world, cross-cultural influences are explored. Iconic forms evoke historic memory, from the histories of both painting and ceramics. Monochromatic, more often than not, each element in the composition of her still life's is treated in the same manner, no more, no less. In combination with her digital prints, issues of perception and of the invented image compared to reality come into play.
Anat Shiftan received her BA in English Literature and Philosophy from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel and received her MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art and Design in West Bloomfield, MI. Before joining the faculty at the State University of New York at New Paltz in the fall of 2003, Shiftan taught at the Bezalel Academy for Art and Design in Israel and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI . Shiftan has twice received the Michigan Grant for Individual Artists and has exhibited her work extensively both in the United States and Israel. She currently serves as the Graduate Coordinator of the MFA program at SUNY New Paltz.
