Shira Barzilay is an artist known for her minimal line drawings that capture the emotional states of the female form. Working across different mediums, from painting to digital to AI, she hopes to create a visual world of contained intensity, with lines that reflect how life is the thread that connects us all. Her unmistakable aesthetic has become a magnet for global brands, resulting in collaborations with Zara, Cartier, Elizabeth Arden, Lenovo, Porsche, and Alice & Olivia. Through every partnership and project, she continues to embody her guiding motto: “the world is my canvas.”
What emotion or idea keeps sneaking into your work, even when you try to avoid it?
The female figure is always present in whatever I do. She’s grown and evolved with me over time as I have grown. She went from being a fashion illustration to a more abstract and minimalistic form, to even just an amorphic concept of what feminine strength and spirit is. There’s always a sense of longing, a feeling—some kind of emotional state that connects as a thread. Koketit is all-encompassing and individualistic at the same time. She’s every woman and her own at that. Freedom holds a lot of significance, either in celebration or pursuit. I yearn for it, I crave it, and I thrive on it.
What role does control play in your work and how often do you let go?
Drawing for me is the practice of letting go; it is a methodology of being free. As a student of Picasso, I’ve learned that letting go is the hardest thing and the highest value to strive for—and is a constant effort. I love to be in control in life, so when I place my hand on a canvas and allow it to go where it wants without planning, it’s the ultimate challenge. There’s no destination; it’s the process that matters. It’s like capturing the now, and that’s where the value lies. With my conviction, I give it validity and hope others do too. I have to lead the way with my belief—just like Picasso did when he said, “It took me all my life to learn how to draw like a child.” It’s total freedom. When I see that freedom in other people’s work, I instantly recognize it as a common language. I can sense the flow that went through, making it alive, not a fossil. That is what excites me. It can be neglected or forgotten if not thought about and meditated on. We are creatures of control; that is our default. At the end of the day, it’s about trust. Trusting yourself and the universe that the unknown will lead you to a good place.
What does your studio smell like on a good day?
Lately, I’ve been mostly creating digital art, so materials are filling up the air. It’s quite good as I am very messy, and this practice saves me lots of cleaning time. I love the endless possibilities that AI is opening up for me—forcing me to keep my restraint and not fall prey to new tools and trends. An artist must keep their center, and the new world is tempting to neglect everything and start fresh, but it’s a trick. Gotta keep focused.
Where does a piece usually begin—image, word, impulse, or accident?
Intuition is a key factor in the process. I’ll start somewhere, either from an image, impulse, or thought, and see if there’s a thread to pull there. Some- times there is. Other times, not so much. The key thing is to keep going, be fluid, and not get stuck on something that doesn’t work. Sometimes it’s not ripe yet, and sometimes it’s not meant to come to fruition at all. Not being stubborn about it and keeping going is what I find works best.
What’s the most beautiful mistake you’ve ever kept?
I wouldn’t call it a mistake, but it was made without intention. I had a stack of large-sized, cheap sketching paper, the brown-colored ones. I was just playing around with some black ink I had in my studio, testing the brush to see how it reacts to the color before beginning a piece on expensive fine paper. So, I sketched a careless doodle on the cheap paper, and that piece is hanging in my house in my living space today. The cheap, thoughtless piece made it to be framed, while the carefully thought-out drawing on expensive paper is resting in the drawer.
