Local artist combines love and life in featured art

By TAMI BICKLEY, JewishAZ
February 26, 1999/10 Adar 5759

When Candice Eisenfeld was a child, her artistic mother would hand her paper and a pen to keep her busy and out of trouble.

As Eisenfeld matured, so did her drawings. Her hobby developed into a passion that she initially denied, like a woman who falls in love for the first time and then out of fear of the unknown, withdraws. But the 26-year-old finally gave into her desire to create art, turning it into a career that, she says, will likely continue throughout her life.

Eisenfeld is a product of art. Growing up near Dallas, Texas, her home was like a gallery, where her mother, Julie - who is also an artist - proudly displayed her own artwork. Eisenfeld recalls watching her mother as she painted in her studio, impressed and intrigued by the world of art.

After years of exposure to paintings and drawings, Eisenfeld entered the University of Texas in Austin with a defiance of the arts, she says. Intending to "get away from art," she tested out other majors to see where else she could find the love she felt for art. But it didn't happen. Ultimately, she returned to what she did best, studying printmaking and figure drawing, and earning a bachelor's degree in fine arts.

In 1993, she moved to Jerusalem to attend Bezalel Academy of Art and Hebrew University.

"I went to Jerusalem to broaden my horizons because I am Jewish and I want to feel involved in the Jewish community," she explains.

Two years later, in 1995, Eisenfeld discovered Arizona's warm weather and its openness to new art, and she moved to Phoenix to produce and sell her creations. Currently, Eisenfeld's paintings are exhibited at Expressions in Santa Fe, N.M., and in four valley galleries: Artisimo in Scottsdale; Mars Artspace in Phoenix; Alchemy Arts in Chandler; and Jeanine Meijers Gallery in Scottsdale. An artist reception at the Meijers gallery will feature Eisenfeld's works on Thursday, March 4, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at 4151 N. Marshall Way, No.7, where art lovers may familiarize themselves with Eisenfeld's style, which has evolved over the short span of her career.

On a recent trip to Eisenfeld's home, the evolutionary process was evident; paintings filled with long-haired women and men, intertwined, experiencing a moment of fun are now considered by the artist as "my old collection." The new collection, mostly acrylics or mixed media, is often faceless, aside from an occasional human figure strategically placed in the mix. Diverse in powerful color, her paintings add a twist to usually simple landscapes.

"Figure painting was too revealing of myself. I wanted to hide, and not feel so vulnerable on the canvas," she says while pointing to her kitchen wall, where directly over the table hangs a detailed painting of herself and another female. "That's me and my alter ego," she says. "She may whisper to me, 'Don't go there, it's dangerous.' I painted that at a time when I was hanging out with the wrong people and I had to get away. But that's so revealing, and I don't do that anymore."

Instead of exposing her feelings on canvas, she continues to paint her personal stories, hoping people will identify their own stories with her paintings, she says.

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