Da'at: Bearing Light - Zhenya Gershman
Da’at: Bearing Light
Zhenya Gershman
Thursday, October 22nd, 7-9 PM
*Ansiktet, 48 X 60 inches, oil on canvas, 2025
Da’at: Bearing Light is a series of intimate portraits that reflect a distinct way of seeing, one shaped by awareness, reflection, and renewal. The title draws from Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah, where Da’at (דעת) refers to a form of deep understanding that is internalized, lived, and spiritually felt. Often translated as “knowledge,” Da’at describes the moment when perception becomes consciousness, when what is seen is fully absorbed into the self.
In this exhibition, light functions not only as illumination, but as presence, attention, and revelation. It becomes a means of bringing what is hidden into view, both within the subject and within the viewer. Through layered surfaces, quiet radiance, and moments of psychological stillness, these portraits explore the discipline of seeing clearly and the conviction of action that such clarity can inspire. The exhibition invites viewers into a mode of perception grounded in empathy, insight, and reflection: to see with greater awareness, to know with depth, and to move forward with renewed purpose.
Zhenya Gershman
Zhenya Gershman is known for her dramatic monumental portraits. Born in Eastern Europe, she held her first solo exhibition in St. Petersburg at age fourteen. She was selected as a subject of the TV Documentary Film Our Generation, a project dedicated to searching for the five most talented teenagers in Russia, showing hope for the cultural future of the country. The youngest student to be admitted to Otis Art Institute, Zhenya graduated with Honors and later received her Master of Fine Arts degree from Art Center College of Design. Today, Zhenya’s work is featured in preeminent private and public collections, such as Donald Simon, Richard Weisman, and Arte Al Limite Museum in Santiago, Chile. She participates in important international exhibitions including Art Aspen, Art Miami, and Art Chicago. She was selected to create iconic portraits of Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan for the MusiCares GRAMMY Foundation.
Zhenya is a recipient of numerous awards including the ALEX Award in Visual Arts, presented nationally to honored scholars and artists, and the Power List of Manhattan given by the NY State Assembly. She was featured by Entertainment Tonight, NBC 4 New York Live, Extra Television, and The New York Post. Zhenya was announced as Ambassador to Royal Talens worldwide and Blick Art Materials. In 2022, she launched the art movement Brushes Over Bullets after her portrait, “First Face of War”, was sold for $100,000 at Heritage Auctions to benefit Ukraine.
Zhenya worked for over a decade in, The J. Paul Getty Museum, bringing her passion and unique understanding of art to thousands of people. Her scholarly work is dedicated to uncovering new perspectives regarding the life and work of Rembrandt and Dürer, and she has contributed to exhibitions, including Rembrandt’s Late Religious Portraits and Rembrandt: Telling the Difference. Zhenya’s first-hand knowledge of traditional oil painting techniques has led her to a Rembrandt discovery. Her groundbreaking finding of a hidden Rembrandt self-portrait was published by Arion, Boston University, and was brought to European audiences by Le Monde. Zhenya is a co-founder of the non-profit organization Project Awe, the founder of Zhenya’s Art Academy, Invisible Museum Tours, and the Brushes Over Bullets Art Movement.
She currently resides, teaches, and paints between her two studios in Los Angeles and New York City.