Visual Artist

Sharon Finzi

SAN DIEGO, USA

Sharon Finzi is a West Coast–based acrylic and mixed media artist whose work reflects a lifelong connection to creativity. A self-taught, late-blooming painter, she draws from years of intuitive exploration and culturally rich experiences to transform the rhythms of everyday life into expressive figurative narratives.

Influenced by artists such as Marc Chagall, Yosef Bergner, and Chaïm Soutine, Sharon's work embraces the quirks and complexities that make each unique. Her process is intuitive and responsive, celebrating imperfection and emotional honesty as pathways to genuine human connection. Through her distinctly stylized figures and expressive use of color, she invites viewers into a space where vulnerability, insight, and emotion are openly shared.

Sharon's work has been featured in juried exhibitions, and she holds active memberships in multiple art associations while contributing to community-based projects. She continues to build meaningful connections with collectors and audiences drawn to her distinctive and deeply personal voice.

What are you making right now?

Right now, I have been painting pieces as messages have come to me - at home and during travel. I write down concepts that I want to tackle on the canvas so that I can bring them home to create with set intentions. It excites me to be able to bring my visual version to a picture because I get to enjoy the journey of discovery and still get happily surprised by the outcome... Even though I don't know exactly what it looks like when it ends!

What medium do you work in and what drew you to it?

As most artists, I have always had creativity brewing, be it in the arts I touch, how I dress and how I approach a task at hand and work out creatively within the set boundaries. Painting has always intimidated AND inspired me simultaneously, so in 2020, I decided that it was an area that I wanted to explore properly. I sat down and, through technology and play, learned about the medium...I realized quickly I had found what brought me joy. This path was ALWAYS going to bring me opportunities to learn while still allowing me to express my flair outwards.

If you could spend an hour with anyone you admire, living or dead, who would it be and what would you ask them?

Can't pick one. One of the artists I have been drawn to in recent years is Peter Malkin, the Mossad agent who was credited with capturing Eichmann in Argentina and died in 2005. During my own study, I found his work online and was deeply drawn into the rawness he expressed. I can only imagine the intense emotion that fueled his everyday as an agent and appreciated that release on his chosen substrate. I love the colors he used, the mediums, the way he gave his message through the picture... You can feel the pain and appreciate what he sat with to help our tribe as a whole. Living: Artist Liorah Tchiprout – FABULOUSLY BRILLIANT! She inspires me by blending our heritage into her work today. I’d love to meet her one day.

What do you need in your workspace to spark creativity?

TIME... there is never enough! It is such a precious resource! There have been moments where you get stuck looking at the canvas—what to do? Where to start? What else does this need? I think if you are committed, it's best to step away and wait for the next steps to come to you. Stress and worry help feed anxiety, and that is a place where creativity often gets ignored and compartmentalized. The world is FILLED with prompts, ideas and stories... just need some time to get there so that they can be exposed and portrayed.

What would you like people to understand about your work?

When someone looks at my work, I'm hoping that they can see human connection and be reminded of the message each piece intends. It's not about being happy or sad, but sometimes it's about the moment to just be present and aware in your own life. We can't have life with only one side of the spectrum, and the quicker you can manage to gain that deeper, wider perspective, the more you can find faith that you are right where you need to be.

Has your identity, culture, heritage, or community influenced your creative practice?

EVERYTHING I DO is because of who I am as a first-generation US citizen born to Israeli parents. Since childhood, I have always toggled 2 different cultures, countries... worlds. I am forever tethered to our heritage, and because I have been taught of our past and the need to keep our history alive, every bit I do on the canvas, be it secular or themed, has my genes threaded into the outcome. Since the tragedy of October 7th, we no longer have the luxury of staying and operating as a silent minority... it has not worked for us before, and we cannot afford to do it again. Together, we need to move outside of our comfort zone and learn to be proud of how we are and the MANY contributions we bring to the table.

What does success look like to you as a creative?

My ultimate success would be to get my work out to people beyond my community... to be recognized and appreciated for my art as thought-provoking, significant, proactive, haunting and even desired. I want to make sure that as I grow into finding my place in this art world, I can stand strong and faithful, supported and admired for who I am and what I can contribute as a woman, wife, mother, daughter, sister, creative and professional Jew.