Judith Shufro

Judith is a local San Diego artist whose style is contemporary realism. She has been painting for decades, with her work existing as a representation of her life. It all began in New York City where Judith lived for over twenty-five years; it was there where she painted and taught art at Trinity School. Judith’s city paintings were mostly black. NYC paintings were Upper West Side, people sitting on benches on Broadway, kids in a playground, her students, people on the bus and on the train and in Central Park. Judith also made graffiti paintings and the local children taught her everything she needed to know about how to use enamel spray paints. Those paintings were broadcast on Channel 7 News and hung in the windows of FAO Schwartz. Other paintings were showcased in other Fifth Avenue windows. A well known family in New York, the Straus Family, bought two of those NYC paintings and one, “Brunch at Brews,” became part of the permanent collection at the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina. The other, “Broadway 80’s,” went to the Neuberger collection in upstate New York. 

As Judith spent her summers in Cape Cod, her palette began to transform and came to include much more color. Many Cape Cod galleries as far up Cape as Provincetown to Heritage Plantation in Sandwich proudly displayed Judith’s stunning artwork.

In 1983, Judith travelled to Japan for two months, using an itinerary that was arranged by Julia Meech, Metropolitan Museum of Art Former Curator of Far Eastern Art. That trip inspired many landscape paintings, the first of which was a kimono shaped triptych landscape of Mt. Koya. Julia bought that painting for her private collection. Using the triptych format suggested body shapes and in subsequent paintings Judith used the body shapes that she draped with actual clothing, stuffed in appropriate places, and called them her Adam & Eve Series.

In 1993, Judith made her move to San Diego, CA where color exploded all around her. Stars were visible at night, the sky was the best blue she had ever seen, and stuff was growing everywhere in pure primary colors. The brilliant birds and dramatic cliffs still inspire awe in her.

To learn more about Judith and her artwork, visit her website HERE