and computer-generated, the works were all handmade by the artist. The gap between these images and their production process aroused much skepticism and wonder. The exhibition's works thrived on the Israeli art market and positioned Cabessa as a promising young artist. In 1995 she became the first winner of the Gottesdiener Prize, sponsored by the Tel Aviv Art Museum and considered as one of the most prestigious prizes for Israeli artists. At the Gottesdiener Prize exhibition she presented paintings on masonite and graphite works on paper. The show was accompanied by a catalog. In 1997 Cabessa was chosen by Sarah Breitberg-Semel to represent Israel at the Israeli pavilion of the Venice Biennale, together with Israeli artists Sigalit Landau and Yossi Berger. Cabessa exhibited a series of paintings which notably refined and consolidated the artist's pictural language: the presented black-and-white oil paintings on masonite of abstract swirls and stripes confirmed the artist's high degree of artistic precision, virtuosity and control. Whereas her show at Dvir Gallery had demonstrated her immense capacity for imagination, the Biennale exhibition established her abilities for restraint and self-discipline. One of the works in the series is a “30-second painting”, titled after the duration for which Cabessa imprinted her touch on the painting. Plastik Magazine published a reproduction of this work along with an interview of the artist by Reilly Azoulay. The use of performative constraints and self-instructions allows Cabessa to reformulate the painterly act as both process-based and conceptually driven. The “30-second” constraint is borrowed from the military realm; yet the additional instruction to touch the painting's surface with eyes closed serves to turn a masculine principle into a feminine, intimate and sensual act. This will later lead Cabessa to create public painting performances, exposing to the audience the intimacy of her painting process. In 1998, Cabessa presented “Mummies”, a series of powerful works produced with a cold and hot iron. This series mimics the act of ironing in a seemingly desperate attempt to flatten out the surface of the painting, bringing to mind both modernism and the tradition of flat painting. Cabessa's choice of painting tools is part of a conscious attempt to turn domestic appliances into feminist instruments: she disconnects houseware items from their original function and redefines their purpose within a new and elevated context. Cabessa has thus transformed garbage cans, rags and squeegees into painting tools. In doing so, she is to