ELIE SHAMIR
Elie Shamir (b. 1953, Israel), lives and works in Kfar Yehoshua. Shamir studied at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem.
Since graduating from the Bezalel Academy, Shamir participated in many solo exhibitions in Israel and elsewhere, including an extensive solo show titled “Emek: The Road to Kfar Yehoshua” at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2009. After several years in Jerusalem and Boston, in 1999 Shamir returned to Moshav Kfar Yehoshua and resettled there, as the third generation of the village’s founders.
Shamir’s work is characterized by a complex relationship with art history and reflects a humanizing spirit in a conflicted reality. In an indirect dialogue with postmodernism and modernism, Shamir chooses to address the concept of humans as the center of the universe in a renewed manner, while raising doubts regarding their place in contemporary society.
Combing in the Eucalyptus Grove II, 2020, Oil on Canvas, 150x200 cm
Combing in the Eucalyptus Grove II, 2020, Oil on Canvas, 150x200 cm
ELIE SHAMIR
Elie Shamir (b. 1953, Israel), lives and works in Kfar Yehoshua. Shamir studied at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem.
Since graduating from the Bezalel Academy, Shamir participated in many solo exhibitions in Israel and elsewhere, including an extensive solo show titled “Emek: The Road to Kfar Yehoshua” at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2009. After several years in Jerusalem and Boston, in 1999 Shamir returned to Moshav Kfar Yehoshua and resettled there, as the third generation of the village’s founders.
Shamir’s work is characterized by a complex relationship with art history and reflects a humanizing spirit in a conflicted reality. In an indirect dialogue with postmodernism and modernism, Shamir chooses to address the concept of humans as the center of the universe in a renewed manner, while raising doubts regarding their place in contemporary society.
Egypt, 2014, Oil on canvas, 150x200 cm
Rozan _ Dunia Paint Tel-Megido, Oil on canvas, 105x150 cm
Vegetable Garden- Detail
Shamir Halel in the field, Oil on Canvas 150 x 200 cm
The issue aof place is present with great power and complexity in Shamir’s works. “Kfar Yehoshua,” Shamir’s birthplace, the home he returned to after years of working and creating far from it, is a specific agricultural settlement in the Jezreel Valley, and in the work reflects the narrative of a general local ethos.
It is a place which embodies the idyllic Israeli past as a kind of lost cultural paradise. Shamir places it before us as a gauge and mirror of present-day society, manifesting the ideas of the idealized past, on the one hand, as well as an incisive critique of the mass society that believes in quick fixes, a society characterized by a short memory, anxiety, alienation, and poignant loneliness.
In our times, the sites appearing in Shamir’s works also constitute a proposal for change, renewal, and hope.
Shamir won the Ministry of Education and Culture Award for 2005, and the Benno Gitter Award, from Tel Aviv Museum of Art for 2006. Collections of his works are in Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Israel Museum, the Haifa Museum of Art, the Hebrew University, the Israeli Embassy in Paris, and the Residence of Israel’s President.
Over the years, Shamir has taught in both formal and private settings. He taught in Be'er-Sheva, at Bezalel, and in Boston. Currently he teaches at Oranim College, and at his studio which is located in the fields of the moshav.
"Being a teacher is like being a midwife. I help my students give birth to themselves. To realize their art. It is also a tool for social mobility, particularly in traditional societies, with their restrictive messages. Through their art, women discover their unique voice and give it expression; they pave their way, create their own place and status, especially in a society where their unique voice can be silenced" (Elie Shamir, 2019).
Rozan _ Dunia Paint Tel-Megido, Oil on canvas, 105x150 cm
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