Abed Abdi (, ; born February 1942 in

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

) is a Palestinian painter, graphic designer, sculptor and art lecturer. Abdi worked as a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

and illustrated

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

publications that appeared in Israel. After studying in Dresden, Abdi became the first Palestinian to build monumental art on native soil. His allegorical monuments in Galilee, honoring human fortitude and resistance, include a narrative mural depicting Elijah's defiance and survival and a

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

Land Day memorial. Abdi held his first exhibition in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

in 1962. He then pursued academic studies at the Fine Arts Academy in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

(Germany). His professors were Lea Grundig, Gerhard Bondzin and Gerhard Kettner. His masterwork at the academy received the 2nd prize, which allowed Abdi to spend another year at the academy and specialize in

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

s and environmental sculpture. In 1972 he returned to Haifa, and worked as graphic designer for a number of Arabic language publications, taught arts and designed murals. The city of Haifa awarded Abdi the "Hermann Struck Best Artist of the Year" Prize in 1973. That year, he also obtained the Young Artist's award at the Berlin International Youth Festival. The city of Haifa awarded him the "Best Artist of the Year Hermann Struck" award for the second time in 1999. Abed Abdi has erected a number of memorial monuments and murals: in 1977—a sculpture to commemorate the Land Day of 1976; in 1984—the memorial to commemorate 75 years for the existence of the Galilean municipality of Shefa Amr. In addition, he has painted a number of murals in Haifa, Jaffa and Nazareth. Abed Abdi has exhibited in Qatar, Israel, Belgium and Bulgaria. He has participated in over 45 group exhibitions, among them the joint Palestinian-Israeli exhibition "It's possible" which toured the US and Germany between 1988 and 1990. In 1995 he participated in the second exhibition for Palestinians and Israelis in Germany. His work appeared in the "Solidarity with the Palestinian People" exhibit in Tokyo, Berlin, Brussels, Belgrade and Athens. He also organized and participated in exhibitions with Israeli and Palestinian artists in Tel-Aviv, Haifa and West Jerusalem in the period between 1980 and 1987 defending the freedom of expression and creativity. Abdi is an active member of the Haifa branch of the Israeli Association of Painters and Sculptures, as well as the Jewish-Arab Center of Beit Hagefen. This has enabled him to unite Palestinian and Israeli artists, and organize joint exhibitions, bringing the prospects of peace closer. Abdi founded the Ibda' society for the promotion of visual arts in the Arab Israeli sector and Ara belle - Visual Arts Workshop in Haifa, for the promotion of the visual arts and intercultural dialogue through the arts. Abdi is president of Al Midan Theater in Haifa. He has been teaching fine arts in the Arab Pedagogical College in Haifa since 1985.

References

External links

www.abedabdi.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdi, Abed Arab citizens of Israel Israeli artists Palestinian arts Artists from Haifa Living people Muslim artists 1942 births

See also

References

Further reading

External links