Avner Sher (; born 1951) is an Israeli architect and artist.

Biography

Avner Sher was born in the

Wadi Salib Wadi Salib (, ; lit. Valley of the Cross) is a neighbourhood located in downtown Haifa, Israel, on the lower northeastern slope of Mount Carmel, between the Hadar HaCarmel and the city's historic center and CBD. History Wadi Salib was establish ...

neighborhood of

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 ...

, and raised in Kiryat Eliezer and Kiryat Eliyahu. His parents were

Holocaust survivors Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universall ...

.”Boneh vehores”, Yoram Mark-Reich, Yediot Haifa, February 28, 2014 (Hebrew) Sher was an only child. His mother died of cancer when he was 14 years old. In elementary school, he drew cartoons for his school newspaper."Images in the chaos"
Hili Moyal,

Makor Rishon ''Makor Rishon'' ( lit. "Firsthand Source") is a semi-major Israeli newspaper associated with Religious Zionism and the educated liberal-conservative right-wing. History ''Makor Rishon'' was founded as a weekly magazine in July 1997 in order ...

, November 9, 2012 (Hebrew) From the age of 6 he studied piano at

Beit Hagefen Beit Ha'Gefen — The Arab-Jewish Cultural Center in Haifa is a multi-cultural organization that aims to bring together Arabs and Jews and promote coexistence and tolerance. Organisation Beit Ha'Gefen — The Arab-Jewish Cultural Center organ ...

in Haifa. A rock band he organized with friends performed the opening act for established musicians, among them Zvika Pik. He began composing at 17, but abandoned music at 22 and decided to become a painter. He enrolled at

Bezalel Academy of Art and Design Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design () is a public college of design and art located in Jerusalem. Established in 1906 by Jewish painter and sculptor Boris Schatz, Bezalel is Israel's oldest institution of higher education and is considered the ...

but his father insisted that he learn a profession. "Minister of planning", Jenny Elazari, Yedioth Hadera, July 8, 2014, pp. 52-54 ”A New Inner World,” Alim Blitenthal,

, January 10, 2003 He completed his studies in architecture at the Technion in Haifa in 1979, graduating with honors. While working as an architect, Sher also learn arts from the

University of Haifa The University of Haifa (, ) is a public research university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963 as a branch of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation as an inde ...

Architecture career

Sher opened his architecture firm in 1992. He has designed many shopping centers and malls in Israel, including the malls in

Mevasseret Zion Mevaseret Zion () is a town and local council located to the west of Jerusalem, straddling both sides of the Jerusalem–Tel Aviv highway. Mevaseret Zion is composed of two distinct older townships, Maoz Zion and Mevaseret Yerushalayim, under ...

Ramle Ramla (), also known as Ramle (, ), is a city in the Central District of Israel. Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with significant numbers of both Jews and Arabs. The city was founded in the early 8th century CE by the Umayyad caliph Su ...

Zichron Yaakov Zikhron Ya'akov () often shortened to just Zikhron, is a town in northern Israel, south of the city of Haifa, and part of the Haifa District. It is located at the southern end of the Carmel mountain range overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, near t ...

Raanana Ra'anana () is an affluent city in the southern Sharon Plain of the Central District of Israel. It was founded in 1922 as an American-Jewish settlement, 1 km south of the village of Tabsur, where an important World War I battle had tak ...

Nahariya Nahariya () is the northernmost coastal city in Israel. As of , the city had a population of . The city was founded in 1935 by Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany. Etymology Nahariya takes its name from the stream of Ga'aton River, Ga'aton (riv ...

Beersheba Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most p ...

Carmiel Karmiel () is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. Established in 1964 as a development town, Karmiel is located in the Beit HaKerem Valley which divides upper and lower Galilee. The city is located south of the A ...

Kiryat Bialik Kiryat Bialik (, also Qiryat Bialik) is a city in the Haifa District in Israel. The city was established on July 18, 1934, during the Fifth Aliyah. It is one of the five Krayot suburbs to the north of Haifa. In it had a population of . The city ...

Kiryat Ata Kiryat Ata () also spelled Qiryat Ata, is a city in the Haifa District of Israel. In it had a population of , 92% of whom were Jewish citizens. History The Early Bronze Age site at Kiryat Ata has been extensively excavated since 1990, reveal ...

Kfar Saba Kfar Saba ( ), officially Kfar Sava , is a List of Israeli cities, city in the Sharon plain, Sharon region, of the Central District (Israel), Central District of State of Israel, Israel. In 2019 it had a population of 110,456, making it the 16th-l ...

Netanya Netanya () () or Natanya (), is a city in the "Planet Bekasi" Central District (Israel), Setanyahu of Israel, Israel BAB ih, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between the Poleg stre ...

, Yokne’am and

Eilat Eilat ( , ; ; ) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy port of Eilat, port and popular resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on what is known in Israel as the Gulf of Eilat and in Jordan as the Gulf of Aqaba. The c ...

. Other public buildings designed by Sher are the

Kiryat Motzkin Kiryat Motzkin () is a city in the Haifa District of Israel, north of the city center of Haifa. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, in it had a population of . However, as of September 2024, the unofficial population count is 55 ...

municipality and the courthouse in the

Krayot The Krayot or Qerayot (, "townships") (plural of ''Kirya'') are a cluster of four small cities and two neighbourhoods of Haifa founded in the 1930s on the outskirts of the city of Haifa, Israel, in the Haifa Bay area. The Krayot include Kiryat ...

Art career

In 1999, Sher moved to

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 ...

and had an experience that changed his life: He stopped at a gas station near

Beit Yanai Beit Yanai (, lit. ''House of Yanai'') is a moshav in central Israel. Located in the Sharon plain on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea around six kilometres north of Netanya, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hefer Valley Regional Council. In ...

and saw that the restroom walls were covered with

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

. Captivated by the wildness and artistic freedom they conveyed, he felt the urge to tear down barriers in his own work. He began to paint and draw on cork panels mounted on wood, lacerating the surface with knives, screwdrivers and electric saws, burning it with a wood-burning etching pencil and splattering it with substances like coffee, mud, ketchup and red wine. His work is also rooted in the

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

of the Levant. He references ancient visual languages and

hieroglyphics Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs ( ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined ideographic, logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with more than 1,000 distinct characters.I ...

while maintaining a universal theme combining prehistoric elements and childlike symbolism. Common motifs in his work are fish, faces, spirals and images of flora and fauna. Sometimes he incorporates Biblical verses, especially from the Book of Genesis and Psalms. As the son of parents who survived

Dachau Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

, Sher grew up in the shadow of the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

and the numbers tattooed on their arms. The tattoo thus became a visual code in his work. His first important show was in 2002 at Mabat Gallery in Tel Aviv in 2002."The Madness of Destruction", Anat Medan,

Yediot Ahronot (, ; lit. "Latest News") is an Israeli daily mass market newspaper published in Tel Aviv. Founded in 1939, is Israel's largest paid newspaper by sales and circulation and has been described as "undoubtedly the country's number-one paper."

, January 31, 2003 Since then, he has had over 20 solo exhibits and has taken part in over 30 group exhibits in Israel and around the world. At the

Jerusalem Biennale The Jerusalem Biennale is a contemporary art Art exhibition, event which has taken place biannually since 2013. Exhibits are held in different historical and modern locations around Jerusalem, with a focus on where the contemporary art world and t ...

in 2017, Sher presented his installation “950m2 – Alternative Topographies,” which was displayed at the

Tower of David The Tower of David (), also known as the Citadel (), is an ancient citadel and contemporary museum, located near the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem, Old City of Jerusalem. The citadel that stands today dates to the Mamluk Sult ...

Museum overlooking the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City. Composed of two series, “Maps of Jerusalem” and “Spoila,” the installation explores the idea of “perpetually devolving city space.” Alternative Topographies, Curator Smadar Sheffi
Jerusalem Biennale site At the pan-European art biennale

Manifesta Manifesta, also known as the European Nomadic Biennial, is a European pan-regional contemporary cultural biennale. History Manifesta was founded in 1994 by Dutch art historian Hedwig Fijen. The first edition took place in Rotterdam. One of t ...

12 in

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

, Italy, Sher’s installation addresses the issue of migration and refugees making “bold, sometimes ironic use of symbols.”

Selected solo exhibitions

*2018 – Bridge Palermo Jerusalem, Palermo, Italy *2017 - 950m2 Alternative Topographies,

museum,

, Jerusalem * 2015 – Landmarks, Artists House, Tel Aviv * 2014 – A Bird on a Wire, Bar David Museum, Kibbutz

Bar'am Bar'am () is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located approximately 300 meters from Israel's Blue Line (Lebanon), border with Lebanon near the ruins of the ancient Jews, Jewish village of Kfar Bar'am. Bar'am National Park is known for the remains ...

Self-portrait as an elderly child
/ref> * 2014 – Jacob’s Dream, New York * 2014 – The Secret, Jaffa Port * 2002 – This is His Tattoo, Mabat Gallery, Tel Aviv

References

External links