Belu-Simion Fainaru (; born 1959) is an Israeli sculptor who was born in

Bucharest, Romania Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

and immigrated to Israel in 1973. He studied at 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 ...

from 1980 to 1983 and earned an MA from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

in 1984. He continued his art education at the

Domus Academy, Postgraduate School of Design Domus Academy is a private school of design in Milan, Italy. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses in fashion, industrial design, design management, business and user experience design, product and interior design, design i ...

Milan, Italy Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

and at

The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium (RASAB) is a non-governmental association that promotes and organises science and the arts in Belgium by coordinating the national and international activities of its constituent academies su ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. Fainaru lives and works in

Haifa, Israel Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the 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 in Israel. It is home to t ...

and in

Antwerp, Belgium Antwerp (; ; ) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after Tournai and Couvin. With a population of 565,039, ...

. Much of Fainaru's work deals with

Jewish history Jewish history is the history of the Jews, their Jewish peoplehood, nation, Judaism, religion, and Jewish culture, culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions and cultures. Jews originated from the Israelites and H ...

Jewish rituals Jewish prayer (, ; plural ; , plural ; Yinglish: davening from Yiddish 'pray') is the prayer recitation that forms part of the observance of Rabbinic Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the '' ...

, and

Jewish literature Jewish literature includes works written by Jews on Jewish themes, literary works written in Jewish languages on various themes, and literary works in any language written by Jewish writers. Ancient Jewish literature includes Biblical literature ...

. Fainaru was chosen as the recipient of the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

for interdisciplinary design and art for the year 2025.

Biography

Belu Simion Fainaru, an Israeli sculptor and installation artist, was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1959 and in 1973 moved to Israel. During the 1980s, his work used motifs taken from Jewish culture, through which he raised questions of identity and historical memory. In his works, Fainaru created concretization of metaphysical concepts such as "light" or "name", into artistic objects that make use of the text. Detachment, social issues and characters from the margins of Israeli society, are typical in many of Fainaru works. In the exhibit "The homeless" (1999), for example, Fainaru created a temporary living environment for the homeless in the art exhibition space. Fainaru also works as a curator. In 1993 he was the co-founder of the Pyramid organization in Haifa and in 2010 was one of the initiators and curators of "The Mediterranean Biennale". Belu Simion Fainaru lives and works in Haifa.

Education

He attended

Haifa University 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 indepen ...

from 1980 to 1983 and obtained his MA in art from the

in 1984. He also attended the

Domus Academy Domus Academy is a private school of design in Milan, Italy. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses in fashion, industrial design, design management, business and user experience design, product and interior design, design i ...

in Milan and the Royal Academy of the Arts in Brussels. CC BY-SA icon

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but not the GNU Free Documentation License.

Awards

* 1985 Young Artist Award, Haifa Art Foundation, Haifa * 1987 Study scholarship from the Italian Government, Italy * 1989 Training Fellowship of the Belgian government, Belgium * 1991 Prize for a Young Artist, Ministry of Education * 1992 Sculpture Competition, Levi and Fortuna Askenazi Sculpture Garden, Tel Aviv University, First prize * 1994 The Nahum Gutman Prize for Painting and Sculpture, The Histadrut Labor Federation * 1997 George and Janet Jaffin Prize for Excellence in Plastic Arts, America-Israel Cultural Foundation * 2000 Aptowitzer Foundation Award for Distinguished Achievement in Contemporary Creative Arts, Haifa Museum of Art

References

Other sources

* Brockhaus, Christoph, ''Kulturräume, Skulptur seit 1970, Joseph Beuys, Belu-Simion Fainaru, Lutz Fritsch, Palle Seiersen Frost, Dani Karavan'', Köln, DuMont, 1999, . *
Website Belu-Simion Fainaru
* The Mediterranean Biennal

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fainaru, Belu-Simion Jewish Israeli sculptors Jewish Romanian sculptors 20th-century Israeli sculptors 20th-century Romanian sculptors 21st-century Israeli sculptors Romanian Jews Romanian emigrants to Israel 1959 births Living people Israeli painters Male painters Israeli artists