David Leviathan (born 6 August 1950) is an Israeli painter, sculptor, and poet.

Biography

David Leviathan was born and grew up in Kibbutz Givat Brenner in Israel. Right after completing his military service, in the year 1972, he attended the

Avni Institute of Fine Arts Avni may refer to: Given name * Avni Arbaş (1919–2003), Turkish artist * Avni bej Delvina, a signatory of the Albanian Declaration of Independence * Avni Klinaku (born 1965), Albanian politician and nationalist * Avni Mula (1928–2020), Alban ...

. During his studies there, he became an assistant of his teacher – master, the artist Yehezkel Streichman, and later on he was teaching there himself. In the year 1977 he gave up painting and for the next two years was occupied with trying to compare the monthly cycle in women to cycles in nature, by creating different kinds of 3-dimensional objects. Towards the end of 1979, he moved to Amsterdam, and while being touched by the book ''The Fall'', written by Albert Camus, he composed oil paintings trying to deal with Camus thoughts, and thus titled his first one-man show in Amsterdam, "The Fall". During the following years, while using the Four Elements (Air, Water, Fire & Earth) as a major theme for his abstracts and Human Heads (some of them painted on huge canvases, like 350x300 cm` and similar), he used to spend two weeks every year (1981–1989) on a Greek island (each year on a different one), letting a donkey carry his equipment while travelling, to achieve a greater perspective for developing his work, relating those Vibrant Elements and Heads. In the year 1992, Leviathan received Dutch citizenship, and the next two years he was travelling between Amsterdam and Paris, living and working in them both. He moved back (temporarily?) to Israel to create, and the white color started taking a major part in his work. A major

motif Motif may refer to: General concepts * Motif (chess composition), an element of a move in the consideration of its purpose * Motif (folkloristics), a recurring element that creates recognizable patterns in folklore and folk-art traditions * Moti ...

in his work is questioning death within the cyclicality of Life and Death, in which he uses a lot of images of old women, devoting special attention to their facial expressions, and in many cases befogging the images, trying to comprehend as deep as possible spiritual feeling, to create a certain type of atmosphere, and, in some cases it is the tension point between coming to fruition and withering.Leviathan, by prof. A.J. Fry, Germany, September 1991

Selected exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

*1978 – Sara Levi Gallery, Tel Aviv *1979 – "The Third Floor Gallery",

Jaffa Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...

*1979 – "New gallery", Tel Aviv *1980 – Galerie "Artes", Amsterdam *1986 – Galerie "De Looier", Amsterdam *1989 – Sara Levi gallery, Tel Aviv *1991 – Galerie Witteveen, Amsterdam *1991 – Smith Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto, California *1991 – "De Gele Rijder" Kunst centrum, Arnhem *1992 – "The Work Shop", Paris *1992 – Museum "De Librije", Zwolle, Netherlands *1995 – Horace Richter gallery, Jaffa *1999 – Tel Aviv Performing Art Center *1999 – Givaataim Theatre (Tel Aviv) *2000 – Horace Richter gallery, Jaffa *2003 – "Artists Residence House", Herzlia, Israel *2006 – Düsseldorf cultural department, (Germany) *2010 – "Artists residence House", Hadera, Israel

Group shows

*1977 – The Jerusalem Theatre gallery *1977, 1978 –

Tel Aviv Museum Tel Aviv Museum of Art ( he, מוזיאון תל אביב לאמנות ''Muzeon Tel Aviv Leomanut'') is an art museum in Tel Aviv, Israel. The museum is dedicated to the preservation and display of modern and contemporary art from Israel and aro ...

, – winners of the AICF *1977 –

Haifa Museum The Haifa Museum of Art ( he, מוזיאון חיפה לאמנות, ar, متحف حيفا للفنون), established in 1951, is located in a historic building built in the 1930s in Wadi Nisnas, downtown Haifa. Ranking as Israel's third largest a ...

*1992 – "Le Genie De La Bastille", Paris *1993 –

Le Grand Palais The Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées ( en, Great Palace of the Elysian Fields), commonly known as the Grand Palais (English: Great Palace), is a historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex located at the Champs-Élysées in the 8th arro ...

, Paris, Biannual "group 109" *1993 – "Art International", Amsterdam and Tilburg *2004 – "Salon Des Artistes Indepandants", L`espace D`auteuil, Paris *2004 – "Salon International, M.C.A, Cannes, France *2004 – "Alternative gallery",

*2006 – Wilfried Museum, Hazorea, Israel *2013 – Salon "Business Art", Paris

Scholarships and grants

*1975–1978 – Material scholarship from AICF *1979 – Scholarship, Israeli Ministry of Education and Culture *1987–1988 – material scholarship, Netherlands Ministry of Education and culture *1989 – Werkbeurs (grant), Amsterdam municipality *1989 – Presentation beurs, "Stichting Fonds Voor Beeldende Kunsten, Vormgeving En Bouwkunst, Netherlands *1991 – Werkbeurs, Amsterdam municipality, the Cultural department *1992–1993 – Werkbeurs, "Stichting Fonds Voor Beeldende Kunsten, Vormgeving En Bouwkunst", Netherlands *1993 – Presentatie beurs, "Prins Bernard Fonds", Amsterdam *1993–1994 – Werkbeurs, "Stichting Fonds Voor Beeldende kunsten, Vormgeving en Bouwkunst", Netherlands

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leviathan, David 1950 births Living people Israeli Jews Israeli painters Artists from Amsterdam