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

Biography

Avner Sher was born in the

Wadi Salib Wadi Salib ( ar, وادي صليب, he, ואדי סאליב; lit. Valley of the Cross) is a primarily Palestinian neighbourhood located in downtown Haifa, Israel, on the lower northeastern slope of Mount Carmel, between the Hadar HaCarmel and th ...

neighborhood of

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') 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 metropol ...

, 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 Axis powers, its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no unive ...

.”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'' ( he, מָקוֹר רִאשׁוֹן lit. "Firsthand Source") is a semi-major Israeli newspaper associated with Religious Zionism and the conservative right-wing. History ''Makor Rishon'' was founded as a weekly magazine in Jul ...

, November 9, 2012 (Hebrew) From the age of 6 he studied piano at Beit Hagefen in Haifa. A rock band he organized with friends performed the opening act for established musicians, among them

Zvika Pik Svika Pick (, 3 October 1949 – 14 August 2022), born Henryk Pick, was an Israeli pop singer, songwriter, composer, and television personality. Pick first gained traction on a national level after playing a lead part in an Israeli version of t ...

. 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 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 ( he, אוניברסיטת חיפה Arabic: جامعة حيفا) is a university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation in 1972, becoming Is ...

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 ( he, מְבַשֶּׂרֶת צִיּוֹן, literal meaning: Herald of Zion – Jerusalem) is a suburb of Jerusalem with the administrative status of a local council. Mevaseret Zion is composed of two distinct older townships, Mao ...

, Ramle,

Zichron Yaakov Zikhron Ya'akov ( he, זִכְרוֹן יַעֲקֹב, ''lit.'' "Jacob's Memorial"; often shortened to just ''Zikhron'') is a town in Israel, south of Haifa, and part of the Haifa District. It is located at the southern end of the Carmel mounta ...

, Raanana,

Nahariya Nahariya ( he, נַהֲרִיָּה, ar, نهاريا) is the northernmost coastal city in Israel. In it had a population of . Etymology Nahariya takes its name from the stream of Ga'aton (river is ''nahar'' in Hebrew), which bisects it. Hist ...

Beersheba Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...

Carmiel Karmiel ( he, כַּרְמִיאֵל) is a city in northern 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 Acre-Safed road, f ...

Kiryat Bialik Kiryat Bialik ( he, קִרְייַת בְּיַאלִיק, also Qiryat Bialik) is a city in the Haifa District in Israel. It is one of the five Krayot suburbs to the north of Haifa. In it had a population of . The city was named after the poet H ...

Kiryat Ata Kiryat Ata ( he, קִרְיַת אָתָא; also 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 Qiryat Ata has been extensively excavate ...

Kfar Saba Kfar Saba ( he, כְּפַר סָבָא), officially Kefar Sava, is a city in the Sharon region, of the Central District of Israel. In 2019 it had a population of 110,456, making it the 16th-largest city in Israel. The population of Kfar Saba i ...

Netanya Netanya (also known as Natanya, he, נְתַנְיָה) is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between Poleg stream and Wingate I ...

, Yokne’am and

Eilat Eilat ( , ; he, אֵילַת ; ar, إِيلَات, Īlāt) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy 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 ...

. Other public buildings designed by Sher are the Kiryat Motzkin municipality and the courthouse in the Krayot.

Art career

In 1999, Sher moved to

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

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

Beit Yanai Beit Yanai ( he, בֵּית יַנַּאי, 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 ...

and saw that the restroom walls were covered with

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

. 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 Egyptian hieroglyphs (, ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with some 1,000 distinct characters.There were about 1,00 ...

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 , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

, Sher grew up in the shadow of the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

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 ''Yedioth Ahronoth'' ( he, יְדִיעוֹת אַחֲרוֹנוֹת, ; lit. ''Latest News'') is a national daily newspaper published in Tel Aviv, Israel. Founded in 1939 in British Mandatory Palestine, ''Yedioth Ahronoth'' is the largest paid n ...

, 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 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 the Jewish world ...

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

Tower of David The Tower of David ( he, מגדל דוד, Migdál Davíd), also known as the Citadel ( ar, القلعة, al-Qala'a), is an ancient citadel located near the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem. The citadel that stands today dates t ...

Museum overlooking the walls of Jerusalem’s

Old City Old City often refers to old town, the historic or original core of a city or town. Old City may refer to several places: Historical cities or regions of cities ''(by country)'' *Old City (Baku), Azerbaijan * Old City (Dhaka), Bangladesh, also ca ...

. 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 ...

12 in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , 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 ...

, 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 ( he, בַּרְעָם, ''lit.'' Son of the People), sometimes spelled as Baram, is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located approximately 300 meters from Israel's border with Lebanon near the ruins of the ancient Jewish village of Kfar Bar' ...

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