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 Givat Brenner ( he, גִּבְעַת בְּרֶנֶר, lit. ''Brenner Hill''; ar, غفعات برينر), is a kibbutz in the Central District of Israel. Located around south of Rehovot, it falls under the jurisdiction of Brenner Regional C ...

in Israel. Right after completing his military service, in the year 1972, he attended the Avni Institute of Fine Arts. During his studies there, he became an assistant of his teacher – master, the artist

Yehezkel Streichman Yehezkel Streichman ( he, יחזקאל שטרייכמן, 1906 – January 12, 1993) was an Israeli painter. He is considered a pioneer of Israeli modernist painting. Among the awards that he won were the Dizengoff Prize and the Israel Prize. Bi ...

, 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 Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, and while being touched by the book ''The Fall'', written by

Albert Camus Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, and journalist. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history. His work ...

, 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 Classical elements typically refer to earth, water, air, fire, and (later) aether which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler substances. Ancient cultures in Greece, Tibet, and India had simi ...

(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 Greece has many islands, with estimates ranging from somewhere around 1,200 to 6,000, depending on the minimum size to take into account. The number of inhabited islands is variously cited as between 166 and 227. The largest Greek island by a ...

(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

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 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 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 ...

*1979 – "The Third Floor Gallery", Jaffa *1979 – "New gallery", Tel Aviv *1980 – Galerie "Artes",

*1986 – Galerie "De Looier", Amsterdam *1989 – Sara Levi gallery, Tel Aviv *1991 – Galerie Witteveen, Amsterdam *1991 – Smith Andersen Gallery,

Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was es ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

*1991 – "De Gele Rijder" Kunst centrum,

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both ban ...

*1992 – "The Work Shop", Paris *1992 – Museum "De Librije",

Zwolle Zwolle () is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Overijssel and the province's second-largest municipality after Enschede with a population of 130,592 as of 1 December 2021. Zwolle is on ...

, Netherlands *1995 – Horace Richter gallery, Jaffa *1999 –

Performing Art Center *1999 – Givaataim Theatre (Tel Aviv) *2000 – Horace Richter gallery, Jaffa *2003 – "Artists Residence House", Herzlia, Israel *2006 –

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

cultural department, (Germany) *2010 – "Artists residence House",

Hadera Hadera ( he, חֲדֵרָה ) is a city located in the Haifa District of Israel, in the northern Sharon region, approximately 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the major cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. The city is located along 7 km (5&nb ...

, Israel

Group shows

*1977 – The

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Theatre gallery *1977, 1978 – Tel Aviv Museum, – 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 ...

*1992 – "Le Genie De La Bastille", Paris *1993 – Le Grand Palais, Paris, Biannual "group 109" *1993 – "Art International",

and

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

*2004 – "Salon Des Artistes Indepandants", L`espace D`auteuil, Paris *2004 – "Salon International, M.C.A, Cannes, France *2004 – "Alternative gallery", Jaffa *2006 – Wilfried Museum, Hazorea,

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

*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),

municipality *1989 – Presentation beurs, "Stichting Fonds Voor Beeldende Kunsten, Vormgeving En Bouwkunst,

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

*1991 – Werkbeurs,

municipality, the Cultural department *1992–1993 – Werkbeurs, "Stichting Fonds Voor Beeldende Kunsten, Vormgeving En Bouwkunst",

*1993 – Presentatie beurs, "Prins Bernard Fonds", Amsterdam *1993–1994 – Werkbeurs, "Stichting Fonds Voor Beeldende kunsten, Vormgeving en Bouwkunst",

References

External links

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