Raffi Lavie
educator
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...
and music/art
critic
A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...
. Lavie's work is a cross between
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 ...
and
abstract expressionism
Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...
.
Biography
Rafael (Raffi) Lavi was born in
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 ...
,
Mandate Palestine. He began teaching at
HaMidrasha – Faculty of the Arts
HaMidrasha – Faculty of the Arts (also known as "HaMidrasha Le'Omanut", "HaMidrasha Art School" or just "HaMidrasha") is an Israeli art and art-education school. Established in 1946 as an independent institution, it now is one of three facult ...
1966. In the same year he was also a founder of the group ''Ten Plus''. Due to severe back problems, Lavie painted in his last years while sitting. On May 7, 2007, he died of
pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...
at his home in Tel Aviv, aged 70. He donated his body to the
University of Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...
for research.
Art career
He studied at the
Art Teachers' Training College in
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 later taught at the
HaMidrasha – Faculty of the Arts
HaMidrasha – Faculty of the Arts (also known as "HaMidrasha Le'Omanut", "HaMidrasha Art School" or just "HaMidrasha") is an Israeli art and art-education school. Established in 1946 as an independent institution, it now is one of three facult ...
in
Ramat HaSharon.
In the early 1960s, Raffi Lavie began to paint in spontaneous scrawls reminiscent of graffiti and comic strip art. He wrote on his paintings as if they were walls covered with scribbles. His work has been described as angry, nervous, aggressive, and abrasive. He was invited to exhibit with "
Ofakim Hadashim" (New Horizons) but his work challenged the delicate lyricism of the group. Towards the end of the 1960s, Lavi began to glue photographs, reproductions and posters on his works, combining varied aesthetic elements; kitsch, applied graphics, children's drawing, and political rhetoric. He scorned bourgeois prototypes of beauty, and sought to restore the image to art after its banishment by "New Horizons". The synthesis of scribbled line and collage is unique to Lavie's work. It has been compared to the work of American artist
Cy Twombly
Edwin Parker "Cy" Twombly Jr. (; April 25, 1928July 5, 2011) was an American Painting, painter, Sculpture, sculptor and photographer. He belonged to the generation of Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns.
Twombly is said to have influenced you ...
.
In the mid 1960s, Lavie and his followers became known as the "Tel Aviv School" or the 10+ group. The group were the first to import
pop art, avant garde,
found object art,
collage
Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...
and photography into their work. "10+ injected irony, humor, and sophistication into Israeli art. They situated everyday objects such as dolls, fragments of papers, towels, and reproductions center stage. Israeli reality marched into the art world that discovered the everyday as proper material for creation." In 1986, curator Sara Breitberg-Semel presented the exhibit, "
Want of Matter "Want of Matter" (in Hebrew: דלות החומר; Dalut Hahomer) is an Israeli style of art that existed in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Characteristics of this style include the use of "meager" creative materials, artistic sloppiness, and criticis ...
" at the Tel Aviv Museum. Breitberg-Semel "Want of Matter" thesis of the exhibit was that Lavie and the 10+ group used Jewish concepts and symbols, but the art was secular. She focused on the low-cost materials used in their work, such as plywood, cardboard, writing and scribbling within the work and other low-cost material. The use of such simple and cheap material identified with the establishment of Israel and thus created a new, unique Israel voice. In 2002, a retrospective exhibit opened at the
Israel Museum
The Israel Museum ( he, מוזיאון ישראל, ''Muze'on Yisrael'') is an art and archaeological museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world’s leading encyclopa ...
in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
on Lavie entitled "Rafi Lavie: Works from 1950 to 2002". This exhibit had a new interpretation of Lavie and his followers work. The new interpretation showed how Lavie's work was romantic, rich, filled with the Jewish religion and European roots.
In 2005, he had a solo exhibition at
Givon Gallery The Givon Art Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The Gallery was founded in 1974 by Sam Givon on Gordon Street in Tel Aviv. In 1979 his daughter, Naomi (Noemi) opened the Givon Contemporary Art Gallery. Since the founder's ...
in Tel Aviv.
Lavie represented Israel in the 53rd
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
in 2009.
Gallery
File:Raffi Lavie.jpg, Raffi Lavie (1980)
Photographer: Stanley I. Batkin
Image:Raffi Lavie~B83_0006.jpg, Untitled, 1969
Israel Museum
The Israel Museum ( he, מוזיאון ישראל, ''Muze'on Yisrael'') is an art and archaeological museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world’s leading encyclopa ...
Collection
B83.0006
Image:Lavie, Raffi-Untitled, 1977_cropped~B92_1599.jpg, Untitled, 1977
Israel Museum
The Israel Museum ( he, מוזיאון ישראל, ''Muze'on Yisrael'') is an art and archaeological museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world’s leading encyclopa ...
Collection
B92.1599
Image:B03_0063~Lavie, Raffi, Untitled, 1983.jpg, Untitled, 1983
Israel Museum
The Israel Museum ( he, מוזיאון ישראל, ''Muze'on Yisrael'') is an art and archaeological museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world’s leading encyclopa ...
Collection
B03.0063
Awards
* 1978 The
Dizengoff Prize for Painting and Sculpture, Municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo,
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 ...
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavie, Raffi
Israeli graffiti artists
Israeli journalists
Israeli Jews
People from Tel Aviv
1937 births
2007 deaths
Deaths from pancreatic cancer
Deaths from cancer in Israel
Israeli contemporary artists
Israeli collage artists
Jewish artists
20th-century Israeli painters
21st-century Israeli painters
20th-century journalists