Amnon David Ar

Amnon David Ar (Hebrew: אמנון דוד ער; born 12 December 1973 in Herzliyah, Israel) is an Israeli painter. He studied at the Arts and Crafts Municipal High School of Tel Aviv until the age of eighteen. After completing his compulsory military service, he studied anatomy with Oswald Adler. He then spent one year at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, before leaving, because he felt that both the training and the curriculum didn’t provide the skills and knowledge he was looking for.[1] For this reason, Ar decided to organize his own studies, and spent a further year learning painting and drawing with Abraham Bykov.[2] By studying with older artists, Ar has trained himself in a traditional way, and can, at least in part, be considered an autodidact.[3] During his studies, Ar worked as a chief illustrator and caricaturist at Maariv (newspaper) and also at Yedioth Tikshoret.[1] Today, Ar also teaches painting and drawing, with the express intention of passing on to the next generation of artists, his experience, and with it his understanding of the artistic skills of the past.[1] In 2014 Ar moved to Berlin where he has his studio and teaches.

Amnon David Ar
Born(1973-12-12)12 December 1973
Tel Aviv
NationalityIsraeli
Known forPainting
Awards2008 Winner of the first "Haim Shiff" competition, Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Artistic Style

Ar paints and draws his surroundings – both the people and everyday objects he finds around him in Tel Aviv. He does this, with a realist technique, often preferring to paint objects which are worn, rather than pristine. Robert Fishko, director of the Forum Gallery New York City says: "Ar loves the rich variety of forms in visual reality. Instead of hiding or improving its imperfections, he focuses on them with enthusiasm."

Dr. Bob Van Den Boogert, Curator of the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam, states: "Ar loves the rich variety of forms in visual reality and instead of hiding or improving its imperfections he focuses on them with an eagerness that recalls Rembrandt's predilection for 'picturesque' subjects ... The rendering of the human body still is an artistic speciality which - especially nowadays - only a few painters really master. Ar is definitely one of them: his female nudes are modelled so delicately, and the texture of their skin is rendered in such a convincing way, that they really come to life on the canvas."

Dr Van Den Boogert continues: "Ar is one of the great draughtsmen of our time. He excels in rapid sketches, but also in extremely detailed studies, done in graphite and charcoal, or in white pencil on black paper. The expressive power and the plasticity of his drawings have such graphic qualities, that one wonders why he has not tried his skills on graphic art yet. But that may be one of his future projects: perhaps the best is yet to come."

Exhibitions and awards

Solo Exhibitions
  • 2017 "Wie lange hält das Licht" – Exhibition & Catalog, mz project room maia zinc, Berlin[4]
  • 2009 Solo exhibition – The Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
  • 2009 Solo exhibition – The Association of Painters and Sculptors – Jerusalem Artists, Jerusalem, Israel
  • 2007 Exhibition & Catalog, Galerie Vieleers, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • 2005 Drawings & Several Paintings, Exhibition & Catalog, Bernard Gallery, Tel Aviv
  • 2004 Amnon David Ar – Painting, Exhibition & Catalog, The Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat Gan

Group Exhibitions
  • 2010 "collections", Haifa Museum
  • 2008 Time Tunnel, Exhibition & Catalog, Giv'atayim Municipal Gallery
  • 2007 The Fine Art of Drawing – Modern & Contemporary Works on Paper, Forum Gallery, New York, U.S.A.
  • 2006 Arkansas Art Center Collectors' Show
  • 2006 New Faces, Forum Gallery, New York, U.S.A.
  • 2006 Realisme Amsterdam Fair
  • 2005 Group exhibition, Exhibition & Catalog, The Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat Gan
  • 2005 Group Exhibition, The Jerusalem Center for the Performing Arts
  • 2002 Portraits, Tel Aviv Museum of Art
  • 2000 Observation Time, Exhibition & Catalog, Janco Dada Museum, Ein Hod
  • 1999 Group Exhibition, Bezalel, Academy of Arts & Design, Jerusalem
  • 1998 Group Exhibition, Bat Yam Art Museum

Awards
  • 2008 Winner of the first "Haim Shiff" competition, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv.

References
  1. Dr. Bob Van Den Boogert, Drawings & Several Paintings, Tel Aviv, Bernard Gallery, 2005
  2. Aharoni, Amos, The Aharoni Fund for Art and Leadership - Prime Minister’s Collection, retrieved 5 September 2010
  3. Lurie, Dr Doron J., Tel Aviv Museum of Art: Profile of Amnon David Ar, retrieved 5 September 2010
  4. amnon david ar: wie lange hält das licht?, retrieved 22 September 2017

Further reading
  • "Observation Time" Janco Dada Museum, Ein Hod, Israel, 2000
  • "Amnon David Ar, Painting" The Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat Gan, Meir Ahronson, 2004
  • "Amnon David Ar" Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Professor Mordechai Omer, 2009
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