Avner Ben-Gal


Avner Ben-Gal was an Israeli international painter and artist, working mainly from Tel Aviv, Israel. His works depict various intense, often neglected locations such as agricultural fields, prisons and smoky interiors, whereby theatrical scenes play out. The scenes present ghostly, rough hewn and often low life figures that are bare and hardened. The parallel between Ben-Gal's raw way of painting and his tough, ambiguous subject matter allows a unique intensity within his paintings.

Biography

Avner Ben-Gal was born on 26 August 1966. He studied Fine Art at Bezalel [Academy of Arts and Design|Bezalel Academy of Art and Design], Jerusalem in 1993. Ben-Gal was the subject of solo shows at museums such as the Tel Aviv Museum of Art ; Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel, Switzerland ; and Sudden Poverty at the Aspen Art Museum, Colorado, United States ; and he has participated in various group shows, including DARK at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, and as part of the Venice Biennial, 2003. A number of books have been published on his work, notably a catalogue to accompany his 2008 show in Basel.
Ben-Gal was later represented by Sadie Coles HQ London, Bortolami Gallery, New York, CFA Gallery, Berlin and by Tempo Rubato gallery, Tel Aviv. He died from a heart attack on 9 May 2024, at the age of 57.

Prizes and awards

2001
Residency program at The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York, USA
1998
Minister of Education and Cultural Prize, Israel
1996
Kollner award for excellent young artists, Bezalel Academy, Jerusalem, Israel
1993 Mary Fischer award for excellent young artists, Bezalel Academy, Jerusalem, Israel

Selected solo exhibitions

2013
  • The Rover, CFA Gallery, Berlin
2012
2010
  • Smackville, Bortolami, NY
2009
2008
2007
2006
  • Bortolami Dayan, New York
2005
  • Sadie Coles HQ, London
  • Cursed By Slaves, Nouvelles Images Gallery, The Hague, Holland
2002
  • Helena, The Helena Rubinstein Pavilion of Art, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
2001
1999
  • New Army, Mary Fauzi Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel
1998
  • Curly Drugs, the Artists’ Studios Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel
1997
1995

Selected group exhibitions

2013
  • “La figurazione inevitabile” per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy
  • “Mythographies”, Yafo 23, Jerusalem
2012
  • “Accelerating Toward Apocalypse: Works from the Doron Sebbag Art Collection”, Givon Art Forum, Tel Aviv, Israel
2011
  • “The Museum Presents Itself: Israeli Art from the Museum Collection”, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
  • “The Second Strike”, Hezliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Hezliya, Israel
2010
  • Re-Dressing, Bortolami, NY
  • What Is Political, Bat - Yam Museum of art, Israel
2009
2008
  • Penal Colony, Ein Harod Museum, Israel
  • SGOZZATA, Peres Projects, Berlin
  • Eventually We'll Die, Young art in Israel of the Nineties, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Israel
2007
2006
  • Infinite Painting: Contemporary Painting and Global Realism, Villa Manin Centre for Contemporary Art, Passariano, Codroipo, Italy
  • Dark, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Rotterdam, Holland
  • Through the looking glass, Galerie Bob van Orsouw, Zurich
2005
  • A Wonderful View, Vous Etes Ici, Amsterdam
  • The New Hebrews, Martin Gropius-Bau, Berlin
2004
2003
2001
  • The Armory Show, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv
  • Israel Spunky, Exit Art, New York
2000
  • Le Repubbliche Dell’Arte; the Israeli Season, Palazzo Delle Papesse, Sienna, Italy
  • Wish List: New Acquisitions, Israel Museum of Art, Jerusalem
1999
1998
  • Video Program # 3: Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Herzliya, Israel
  • The Lesser Light, Israel Museum of Art, Jerusalem
  • Spring at the end of the summer, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
  • Ministry of Education and Culture Award Exhibition, Herzilya Museum of Contemporary Art, Herzliya, Israel
1994
  • En Suite, Museum van Hedenaagse Kunst, Ghent, Belgium
  • Transit, ArtFocus 1, New Central Bus Station, Tel Aviv, Israel