Nir Hod

Tel Aviv, Israel

The object of Nir Hod's work is the analysis and interpretation of beauty. This beauty often betrays a deeper, more abstract meaning that alludes to sleep, or death. Nir Hod loves to represent his subjects as victims of a long-ago past. In his series dedicated to soldiers and the drama of war, he silence of his images takes on a highly symbolic meaning. Just as symbolic are the decorations that form the background to these images.

From the perspective of style, Nir Hod's works are both visionary and powerfully emotional. His technique, which is extremely narrative, demonstrates an ability that borders on perfection. His great oils on canvas transform the human body in to monuments, and the monuments themselves retell, and leave themselves to retell, the historical fragments of our time.

Biography

Born in Tel Aviv, 1970
Lives and works in New York

Education

1989-1993

B.F.A., Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem

1991

Student Exchange Program, Cooper Union School of Art, New York

Solo Exhibitions

2008

Nova 7, Alon Segev gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel

2007

Faded Heartache, galerie davide gallo, Berlin

2006

You are not alone, Jack Shainman gallery, New York

2005

Forever, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv

Luna a Las Vegas, Alon Segev Gallery, Tel Aviv

2001

Destiny's Days, Rosenfeld Gallery ,Tel Aviv

1996

The Brush of the Heart, Noga Gallery of Contemporary Art ,Tel Aviv

1997

DOHRIN: The Last Painting, The Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat Gan,Israel

A Souvenir from November, Mary Fauzi Gallery, Tel Aviv

1998

Forever, LiebmanMagnan Gallery, New York; Miami-Dade
Community College, Wolfson Galleries, Miami

Bleeding Hearts, The Opera House, Tel Aviv

1999

Forever, Lime Light Club, New York

2000

Nir Hod, LiebmanMagnan Gallery, New York

Controversial Innocence, Rosenfeld Gallery, Tel Aviv

Group Exhibitions

2008

The Luxury of Love, Vanina Holasek Gallery, New York, USA

Access to Israel I & II, Contemporary Israeli Art, Juedischen Museums, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

2007

Irrational Exuberance, Maddox Arts Gallery, London, UK

Sex and Sensuality, Salomon Contemporary Warehouse, East Hampton, New York, USA

2006

MEN, The Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat Gan, Israel

East Meets Pop, Nathan A. Bernstein Gallery, New York, USA

Poiesis, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, USA

2005

The New Hebrews - A Century of Art in Israel, Martin Gropius Bau Museum, Berlin, Germany

2004

Rose c'est la vie: On Flowers in Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel

Stop & Stor,LUXE Gallery, New York, USA

Pets, Time of Art (Zman Le'Omanut), Israeli Art Center, Tel Aviv,

Love is in the Air: Images of Romantinc Love in Contemporary Israeli Art, Time for Art (Zman Le'Omanut), Israeli Art Center, Tel Aviv, Israel

2003

Wonderyears: New reflections on the Shoa and Nazism in Israel, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (NGBK), Berlin; Kuenstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany

2002

One Year Later,The New York Historical Society, New York, USA

2001

Uncommon Threads: Contemporary Artist and Clothing, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA

Between Earth and Heaven: New Classical Movements in the Art Today, Museum of Modern Art, Ostend, Belgium

2000

Manly, Art in General, New York, USA

Gallery Artist, LiebmanMagnan Gallery, New York, USA

1998

Uniform, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, USA

After Rabin: New Art from Israel, The Jewish Museum, New York, USA

Bamot: The Building, Destruction and Restoration of High Places-Israel 1948-1998, The Vienna Jewish Museum, Vienna, Austria

The Lesser Light, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel

1997

Fantasy, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Herzliya, Israel

1996-98

Desert Clichè: Israel Now-Local Images, traveling exhibition, Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, Florida; Grey Art Gallery & Study Center of New York University, New York; Nexus Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta; Yerba Buena Center for the Art, San Francisco, USA

1995

In Construction, The Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa, Israel

Windows, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel

1994

MetaSex 94: Identity, Body and Sexuality, Ein Harod Museum of Art, Ein Harod, Israel; Bat Yam Museum of Art, Bat Yam, Israel

Transit, Alternative Space at the Central Bus Station, Tel Aviv, Israel

1993

Antipathos: Black Humor, Irony and Cynism in Contemporary Israeli Art, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel

Bibliography

-->Norman L. Kleeblatt, "Israel's Traumas and Dreams" - Art in America - May 2006

-->Israeli Art at Sotheby's

-->"Nir Hod - For Ever", Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel

-->Mixed Emotion, Haifa Museum of Art

Irene Armbruster, "Von der Wuste in die Werte - Landschaft," Aufbau , December 5, 1997

Avner Bernheimer, "Narcissus' Confessions," Yediot Aharonot , Shiva Yamim (weekend supplement), April 4, 1997, pp. 62-68 (Hebrew)

Maia Beker, "Today Michelangelo would also be Making Toaster Ovens," Tarbut Maariv , December 29, 1999, pp. 12-13 (Hebrew)

Grace Glueck, "Israelis Who Put Acid in the Milk and Honey Formula," The New York Times , November 28 , 1997, p. 40 (review of Desert Cliché )

Ken Johnson, "Angst and Introspection in a Time of Transition," The New York Times , September 18, 1998, p. 36 (review of After Rabin )

Tami Katz-Freiman, "Forever Young," Wolfson Galleries, Miami-Dade Community College, Miami, 1999 (exhibition catalogue)

Tami Katz-Freiman, "This is not a Child, only a Child's Image," Mishkafayim 17, December 1992, pp. 46-47 (Hebrew)

Shani Litman, "Narcissus King of the Swamp," Haaretz , September 17, 1997, p. D3

Jonathan Mandell, "Mideast Coexistence," Newsday , December 12, 1997, p. B29
(review of Desert Cliché )

John Mendelson, "The Art of the Double Take," The Jewish Week , January 2, 1998, p. 13

Amelia Rosenblum, The American Dream of Nir Hod, Maariv , Sofshavua (weekend supplement), March 30, 2001, pp. 66-74 (Hebrew)

Martha Schwendener, "Sabra Story," Time Out New York , January 15-22, 1998, p. 38 (review of Desert Cliché )

Kim Sillen, "Nir Hod: Forever," NY Arts Magazine , May 1998, p. 21

Franklin Sirmans, "Nir Hod at LiebmanMagnan," Art in America , January 1999, p.101

Ran Shchori, "Cellophane also Bleeds," Iton Tel Aviv , June 28, 1996, p. 75 (Hebrew)

Smadar Shefi, "As Pretty as Publicity," Haaretz , January 12, 2000, p. D8 (Hebrew)

Yoav Shmueli, "His Royal Highness," Ha'Ir , October 10, 1997, pp. 68-69

Elisa Turner, "Exhibits Celebrate Unusual Portraits," Miami Herald , November 27, 1998, p. 17G

Grady T. Turner, "Boy Talk," World Art , 20, Spring 1999, pp. 56-57

Grady T. Turner, "Nir Hod: Overture," Flash Art , October 1999, p. 108

Uzi Tzur, "All This Beauty: Nir Hod at Noga Gallery of Contemporary Art," Haaretz ,
June 28, 1996, p. D2 (Hebrew)

Richard Vine, "Report from Israel: Wider Focus," Art in America , May 2000, p. 75

Galia Yahav, "Nir Hod's Cliché," Globs , June 21, 1996, p. 18 (Hebrew)