About Me

I was born at the old maternity hospital in Kfar-Saba, Israel, on a wintry November night of 1977.
Since then, except for playing D&D & video games, listening to Iron Maiden and living my life alongside my best friend Monty RIP, I've been spending my time and effort in various fields that are close to my heart, including art, design, music, non-profit cultural entrepreneurship & vegan activism. 

Art & Artist-Run Evangelism

In 2005 I've graduated from "Camera Obscura" art school, majoring in Digital Media. 
In 2008 I had my first solo art exhibition and since then I've been doing art and a bit of curation, exhibiting calmly in Israel and Germany. 

About my Art

My work is dealing with my intimate living space and familiar surroundings, searching for structures, rhythms and patterns of both individual and collective meaning.

The process usually starts with a photography session, whether of a window of a neighbour living across the street or a building which holds childhood memories, sometimes my body, my animal companion Monty or a special spot in my neighbourhood. Much like memories, this image goes through a process of reconstruction, distillation and refinement in an attempt to extract the building-blocks of the content, the core shape and the inner rhythm. 

The digital work on such analog subjects allows me to convert a personal and local story into a generic, archetype, thus iconising the private instance and personal story; Some of my work deals with my complex relationship with the Israeli life: The 80's, the old neighbourhood, the lack of identity in the International building style, and those damned window blinds, separating like a selective membrane, absently blocking any sunshine or mysteriously imprisoning the shadows within. Moving to Berlin five years ago has raised new thoughts about my relations with this historically and personally charged city, about my life and my connection with my homeland and the German-Israeli-Palestinian triangle. some of these issues find their way to my art and also to my musical projects.

Alfred Gallery

In 2009 I became a co-member in Alfred Gallery, a young cooperative art gallery located in south Tel Aviv, Israel. since then, I am in charge of all the visual aspect of the gallery and cooperative activity, including our brand identity, website design, events invitations, catalogs and more. Alfred is a non-profit NGO intended for promoting young contemporary Israeli art and artists. all members volunteer for providing a framework for hosting and curating exhibitions for young artists, alongside with many other cultural activities. The exhibitions are free of charge and we do not take any commission from sold artworks during the exhibition, while the artists enjoy a highly professional production, including curation, PR, gallery talks, satellite events, professional exhibition documentation and sometimes also catalogs.    

During the years, both the gallery and its members grew and excelled in practicing and promoting the cooperative methodology and vision. Alfred Gallery managed to change the municipal laws in Tel Aviv by defining this "new" entity called "a non-profit cooperative gallery", paving the way for a new generation of cooperative art galleries to establish and more importantly to sustain themselves.

Alfred Gallery have produced over 200 exhibitions, provided the opportunity for hundreds of young artists to show their works, and hosted thousands of visitors and art lovers at our exhibitions.

Alfred Institute for Art & Culture

In December 2013 my fellow members/friends and I have decided to raise the stakes and co-founded Alfred Cooperative Institute for Art & Culture, a vibrant four stories high art center, holding numerous lectures, workshops, alternative cultural events, and of course, a monthly exhibition corresponding with our yearly theme. Alfred, including myself, have hosted and conducted local and international collaborations with cooperatives and art-spaces in Israel, England and Germany. Alfred is also supported by the Israeli ministry of culture and the city of Tel Aviv-Yaffo. 

Artist-Run Alliance

In 2017, I've joined forces with Gidi Smilansky, also an Alfred Institute co-founder, a cultural entrepreneur, and director of the project, in co-founding a flag project of Alfred Institute - The Artist-Run Alliance, functioning as product manager.

The Artist-Run Alliance (ARA) vision is to establish an environment designated for supporting and empowering artist-run initiatives ["Artist-Run" is a term typically including artist co-operatives, independent galleries and art spaces, which many times are also NGO non-profits]. We do so by mapping and placing all these initiatives on one global map, enabling them to scout for and publish professional opportunities and public events to fellow artists, fellow initiatives and the art-loving glocal audience.

Our motivation is solidarity and belief in the cooperative "indie" practice and ideology. Our goal is to empower the local art initiative and its artist members with a global potential for collaborations and exchange of resources and ideas, thus redefining the collective cultural/political value of the artist-run field in relations to the commercial one. We are always searching for new initiatives, collaborating with other international artist-run organisations and promoting an "Ambassador Program" of local cultural agents, helping us to better understand their local art field along with its vectors and special needs. The project is a non-profit and free of charge. As for today we have more than 1400 Initiatives online. 

Design

In 2004, along side with my past partner Reuven Rosh, I've co-founded VAZA - New Media Design studio, specialising in branding, web and graphic design. Since then we've planned and produced a vast amount of projects, ranging from websites, brand identity, animated presentations, video productions, graphic design and creative consultancy, with a tendency towards clients from the fields of culture, social impact and start-ups.

Professional Photography

As a photographer I'm mostly into dealing with all the other fields that are close to my heart - animals and dogs in particular, music and art.

I have an ongoing project called Hot dogs, where I shoot spontaneous portraits of cool dogs I come across in the street. I also love taking pictures of rock & oriental concerts, landscapes in Germany and Israel and to document exhibitions & art performances.

Music

While living in Tel Aviv I was a member of the indie rock band KofSnaE (Squirrel Monkey) as a drummer, while also taking part in other albums and musical projects. During my time in Berlin I took part as a percussionist in several Berlin based oriental trios such as Janawadi, playing Improvised psychedelic Arabic / Persian music, and EKMEK, playing traditional Ottoman pieces with a touch of freestyle. 

Veganism and Animal Liberation

The most important thing in my life is animal liberation and veganism. I am involved in supporting, producing and promoting local and international projects, raising awareness for a cruelty-free and compassionate way of living. These days I'm working on developing an App for vegan lifestyle.