About: Michal Na'aman
is an artist and art lecturer, born in 1951. In her work, Na'aman extensively focused on representation, gender, theology, verbal perception versus visual perception, language limitations and visual limitations. Na'aman is considered one of the pioneers in conceptual art and even won the Israel Prize for Art in 2014.
In 1969 she began her studies in HaMidrasha – Faculty of the Arts, and was greatly influenced by Raffi Lavie. Like many others, Na'aman absorbed quite a bit of Lavi's artistic language and frequently visited him in his home, which was then located on 42 Yona Hanavi Street in Tel Aviv, and became a meeting place for many artists.
At the same time, Na'aman was also able to show independence in her art. For example, many of her works include a textual image, in contrast to the absolute separation between form and content Lavie was so supportive of. Later on, they became colleagues, when they both were part of the teaching staff in the Midrasha, Na’aman still teaches there today.
The judges who chose Michal Na’aman for receiving the Israel Prize explained the reasons for it, they defined her body of work as unique, enigmatic and extremely original. Na'aman's works always raise questions and existential wonderment, as well as profound thought about the world which they describe, all by using a wide range of visual means, and quite a bit of humor.
Nevertheless, Na'aman continued to create impressive conceptual art, especially through collages. She participated in numerous exhibitions in Israel and abroad, and was not afraid of confronting even loaded concepts as divinity.
Like another groundbreaking artist - Lea Nikel - who has had a significant influence on many painters, Michal Na'aman is also considered to have empowering influence over future generations in Israeli art. Her role as a professor in the Midrasha is part of that influence, but mainly, it’s her deep and extraordinary thinking, and her expression in a variety of inspirational artistic measures that make her a role model.
