Tsibi Geva

Balata, 1998,

Acrylic on canvas, 90×50 cm.

Signed and dated on the reverse.

Estimated price: $5,000 - $8,000

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About: Tsibi Geva

Born in kibbutz Ein – Shemer and currently lives and works in Tel Aviv and New York. Geva's artwork refers to the local political complex situation in the Israeli-Palestinian existence. From the beginning of his work, he had dealt with this subject. It can be seen in his art by the representation of specific motifs of local identity that hold political and cultural significance. A repetitive image in his artwork is the stereotypical display of the Arab, wearing the keffiyeh, a mustache and has a lack of a unique-looking personality. The keffiyeh, for example, is a well-known object of Arabs, it is a cultural symbol that has become over the years a symbol associated with the Palestinian struggle for the establishment of identity and a country. In his work there is a breakdown of fundamental concepts with the intention of undermining their context. Geva exhibits his artwork in spaces that emphasize the occupation relations. The objects that Geva paints are directly related to social, political and cultural context. The painted object seeks to point out not only the object itself but to understand it in a critical context and as an approach the artist is taking a in the public sphere. The artist creates in series, among the recurring images in his works are the keffiyeh, windows, flowers, thorns, birds and mountains. The flower paintings like the bird paintings are portrayed in a frozen movement, static and accompanied by a sense of emptiness. The black birds and flowers appear lifeless. Each piece stands on its own but forms part of a series and connects with the political, local and cultural context. Tsibi Geva has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Israel and around the world, including the Israel Museum, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art, and in 2015 he represented Israel at the Venice Biennale. Geva received numerous grants and awards for his artistic work, including the Sandberg Prize for Israeli Art by the Israel Museum (1997), the Eva and Mendel Pundik Prize for Israeli Art by the Tel Aviv Museum of art (2004) and the Culture and Sports Ministry lifetime achievement Award (2010). Geva's works can be found in important public and private collections in the world, including the MOMA Museum in New York, the Jewish Museum in New York and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Geva is currently a professor at the School of Visual Arts, MFA program in New York, the University of Haifa and "Hamidrasha" School of Art, Beit Berl College.