Tomer Sapir (born 1977) lives and works in Tel Aviv. He received his MFA from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem. In his “laboratory” he focuses on a compressed critical moment, examines the overlapping of biological/synthetic and tries to find the chemical formula for combining them. Through the mediums of sculpture, installation, drawing and collage he undermines common dichotomies by creating a world that exists between fiction/reality, joke/catastrophe. His work has been exhibited in numerous museums and galleries in Israel and abroad, among them are The Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Bass Museum in Miami, Haifa Museum of Art, Herzliya Museum, Apexart, NYC, Substitut, Berlin, Chelouche Gallery, Tel Aviv, Sommer Gallery for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, The GSA, Glasgow, Hôtel de Ville, Marseille and Künstlerhaus Speckstraße and Kutscherhäuser, Hamburg.
Artis Grant Recipient
Born in 1977, Israel. Lives and works in Tel Aviv
Education
2007-2009 Master in Fine Arts (M.F.A) (cum laude), Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Tel Aviv
2000-2004 Bachelor of Design (B. Des), Industrial Design department, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem.
January – June 2003 Student exchange at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam.
Grants and awards
2018 The Creativity Encouragement Award, the Israeli Ministry of Culture
2017 Asylum Arts Retreat, Warsaw
2016 The Pais Council for Culture and Art, catalogue production grant
2015 Outset Israel Grant Recipient
2014 –2015 Gabirol residency program, Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality, Israel
2013 Artis grant recipient (apexart, New York for the exhibition The Hidden Passengers curated by Avi Lubin)
2012 Young Artist Award, the Israeli Ministry of Culture
2008 M.F.A Program Excellence Award, Bezalel Academy, Tel Aviv
2008 Excellence Award by Photographer’s Forum Magazine, The 28th Annual Spring
2008 “Global Institute Session 2”, international seminar in the occasion of the 7th Gwangju Biennale, Korea
2004 Excellence Grant of the Ministry of Industry, Trade & Labor, Jerusalem
Solo Exhibitions and Large Scale Commissions
2022 ‘But Why Do I Hear the Crickets, it’s Morning’, Solo Exhibition, Petach Tikva Museum of Art.
2019 Stillbirth, Site specific installation, commission for “Nurse, Nurse”, main exhibition of Manofim Jerusalem Contemporary Art Festival. Curators: Rinat Edelstein and Lee He Shulov
2019 KIKALON, solo show at Biyalik house, Tel Aviv. Curator: Smadar Sheffi
2017 Something’s Happened to Us, Father, solo show in Chelouche Gallery, Tel Aviv. Curator: Avi Lubin
2017 Bodies, collaboration with choreographer Sharon Vazanna, Open Look International Dance Festival, Saint Petersburg
2017 HANOTERET, Solo exhibition at Gabirol Gallery, Tel Aviv
2016 Seed Library, A large scale commission for SLSC Museum, Saint Louis Science Center
2016 Ministry of Information, Solo exhibition at Beit Hankin Museum. Curator: Neta Haber
2016 Research for the Full Crypto-Taxidermical Index (Mother of All Wheat), commission for group exhibition Agropolis, The Bloomfield Science Museum, Jerusalem. Curator: Maayan Sheleff
2016 Fetal Baby, Commission for Group exhibition Between Synapses: Where Art and Brain Sciences Intersect, collaboration with Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Curator: Michal Mor
2015-2016 Bodies, collaboration with choreographer Sharon Vazanna, Warehouse 2, Jaffa Port
2015 Mother of All Wheat, large scale commission for The Agricultural Exhibition, Petach Tikva Museum of Art. Curator: Tali Tamir
2015 Site specific commission for Adam/a, The Jezreel Valley Museum, Kibbutz Yifat. Curator: Neta Haber
2013 Site specific commission for Collecting Dust, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Curator: Tami Manor-Friedman
2012 Terra Incognita, solo show in Chelouche Gallery, Tel Aviv. Curator: Avi Lubin
2012 The Visit #2, site specific commissioned for Border Line, Beit Ha’ir (old city hall), Tel Aviv. Curator: Ayelet Bitan Shlonsky
2010 Tomer Sapir: Sculptures and Paper Works, solo show in the occasion of Love Art Do Art, Tel Aviv
2010 Research for the Full Crypto-Taxidermical Index, large scale commission for Shelf Life, Haifa Museum of Art , Haifa. Curators: Tami Katz-Freiman and Rotem Ruff
2009 The Visit, solo show in Industry (old railway station in Menashiya, Tel Aviv), M.F.A graduate show, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design2007 Prostheses, solo show in Periscope Gallery, Tel Aviv. Curaor: Sarit Shapira
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022 ‘Burrows’, Ha’Cubia, Jerusalem.
2021 Digging Down, The Bible Lands Museum, Jerusalem.
2021 Rooms, Chelouche Gallery, Tel Aviv. Curator: Nira Itzhaki.
2020 Vividus, the Petach Tikva Museum of Art. Curator: Bar Yerushalmi.
2020 Black Sun, Chelouche Gallery, Tel Aviv. Curator: Nira Itzhaki.
2020 The Winners Exhibition: winners of the ministry of culture and sports award, Ashdod Art Museum
2018 To the End of Land, National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), New Delhi. Curators: Drorit Gur-Arie and Or Tshuva
2018 The Twin Paradox, Mom Art Space, Hamburg. Curator: Avi Lubin
2018 Artaftefet, Kibutz En Shemer, Curators: Atar Geva and Erez Uzan
2016 Circular Movements, Kunstverein KunstHaus Potsdam e. V., Potsdam. Curator: Avi Lubin
2014 Dark Times, The Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery, Tel Aviv University. Curator: Avi Lubin
2014 Concrete, Bulimia, Benyamini Center, Tel Aviv. Curator: Tali Tamir
2014 The Hidden Passengers, Apexart, NYC. Curator: Avi Lubin
2014 Partners, Chelouche Gallery, Tel Aviv. Curator: Tal Amitai-Lavi
2013 WINNERS 2012 (The Culture and Sport Ministry Awards for Art), Ashdod Art Museum. Curator: Yuval Biton
2013 Substance & Stain, Kupferman’s House, Kibbutz Lohamei Ha’ghetaot. Curator: Irit Carmon Popper
2012 Unnatural, Bass Museum of Art, Miami. Curator: Tami Katz-Freiman
2012 Cabinets of Wonder in Contemporary Art – From Astonishment to Disenchantment, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Herzliya. Curators: Dalia Levin, Daria Kaufmann and Ghila Limon
2012 Intersections: Science in Contemporary Art, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot. Curators: Cathy Wills and Carolyn Drake
2012 Varmints, P8 Gallery, Tel Aviv. Curator: Carmela Weiss
2012 Ground Work, Sommer Contemporary Art Gallery, Tel Aviv. Curator: Avi Lubin
2011 The End of History, Künstlerhaus Speckstraße and Kutscherhäuser, Hamburg. Curator: Avi Lubin
2011 Today Only, Cca, Tel Aviv. Curator: Gai Silverman
2011 Slough, Gallery 121, Tel Aviv. Curator: Carmit Blumenson
2010 The Alchemists, Kav 16, Tel Aviv. Curator: Sally Haftel Naveh
2010 Re- Location, Chelouche Gallery, Tel Aviv
2010 Grandfather Paradox, ON-OFF Artprojects, Hamburg. Curator: Avi Lubin
2010 Met-Al-Morphosa, 5th Hanegev st (in the occasion of Tel Aviv Loveart events)
2010 Grandfather Paradox, Chelouche Gallery, Tel Aviv. Curator: Avi Lubin
2009 Secret Art 4, Beit Mani, Tel Aviv. Curator: Esti Drori and Doron Polak
2009 The Answer is within You, Substitut, Berlin. Curator: Urs Küenzi
2009 Harika, Hachava Gallery, Holon. Curator: Irit Carmon Popper
2009 A+4, The GSA, Glasgow
2008 Secret Art 3, Beit Mani, Tel Aviv
2008 Koresh Operation 2, Koresh Site, Jerusalem. Curators: Tanya Bubnov, Hili Greenfeld and Vered Hadad
2008 25 ASA, Hôtel de Ville, Marseille, France
2008 Larchmont Art Fair, NY, Curator: Ayelet Danielle Aldouby
2007 Dream Makers, Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Curator: Alex Ward
2006 In Front of Your Nose, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv. Curator: Meira Yagid-Haimovici
2005 Animality, Maison & Objet, Paris
2005 Promisedesign, The Triennale, Milan; DESIGNMAI, Berlin TalentZone, Copenhagen
2005 Phenomenology, Salone del Mobile, Milan; New Central Bus Station, Tel Aviv. Curator: Ezri Tarazi
2004 Beyond the Functional; Periscope Gallery, Tel Aviv. Curator: Ezri Tarazi
Selected Publications
– 2018 “Tomer Sapir – Research for the Full Crypto-Taxidermical Index”, an artist book that summarizes my body of work from the past decade, including texts by curators Tami Katz-Freiman, Tali Tamir and Avi Lubin
– 2018 Haaretz, Culture & Literature supplement, Uzi Tsur, 12.1.18 / Something’s Happened to Us, Father
– 2018 Calalist, Yediot Aharonot, Anat Barzilai 1.1.18 / Something’s Happened to Us, Father
– 2017 Portfolio magazine, Hagit Peleg Rotem, 21.12.17 / Something’s Happened to Us, Father
– 2016 Double spread interview in Sculpture Magazine (of the ISC), March 2016
– 2016 Ministry of Information, Exhibition catalog (pdf verssion), Beit Hankin Museum
– 2016 Bodies, The Window, critic by Smadar Sheffi (the English version is below)
– 2015 The Agricultural Exhibition, catalogue, Petach Tikva Museum of Art
– 2015 7 Leilot, Yediot Aharonot, Dana Gillerman 1.5.15 / Mother of All Wheat
– 2015 Interview for IBA, National TV, 30.5.15 / Mother of All Wheat
– 2014 Dark times, catalogue, The Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery, Tel Aviv University
– 2014 JOKOPOST.COM, Hanna Korpel 29.12.14 / Dark Times
– 2014 Globs art section, Hagit Peleg Rotem, 17.12.14 / Dark Times
– 2014 DailyServing, Amelia Rina, 17.7. 14 / The Hidden Passengers at apexart
– 2014 Collecting Dust, catalogue, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
– 2013 WINNERS 2012 (The Culture and Sport Ministry Awards for Art), catalogue, Ashdod Art Museum
– 2013 Preserved, 15.2.13 / Research for the Full Crypto-Taxidermical Index
– 2012 Unnatural, catalogue, Bass Museum of Art, Miami
– 2012 Intersections: Science in Contemporary Art, catalogue, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot
– 2012 The Jerusalem Post, Art section, Graham Lawson, 26.10.12 / Cabinets Cabinets of Wonder exhibition
– 2012 Haaretz, Culture & Literature supplement, Uzi Tsur, 11.10.12 / Cabinets of Wonder
– 2012 Midnight East, Angela Levine, 13.9.12 / Cabinets of Wonder in Contemporary Art exhibition
– 2012 Guernica Magazine of Art and Politics, Helen Bartley, Aug 2012 / interview
– 2012 NY Arts magazine, Avi Lubin, June 2012 / Terra Incognita exhibition
– 2010 NY Arts magazine, fall issue 2010 / double spread – Research for the Full Crypto-Taxidermical Index, 2010
– 2010 NY Arts magazine, fall issue, 2010 (web version) / Crypto-Taxidermical Index, 2010
– 2010 City Mouse Tel-Aviv, Art section, Nurit Tal-Tenne, 2.12.2010 / The Alchemists exhibition
– 2010 Haaretz, Culture & Literature supplement, Uzi Tsur, 19.11.2010 / Re-Location exhibition
– 2010 Time Out, Art section, Galia Yahav, 18.11.2010 / The Alchemists exhibition
– 2010 Haaretz, Culture & Literature supplement, Uzi Tsur, 23.7.2010 / Grandfather Paradox exhibition
– 2010 Midnight East, 1.3.2010 / Shelf Life, Haifa Museum of Art
– 2010 Shelf Life, Haifa Museum of Art, catalogue, Haifa
– 2009 Maarav, June 2009 / The Visit, M.F.A graduate show, Bezalel
– 2008 Picnic, September 2008
– 2008 Comfort, Chinese Magazine, July 2008
– 2007 Prostheses, catalogue, Periscope Gallery, Tel Aviv, 2007
– 2007 City Mouse Tel-Aviv, March 2007 / Art section / Interview on the occasion of Prostheses exhibition
– 2007 Glleria, Haaretz, February 2007 / Prostheses exhibition
– 2007 Dream Makers, catalogue, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 2007
– 2007 Walla, an Israeli Internet magazine, Interview for the art column “Ha’oman 17”, January 2007
– 2006 IN FRONT OF YOUR NOSE, catalogue, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2006
Chelouche Gallery is one of the most prominent and leading galleries in Israel. Located in Tel Aviv, Chelouche Gallery maintains its primacy by presenting a large variety of works, ranging from video art to sculpture, painting, installation and photography. Since its inception, the gallery has been promoting an international and local exhibition program, in collaboration with curators and artists from Israel and around the world, placing itself one step ahead in the Israeli contemporary art scene.
Monday-Thursday: 11:00-18:00
Friday: 11:00-14:00
Saturday: 11:00-14:00