Department of Visual Communication
המחלקה לתקשורת חזותית
قسم التواصل البصري
Graphic designer, creator and head of Bezalel’s undergraduate Department of Visual Communication. Specializes in complex systems design, typography, book design, and branding for public, cultural, arts, and architectural institutions. Founding partner of Studio Gimmel 2, which has been operating in the local and international design field for over a decade and a half. Recipient of several awards, including the DAM Best Architectural Book Award, Tokyo TDC, and the Ministry of Culture Design Prize. Holds a B.Des. in Visual Communication from Bezalel and is pursuing a Master’s degree in the Program in Gender Studies at Bar Ilan University.
Studied in the Graphic Design Department at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem between 1986-1990. After graduation, began working at David Tartakover’s studio, designing the signage system at the Suzan Dallal Center in Tel Aviv and a relief at the arrivals hall in Ben Gurion Airport, Terminal 2 and more. Later accepted as a major designer at Phillipe Bulakia’s branding studio. Managed the design of branding and packaging design of prominent brands in Israel. In 1998 became a lecturer at Bezalel and opened his independent studio the same year. Among the studio’s clients: Yediot-Sfraim Publishing, The Israel Democracy Institute, Bez-Zvi Institute, Spielman Photography Center and more. As a freelance designed books, guides and informational signage system for six shared heritage sites in Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Israel, declared by UNESCO. Designed the book: “A Promise of Peace: The Jordan River Peace Park” that was granted to the king of Jordan, Hussain. Commissioned by Niv Kasher’s studio as a typographic counselor for the way-finding signage system in the renovated Culture-Hall in Tel Aviv. Designed catalogues for artist as: Roni Ben-Ari, Mosh Kashi, Yael Atzmoni, Faride Golbahar and more. Curated the graduate’s exhibition of the Graphic Design Department at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in 2008, and designed catalogue of works for the Glass and Ceramic design Department at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design For the academy’s centenary. From 2012 researches the well-established Hebrew letter designer Zvi Narkiss, expected to be publishes during 2021 as a book.
Gaston Zvi Ickowicz born in 1974, Buenos Aires, immigrated to Israel in 1980.
Through Video and Photography His works center on the interaction between people and landscape in a socio-political context.
Ickowicz graduated with honors Photography Studies at Musrara School of Photography (2000), and Advanced Arts Studies in the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design (2009).
He has had solo and group shows in Israel and abroad in Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art (2008); The Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv(2016); Hezi Cohen Gallery, Tel Aviv (2015); Tel Aviv Museum of Art (2011); the MACRO, Rome (2013); the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (2013); and more.
Ickowicz has received numerous awards and prizes, including the The Lauren & Mitchell Presser Contemporary Art Grant (2018), the Gerard Levi Young Photographer's Prize from the Israel Museum (2008) and the Young Artist Award from the Israeli Ministry of Culture (2010).
In 2018, Ickowicz participated in an artist residency program at Cite International des Arts in Paris, during which he presented a solo exhibition. Ickowicz is a lecturer in photography at the Bezalel Visual Communication department, Seminar Hakibutzim and the Maale film school.
