Bezalel Graduates are Winners of the Ministry of Culture Prizes in the Field of Art

Bezalel graduates and faculty are the winners of the Ministry of Culture prizes in the field of art.

The prizes, which express the respect and gratitude of Israeli society for creative artists and their work, are awarded in four categories: Lifetime Achievement, Creators in the Field of Design, Young Artist, and to Encourage Creativity.

The Lifetime Achievement prize was awarded to multidisciplinary artist Motti Mizrachi, a graduate of the Department of Fine Arts, where he was also a lecturer. Among the reasons for his selection: “Motti Mizrachi is among the most senior Israeli artists, who manages, also, to be a unique and different voice in the field. From the 1970s until today, in a rich portfolio whose relevance has withstood the test of time, Mizrachi has brought to the field of Israeli art an innovative, radical presence and a piercing personal perspective that has influenced the entire field in an extraordinary way. His work has dealt with national, social and cultural issues, but no less with personal processes of individual vulnerability, suffering and healing in society. Throughout his career, Mizrachi used the figure of the changing hero and through it shaped a complex Israeli identity. His enormous contribution to the field is also evident in the representation of the diversity of body types, physical abilities and normalization of the disabled body within the Israeli art field".

The Prize for Creators in the Fields of Design was awarded to designers Yoav Perry and Dan Ozeri, graduates and lecturers in the Department of Visual Communication. Among the reasons for their selection: “Yoav Perry and Dan Ozeri present a rich and diverse body of work that stands out for its high visual and professional qualities. The creative pair succeeds in expressing the essence and spirit of the various projects, while eloquently, sophisticatedly and sensitively corresponding with the cultural contexts in each. The diverse choices of the design language in their works enhance the messages, while maintaining a mature, restrained and balanced editing. Perry’s and Ozeri’s mastery of a wide range of relevant professional fields— photography, typography, font design, video, motion graphics and animation—is impressive, exceptionally creative, and characterized by an extraordinary attention to detail".

The Prize for Young Artist was awarded to artists Ron Asulin, Mor Afgin, Niv Fridman and Itamar Stamler, graduates of the Department of Fine Arts; artists Yakira Ament and Uri Weinstein, graduates of the Department of Fine Arts and the Master’s Program in Fine Arts; and artist Karam Natour, a graduate of the Department of Screen-Based Arts and the Master’s Program in Fine Arts.

Ron Asulin, from the reasons for the selection: “Ron Asulin engages in sculpture and installation using ready-made items he finds on the street or purchases in second-hand stores. He has developed a personal language in the sculptural medium using found objects that have a past, which he disassembles and reassembles, and gives new meaning. Ron Asulin’s sculptures and installations deal with issues of displacement, detachment and loss of meaning and the search for new anchors.”

Mor Afgin, from the reasons for the selection: “Mor Afgin is one of the original young artists working in the local art field, and the winner of various scholarships and awards. Afgin examines the connections between humans and technology, the poetic, political and philosophical arrays operating behind what is visible to the eye, and the melding of technology into biology. His work challenges questions of religion and morality, and moves between redemption and catastrophe, using manipulations of nature and exploiting technological mechanisms in a way that mixes facts, conspiracies, myths and falsehoods".

Niv Fridman, from the committee’s reasons: “Niv Friedman deals with the connection between forgotten Israeli-Middle Eastern history and local myths and legends. His works are accompanied by in-depth archival research that includes many referents and brilliant meticulous pseudo-realistic execution. His artistic practice weaves imaginary stories, exposing disguised queer motifs. In this way, Fridman examines questions about the heterosexual perspective and power structures—national, social, sexual and gender identity—that shape our lives. Fridman’s deceptive acts of disguise seek to challenge the dominant perception of reality while raising issues of authenticity and dissimulation, center and periphery, myth and reality.”

Itamar Stamler, from the reasons for the selection: “Itamar Stamler’s work spans a wide range of media, such as computer animation, VR environments, sculpture in iron, ceramic or silicone, and airbrush painting. His work, which moves between humor and pain, violence and passion, intimacy and alienation, manages to create an experience that is simultaneously disturbing and poetic. By turning to spaces such as elevators, saunas, inflatable apparatuses and gay club darkrooms, and using utilities such as a lift for the disabled or a breeding facility for purebred dogs, Stamler creates physical experiences and deals with issues such as toxic masculinity, sexuality and control".

Yakira Ament, from the reasons for the selection: “Yakira Ament is a multidisciplinary artist who engages in drawing, painting, sculpture and movement. Yakira has developed a personal language that reveals the tension between intimate personal experience, and universal, timeless experience, which she manifests in her drawings, paintings and sculptures. The works touch on surrealist fantasy, with dreams the creative raw material for the motifs from the worlds of nature and spirit represented in her works".

Uri Weinstein, from the reasons for the selection: “Uri Weinstein focuses on sculpture, installation, theater and sound. He has managed to develop a personal and original language in his use of readymade without hiding their origin, turning them into actors in the artistic performance. Uri often uses various types of speakers as the basis for his melancholic and humorous scenes. Based on familiar musical and literary and theatrical works, he manages to distill parts from these materials and give them new and relevant contexts for the times".

Karam Natour, from the reasons for the selection: “Karam Natour, born in Nazareth, is one of the most prominent artists of the younger generation. His field of activity ranges from video to drawing and installation. His work has been exhibited in many museums, galleries and festivals in Israel and around the world. In his work, Natour examines the construction of identity and the influence of family, social, cultural, national and gender structures. Using humor and irony, Christian iconography, mysticism, art historical references, and scenes starring family members, he raises question about language’s dual role as bridge and barrier.”

The Prize to Encourage Creativity was awarded  to artists Reut Asimini, Michal Baror, Efrat Klipshtein and Rachel Kopilovitch Rabinovitch, graduates of the Department of Fine Arts; artist Eshchar Hanoch Klienbiel, graduate of the Department of Fine Arts and the Master’s Program in Fine Arts; and photographer Mati (Mordechai) Elmaliah Arad, graduate of the Master’s Program in Fine Arts; and artist Yuval Atzili, graduate of the Department of Photography and the Master’s Program in Fine Arts.