Adi Nes

Adi Nes (; born 1966) is an Israeli photographer. He has had solo exhibitions at Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio and the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.

Life and career Adi Nes was born in Kiryat Gat. His parents are Jewish immigrants from Iran. He is openly gay. Nes studied photography at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem in 1989 to 1992.

Nes' series "Soldiers" mixes masculinity and homoerotic sexuality, depicting Israeli soldiers in a fragile way.

Nes' "The Last Supper" recalls Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, replacing the characters with young male Israeli soldiers. A print sold at auction in Sotheby's for $102,000 in 2005, and another for $264,000 in 2007.

Nes' early work has been characterized as subverting the stereotype of the masculine Israeli man by using homoeroticism and sleeping, vulnerable figures. He regularly uses dark-skinned Israeli models. The models' poses often evoke the Baroque period. Nes has said that the inspiration for his photography is partially autobiographical:

Nes lives and works in a small town at the north of Tel Aviv, he and his partner have four surrogate children. His work is currently sold through Jack Shainman Gallery in New York City and Praz-Delavallade in Paris and Los Angeles. In January 2007, he premiered a new series echoing Biblical stories.

Solo exhibitions Between Promise and Possibility: The Photographs of Adi Nes, Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 2004 1993: Ministry of Education Council for Prize for Completion of Work, Ministry of Culture and Education 1999: The Minister of Education, Culture and Sport Prize, The Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport 2000: Nathan Gottesdiener Foundation, The Israeli Art Prize, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv 2003: The Constantiner Photographer Award for an Israeli Artist, Tel Aviv Museum of Art 2005: Chosen as an outstanding artist of the Israel Cultural Excellence Foundation. 2013: Culture & Sport Minister's Prize for Artists in the Visual Arts

Gallery

From the Series "The Village" by Nes: