Avner Sher

Avner Sher (; born 1951) is an Israeli architect and artist.

Biography Avner Sher was born in the Wadi Salib neighborhood of Haifa, and raised in Kiryat Eliezer and Kiryat Eliyahu. His parents were Holocaust survivors. Sher was an only child. His mother died of cancer when he was 14 years old. In elementary school, he drew cartoons for his school newspaper. From the age of 6 he studied piano at Beit Hagefen in Haifa. A rock band he organized with friends performed the opening act for established musicians, among them Zvika Pik. He began composing at 17, but abandoned music at 22 and decided to become a painter. He completed his studies in architecture at the Technion in Haifa in 1979, graduating with honors. While working as an architect, Sher also learn arts from the University of Haifa.

Art career

In 1999, Sher moved to Tel Aviv and had an experience that changed his life: He stopped at a gas station near Beit Yanai and saw that the restroom walls were covered with graffiti. Common motifs in his work are fish, faces, spirals and images of flora and fauna. Sometimes he incorporates Biblical verses, especially from the Book of Genesis and Psalms. As the son of parents who survived Dachau, Sher grew up in the shadow of the Holocaust and the numbers tattooed on their arms. The tattoo thus became a visual code in his work.

His first important show was in 2002 at Mabat Gallery in Tel Aviv in 2002. Since then, he has had over 20 solo exhibits and has taken part in over 30 group exhibits in Israel and around the world. At the Jerusalem Biennale in 2017, Sher presented his installation “950m2 – Alternative Topographies,” which was displayed at the Tower of David Museum overlooking the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City. Composed of two series, “Maps of Jerusalem” and “Spoila,” the installation explores the idea of “perpetually devolving city space.” At the pan-European art biennale Manifesta 12 in Palermo, Italy, Sher’s installation addresses the issue of migration and refugees making “bold, sometimes ironic use of symbols.”

Selected solo exhibitions 2018 – Bridge Palermo Jerusalem, Palermo, Italy 2017 - 950m2 Alternative Topographies, Tower of David museum, Jerusalem Biennale, Jerusalem 2014 – A Bird on a Wire, Bar David Museum, Kibbutz Bar'am 2014 – Jacob’s Dream, New York 2014 – The Secret, Jaffa Port 2002 – This is His Tattoo, Mabat Gallery, Tel Aviv