Yam Shalev

Born in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1996, Berlin-based artist Yam Shalev’s body of works is primarily inspired by his surroundings and the people around him. Regarding himself being more of an observer rather than a participator, Shalev finds comfort in documenting his surroundings and transferring emotional situations onto the canvas.

Shifting away from his usual hyper-realistic style of making art, the artist sought to return to his roots of painting with acrylic. Employing a technique of loose and precise brush strokes, Shalev creates a layer of depth in his works that is a semblance of the weight of his experiences.

As though changing along with the seasons, we see Shalev’s introspective nature and state of mind through ripe fruits, a plenitude of food and the opulence of colours. Visually vibrant in nature, his work also elicits a sense of mysteriousness about the narrations that run beyond the borders of his paintings. Painting in a way that only gives us fragments of a version of the bigger picture, Shalev teases our imagination to leave us with room for inserting our own stories. Although devoid of human presence, the juxtaposing tones and layers in his canvases beams of life.

Yam Shalev’s works have been exhibited across Germany and the United States. Italy, Spain, Belgium, France, and Singapore among others.