Yaacov Agam
BIOGRAPHY
Agam was born in Rishon LeZion, Palestine (Israel) in 1928 to a religious family. He was trained at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem before moving to Zurich, Switzerland in 1949. In Zurich he studied under Johannes Itten at the Kunstgewerbeschule and was also influenced by the painter and sculptor Max Bill. In1951 Agam moved to Paris, France where he still lives. He has a daughter and two sons. Agam established himself as one of the leading pioneers of kinetic art as early as 1955. His artistic credo published in 1964 hasn’t changed since. Agam states: “My intention was to create a work of art which would transcend the visible… with the understanding that it is a partial revelation and not the perpetuation of the existing”. Agam’s work is usually abstract kinetic art, with movement, viewer participation and frequent use of light and sound. His works are placed in many public places around the world. Among his most famous public art installations in Israel is the water fountain in Dizingoff Square, Tel Aviv which provoked a vigorous public discussion. He is one of the highest selling Israeli artists.
In 2010 he sold a piece which was exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York at a record breaking sum of $698,000.
A Yaacov Agam Museum opened in Rishon LeZion, Israel in 2017.
Solo exhibitions
2013
The Unexpected – Time in Art, Bruno Art Group, Singapore
Beyond the Invisibale, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan
2012
Interactive computer touch screen research
2011
Construction oft he Agam Museum, Rishon LeZion, Israel
Design of 3 new buildingd at the Ne´eman Tower, Tel Aviv, Israel
2010
Design of the façade of the Building for the Shui-Yuan Market in Taipei
including a polymorph of 14×14 meter on the main façade
2009
Monumental Art Work for the new stadium for world games at
Kaohsiung, Taiwan
2007
Agam initiated a project for a monumental environmental sculpture in
Las Vegas, USA
2004
Agam realized the façade design for 3 large KODAK buildings in
Prague, Czech Republic
2003
Agam realized the façade of a group of buildings called Migdalei
Ne’eman, in north Tel Aviv, considered as the greatest inhabited
colored sculpture buildings of the world
2002
Memorial for the Holocaust, New Orleans, USA
2001
Design of the synagogue in New York, USA
2000
Memorial for the new Jewish Community Centre building in Buenos
Aries, Argentina
1997
Fundación Arte y Tecnologia, Madrid, Spain
1996
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aries, Argentina
Yaacov Agam received the Amos Comenius Medal from UNESCO for
his innovative methods in teaching
1995
Multi Dimensional Art, Philharmonic Center fort he Arts in Naples
(Florida)
1989-90
Retrospective exhibition in Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo, in the Daimazu
Museum of Osaka and in the Kawasaki City Museum, Japan
1988
Multi Dimensional Works, Galerie Denis René, Paris, France
1987
Kahala Fine Art Gallery, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
1986
Image à Mémoire Dynamique, FIAC exhibit, Paris, France
Los Angeles Art Fair, Los Angeles, USA
1985
Circle Gallery, San Diego, USA
Retrospective exhibition, Queen’s Quay Terminal, Toronto, Canada
1984
Retrospective exhibition, Park West Galleries, Michigan, USA
From the 2nd, to the 3rd into the 4th Dimension, Clayton Art Gallery, St.
Louis, USA
Laurence Ross Galleries, Beverly Hills, USA
1983
Circle Gallery, Chicago, USA
1982
Circle Gallery, Pittsburg, USA
1980
Queensland, Australia
Liatowitsch Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
1979
Kolding Kunstforening, Denmark
New Castle Regional Art Gallery, Australia
Harcourts Gallery, San Francisco, USA
1978
J. Richard Gallery, Englewood, New Jersey, USA
R.E.S Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
Electric Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Nahan Art Gallery, New- Orleans, USA
1977
The Museum of Pretoria, South Africa
National Museum of Art, Capetown, South Africa
Janus Gallery, Wahington D.C., USA
1976
Museum of Modern Art, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico
1975
Agam Selected Suits, the Jewish Museum, New York, USA
1974
Hook- Epstein Gallery, Houston, USA
Video- Art exhibition, Galerie Attali, Paris, France
1973
Maison de la Culture, Bourges, Belgium
Retrospective exhibition, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris, France
1972
Graphic Works, Galerie Denis René, Paris, France
1971
Galerie Denis René, Paris, France
1966
Marlborough- Gerson Gallery, New York, USA
1962
Galerie Suzanne Bollage, Zurich, Switzerland
1959
Darian Gallery, London, Great Britain
1959
Galerie Suzanne Bollage, Zurich, Switzerland
1958
Galerie Aujourd’hui, Paris, France
1956
Agam, Soto, abner, Galerie Denis René, Paris, France
1953
Galerie Craven, Paris, France
Group Exhibitions
1988
3rd International Shoebox Sculpture Exhibition, Taiwan
1986
Trend in Geometric Abstract Art, Tel Aviv Museum, Israel
1982
Le Totem, Musée de l’Homme, Paris, France
1979
Meissner Editions, Art Center, Hong Kong
1976
Grand et Jeunes d’aujourd’hui, Grand Palais, Paris, France
1972
72 Douze ans d’Art contemporain en France, Grand Palais, Paris, France
1971
25 Ans de peinture en France, 1945- 1970, National Museum, Seoul
Art & Science, Tel Aviv Museum, Israel
1970
First prize in the international festival of painting, Cagnes-sur- Mer, France
1969
Agam, Lifschitz, Zaritsky: Three Israeli Artists, Whitechapel Art Gallery,
London, Great Britain