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