Shaul Knaz

Shaul Knaz was born in 1939 in Kibbutz Gan Shmuel, Israel, where he has been living for all of his life. Knaz describes his as a social art. Self-taught artist, formerly an illustrator and graphic designer, Knatz observes the situations in his country, in the kibbutz. He cares about the people desire, their quest for love, freedom, joy, peace.

His works are saturated with signs and images; reading his opera is like scrolling through a text where the memories of his life and the territory that surrounds him emerge. Men and women are the absolute protagonists of his works which represent the human search for sociality together with the difficulty of sustaining relationships. Knaz exposes a personal vision of the reality that surrounds him, in a difficult country such as Israel, subjected to daily social and political tensions.

The central theme of his work is the difficult relationship between people, the sense of alienation that opposes the individual with modern society that tends to suffocate his essence, his humanity. In his paintings, the subjects that make up the whole are randomly assembled, often repeated or overturned on a space that denies perspective.

Selected exhibitions

2023 – “Life happens!”, Musée Visionnaire, Zürich

2022 – Unfair, represented by Maroncelli 12 Gallery, Milan

2021 – “Vedi tu quello che vedo io?”, Maroncelli 12 Gallery, Milan

2019 – Affordable Art Fair, represented by Maroncelli 12 Gallery, Milan

2017 – “Letter to Tanks”, The Petach Tikva Museum of Art, Petach-Tikva, Israel

2016 – “Mehrdad Rashidi – Shaul Knaz. The Long Future”, Collezione Fabio e Leo Cei, Casale Monferrato, Italy

2015-’16 – “Design for a dream …”, Solo exhibition, Gugging Gallery, Wien, Austria

2013 – Solo exhibition,  Ermanno Tedeschi Gallery, Rome, Italy

2012 – “The world of Saul Knaz. Letters from Israel”, solo exhibition curated by Hila Fishman, The Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat Gan, Israel

2010 – Solo exhibition, Gan Shmuel Gallery, Israel

1996 – Solo exhibition, Migdal Gallery, Tel Aviv

1993 – Solo exhibition, Hatzer HaMoshava, Hadera, Israel

1985 – Solo exhibition, Metzuda Gallery, Caesarea, Israel

1984 – Solo exhibition, Gallery Tzavta, Tel Aviv, Israel