BERLIN.- The Kurt M黨lenhaupt Museum in Berlin Kreuzberg will present the exhibition ‘Daily Magic’, which showcases a dialogue between two artists. The Israeli-born Berlin-based painter Amnon David Ar and the Berliner artist Kurt M黨lenhaupt belong to different generations and worlds, yet share the same fundamental artistic approach: an unvarnished, respectful view of human life in all its mundane detail.
Amnon David Ar’s works, created through observation, are characterised by a surreal hyperrealism that deliberately draws the viewer’s gaze to the fringes of our awareness. The exhibition title ‘Daily Magic’ refers to Ar’s search for the sensuality and poetry of the everyday, the beauty of light and matter, the passing of time, and the personal relationship we have with our surroundings. Through playful works such as ‘Raven’ (an umbrella), ‘Ant Eater’ (a vacuum cleaner), ‘Bouquet’ (a rubbish bin), as well as depictions of toys, chairs and medical equipment, Ar not only depicts the world but also humorously imbues the often-overlooked with a critical-political dimension.
Kurt M黨lenhaupt painted 20th-century Berlin with a similar sincere approach. Through a genuine artistic encounter, M黨lenhaupt’s work – and the museum of the same name in Berlin-Kreuzberg – becomes a historical space of resonance for Amnon David Ar’s art. Together with Hannelore M黨lenhaupt, the painter’s widow, Ar selected his paintings, which are divided into several groups: allegorical figure paintings, depictions of animals and plants, domestic still lifes and intimate pencil drawings. A room dedicated to scenes from childhood and toys echoes M黨lenhaupt’s na飗e graphic works, creating a dialogue between the imaginative and deeply personal visual worlds of the two artists.
AMNON DAVID AR was born in Israel in 1973 and began his professional career at the age of 17 as an illustrator and cartoonist for various newspapers in Israel. After just one year at the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem, he forged his own artistic path. Ar has been awarded first prize in the See Me competition in New York, the Haim Shiff Prize from the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and third prize in the Australian Boynes Artist Award in Melbourne. He has exhibited internationally in museums and galleries, including the Museu Europeu d’Art Modern in Barcelona, the Tel Aviv Museum, the Armory Show and the Forum Gallery in New York, as well as NordArt in B黡elsdorf. His works have been featured in publications by renowned publishers such as Thames & Hudson and Hirmer Verlag, and are held in major collections including that of Len Blavatnik, the Tel Aviv Museum, the St. Matth鋟s Foundation and others. Ar has been living and working in Berlin since 2013.
As a long-standing peace activist, Ar, together with his partner, the concert pianist Yehuda Inbar, as well as other artists and academics, is a co-founder of Responses Culture Society e.V., a Berlin-based non-profit organisation that promotes interdisciplinary art and the values of democracy, social equality and peace. Through concerts and cultural events, the organisation has raised funds for Israeli and Palestinian humanitarian and peace organisations.
