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Moshe Gershuni, Israeli, 1936-2017.

Moshe Gershuni was born in Tel Aviv. In his work, particularly in the 1980s, he expressed a point of view that diverged from the establishment position, especially with regard to Jewish sources, homo-eroticism and remembrance of the Holocaust. He was declared the winner of the Israel Prize for painting in 2003, but in the end was disqualified from receiving it.
In the 1970s, Gershuni created sculptures and installations influenced by the minimalistic and conceptual art then popular in the United States and Europe. Other works touched upon political issues and dealt with bodily functions.
In the 1980s, Gershuni changed his style, incorporating a mixture of texts from Jewish sources, references to the Holocaust, and references to Zionism (mostly military), along with homo-erotic personal references. He combined an expressive use of color with scribbles, paint drips, paint smeared by his fingers, and quotations from poetry and prayer.

Among his well-known works from this period are "Hai Cyclamen" (1984), a series of prints, "Kaddish" (1984), and a series of paintings, "In the Mirror and in Riddles" (1986).

In the 1990s images from the iconography of death, such as funeral wreaths or images of eyes, began to appear in his paintings. His late works include abstract expressive paintings which use thick layers of paint in an attempt, in Gershuni's words, to produce a "transparent screen of shadows that come from the black place."

Education

1950's Studied with Morris Mekomiim, Herzliyah
1960-1964 - Avni Institute, Tel Aviv, Sculpture

Teaching

1971-77 Bezalel Academy of Art & Design, Jerusalem
1978-86 Art Teachers College, Ramat Hasharon

Awards And Prizes

1969 Aika Braun Prize for a Young Artist, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1980-81, Otot, First Prize, Posters, Five first Otot prizes from various commercial companies
1982 Sandberg Prize for Israeli Art, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1988 Enrico Kevlin Grant for Photography, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1988 Prize for a Young Artist, for Art and Sculpture, Ministry of Education and Culture
1989 Eugene Kolb Prize for Israeli Graphic Arts, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv
1994 Sussman Prize for Artists Depicting the Holocaust, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem
1995 The Mendel and Eva Pundik Foundation Prize for an Israeli Artist, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv
2000 George and Janet Jaffin Prize for Excellence in Plastic Arts, America-Israel Cultural Foundation
2003 Israel Prize- cancelled - refused to participate in awards ceremony
2003 Honorary Member of the LGBT community for his contribution to culture
2006 Yakir Bezalel, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Israel
2013 Honorary Doctoral Degree, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem