Shai Azoulay

SHAI AZOULAY

Shai Azoulay

Living as a Pilgrim, 2019, Oil on canvas, 45 x 60cm

I had Caspar David Friedrich’s famous painting of the Romantic period, "Wanderer above the Sea of Fog", in mind while creating this work. Abraham, standing high on a hill, is looking out at the land through which he will be journeying. So much seems to be like a mirage, where there is promise, but the vision is foggy; not everything is clear. The only way forward is to simply believe, a concept that cannot exist only in the mind, but beyond it. As a pilgrim, Abraham has to journey out in faith, forging ahead, knowing that he will need others along the way.

Shai Azoulay

Welcoming the Stranger, 2019, Oil on canvas, 45 x 60cm

I have painted three scenes in one work, wanting to create a dynamic sense of the encounter of Abraham’s historic welcome of three strangers in the desert. I did not want to put all the emphasis on just one point of meeting, because welcoming “the stranger” is an ongoing act of embracing the other.

Shai Azoulay

Sacrificial Love, 2019, Oil on canvas, 45 x 60cm

In this work about Abraham’s sacrificial love for God and others, I show the patriarch Abraham on a flying carpet observing a large circle dance whose participants illustrate the diversity of our world. Circle dancing is very much part of Jewish culture. For me the circle represents something that connects people from all backgrounds and breaks down all walls. In a circle we become one.

Shai Azoulay

The Compassionate, 2019, Oil on canvas, 45 x 60cm

I portray Abraham, who was a Seer, with a “thought bubble,” visualizing those suffering in Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham was known throughout his lifetime as a compassionate person, knowing that God is a God of mercy.

Shai Azoulay

Friend of God, 2019, Oil on canvas, 45 x 60cm

My painting is a metaphor of a famous blessing that says, “When you open your hands to all, everything you need comes to you.” Above Abraham’s hands, I have painted floating figures, like angels, symbolizing God’s blessing on those who are generous in spirit toward all.

Shai Azoulay studied at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, where he received both his BFA and MFA. In his paintings, Shai creates a narrative abundant with figures and scenes that radiate human warmth, compassion and slight irony. His work ranges between drawing and painting, between the sophisticated and the naïve, and between the omnipotent to the limited. As such, the work addresses the two conflicting worlds found in the mind of the contemporary painter – the classic, iconic, romantic and spiritual world, on one side, and the modern, moonstruck and saturated world on the other. Azoulay has held numerous solo exhibitions and has exhibited in the Tel Aviv Museum, Frieze Art Far, and around the world, from Tokyo to Rome, Paris and New York. He is the recipient of the "Morasha" Award from the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and The Moses Prize from the Jerusalem Artist House. His works are in renowned collections around the world. Shai is from the Jewish faith tradition.

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