Adi Nes

Adi Nes was born in Kiryat Gat. His parents are Jewish immigrants from Iran.[1] He is openly gay.[2]

Nes is notable for series "Soldiers", in which he mixes masculinity and homoerotic sexuality, depicting Israeli soldiers in a fragile way.[3] In 2003 he did a feature for Vogue Hommes. Nes has given solo exhibitions at the Wexner Center for the Arts, Legion of Honor in San Francisco, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, and the Melkweg Gallery in Amsterdam, among others. His work has also shown in group exhibitions at the Hotel de Sully in Paris, Haifa Museum of Art and the Jewish Museum in New York, among many others.[4] He has been reviewed in The New York Times, the Financial Times, and others.[5] In 2005 Nes was chosen as an outstanding artist of the prestigious Israel Cultural Excellence Foundation.

Nes' most famous piece recalls Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, * replacing the characters with young male Israeli soldiers. A print sold at auction in Sotheby's for $102,000 in 2005,[6] and another for $264,000 in 2007.[7] The work appeared on the front page of The New York Times in May, 2008.[8]

Nes' early work has been characterized as subverting the stereotype of the masculine Israeli man by using homoeroticism and sleeping, vulnerable figures.[9] He regularly uses dark-skinned Israeli models.[10] The models' poses often evoke the Baroque period. Nes has said that the inspiration for his photography is partially autobiographical:

My staged photographs are oversized and often recall well-known scenes from Art History and Western Civilization combined with personal experiences based on my life as a gay youth growing up in a small town on the periphery of Israeli society.

— Adi Nes[11]

Nes lives and works in Tel Aviv. His work is currently sold through Jack Shainman Gallery in New York City and Praz-Delavallade in Paris and Los Angeles. In January 2007, he premiered a new series echoing Biblical stories.[12]

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  Untitled, from series "Soldiers", 90 x 90 / 140 x 140 cm., 1995.
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  Untitled, from series "Soldiers", 90 x 90 / 140 x 140 cm., 1996.
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  Untitled, from series "Soldiers", 90 x 90 / 140 x 140 cm., 1998.
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  Untitled, from series "Soldiers", 90 x 148 / 185 x 235, 1999.
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  Untitled, from series "Boys", 100 x 100 / 140 x 140 cm., 2000.
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  Untitled, from series "Boys", 100 x 100 / 140 x 140 cm., 2000.
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  Untitled, from series "Boys", 100 x 100 / 140 x 140 cm., 2000.
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  Untitled, from series "Prisoners", 60 x 82 / 90 x 123 cm., 2003.
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  Untitled (Abraham and Isaac), from series "Biblical Stories", 100 x 100 / 140 x 140 cm., 2004.
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  Untitled (Joseph), from series "Biblical Stories", 100 x 100 / 140 x 140 cm., 2004.

• 1989-1992 Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem, photography

• 1993 Ministry of Education Council for Prize for Completion of Work, Ministry of Culture and Education
• 1993 Sandra Jacobs Scholarship for Documentary in London
• 1999 The Minister of Education, Culture and Sport Prize, The Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport
• 2000 Nathan Gottesdiener Foundation, The Israeli Art Prize, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv
• 2003 The Constantiner Photographer Award for an Israeli Artist, Tel Aviv Museum of Art
• 2005 The Fund for Excellence in Fine Arts

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Adi Nes.

• Adi Nes - Artist page at the Sommer Contemporary Art Gallery Website
• Nes' Vogue Hommes (Prisoners) series
• Adi Nes Biblical Stories by Bill Horrigan, Wexner Center for the Arts
• Monograph from Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego
• An Interview with Adi Nes by Jess T. Dugan, Big Red & Shiny[13]