Agam Yaacov (b. 1928) is an Israeli visual artist best known as a representative of kinetic art. From 1946 to 1949 he studied fine arts at the Jerusalem Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design with Mordecai Ardon, a Bauhaus student, and from 1949 with Johannes Itten, a former Bauhaus teacher. He also took inspiration from aesthetic and mathematical theories Max Bills and the concrete-constructive art movement that emerged in the first half of the 20th century. In 1951 he went to Paris, where he still lives today.
Agam became interested in kinetic elements as early as the 1950s. He works with various media, which he combines to form a total work of art: sound, light and water elements are used. Sound and tactile images are designed to change when touched. His most important material is acrylic, whose transparency to light and color opens up new creative possibilities. In his work, you can see the constant search for possible connections between art and technology, between form and colour. His relief-like images are based on Op Art. He often presupposes a moving viewer, whom he thus makes a “co-creator” of his artworks. Finally, he is also known for his public sculptures, located in New York, Chicago, Paris, Strasbourg and Taiwan.
Exhibitions (selection)
2015 Galeria Z, Bratislava
2014 Leopold Hoesch Museum, Düren
Museum Tinguely, Basel
2013 National Gallery of the Grand Palais, Paris
Boghossian Foundation, Brussels
2012 Museum Ritter, Waldenbuch
2011 Kunsthalle Messmer, Riegel am Kaiserstuhl
2007 Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid
2006 Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa
Kunsthalle Würth, Schwäbisch Hall
2004 ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe
2001 Gallery Denise René – Rive Gauche, Paris
1990 Kanagawa Prefectural Gallery, Kanagawa
1986 Musée d’art contemporain de Montreal, Montreal, QC
1981 Tamayo Museum, Mexico City
1970 First prize at the Festival International de la painting Cagnes-sur-Mer
1968 Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
1965 MoMA – Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
1964 Participation in the documenta III in Kassel
1963 Prize for Research in Art, Biennale Sao Paulo
1963 House at Lützowplatz, Berlin
1955 Participated in the first international exhibition of kinetic art at the Denise René Gallery, Paris
1953 Craven Gallery, Paris
1950 Denise René Gallery – Rive Gauche, Paris