Background
Alex Israel was born in 1982, in Los Angeles, California, United States. He is a son of a real estate developer. Alex has two sisters.
2013
7000 Santa Monica blvd., Hollywood, CA, 90038, United States
Israel with his close friend China Chow, host of Bravo's Work of Art, at a 2013 LAXART Ungala event.
700 N Faring Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90077, United States
Alex studied at Harvard-Westlake School.
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, United States
In 2003, Israel received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University.
825 Bloom Walk, Los Angeles, CA 90089, United States
In 2010, Israel received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Southern California’s Roski School of Fine Arts.
From left to right: Bret Easton Ellis and Alex Israel.
Alex Israel with the collector and patron Anita Zabludowicz.
5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, United States
Bettina Korek and Alex Israel attend the LACMA 50th Anniversary Gala, sponsored by Christies at Los Angeles County Museum of Art on April 18, 2015, in Los Angeles, California.
Alex Israel with Robert Pattinson.
("In I Kings: Torn in Two", Alex Israel uncovers the messa...)
"In I Kings: Torn in Two", Alex Israel uncovers the messages, hidden between the lines of the biblical text, and draws rich and indelible portraits of its great personalities. Revealing a narrative of political upheaval, empire building, religious and cultural struggle, national fracture, war and peace, "I Kings: Torn in Two" depicts the titanic clashes between king and prophet and the underlying conflicts, that can split apart a society.
https://www.amazon.com/Kings-Torn-Studies-Tanakh-Maggid/dp/1613290047/?tag=2022091-20
2013
Alex Israel was born in 1982, in Los Angeles, California, United States. He is a son of a real estate developer. Alex has two sisters.
Initially, Alex studied at Harvard-Westlake School. Then, he continued his education at Yale University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2003. Later, in 2010, Israel received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Southern California’s Roski School of Fine Arts.
At the beginning of his career, while still a student of Yale University, Alex served as a part-time intern for the conceptual artist John Baldessari, as well as for Ann Goldstein, who was a curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, at that time. Some time later, he served as an assistant at the gallery Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, before finding a job at Sotheby's in New York City.
In the years that followed, Israel served as an assistant to the artist Jason Rhoades. At the time, when Alex held a post of a salesperson at Hauser & Wirth art gallery, he decided, that selling art wasn't his cup of tea, and went on to receive a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Southern California’s Roski School of Fine Arts.
During the period from July 2011 and February 2012, Alex created a web series, named "As It Lays". For this work, he interviewed thirty-three Los-Angeles celebrities. In the interviews, he asked banal questions in the hope of revealing the true essence of public figures. The group of Israel's interviewees included Rachel Zoe, Oliver Stone, Perez Hilton, Michael Chow, Jamie Lee Curtis and Marilyn Manson. The first thirty "As It Lays" video portraits were shot at Freeway Studios, in the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, California, and on location at various subjects' homes and offices throughout the Greater Los Angeles area. "As It Lays" premiered at Reena Spaulings Fine Art Gallery in New York City, in an exhibition, that was held from March 11 through April 8, 2012. Beginning on March 11, 2012 and over the course of two months, the first thirty individual video portraits were released online. Israel created three additional interviews with surprise guests Laird Hamilton, Molly Ringwald and Melanie Griffith in front of the live audience.
Later, from July 13 till July 15, 2012, the "Easter Island Venice Beach" installation of sculptures was erected in the parks and recreation area of Venice Beach, California, as part of the Hammer Museum’s Venice Beach Biennial. The installation imitated the moai, large, monolithic human figures, carved between 1250 and 1500 A.D. on Easter Island.
Later, between August, 2018 and April, 2019, the thirty-three video portraits, that comprise "As It Lays 2", were shot at Alex Israel’s studio, in Los Angeles. "As It Lays 2" premiered at Greene Naftali Gallery, New York, in an exhibition, organized in conjunction with Reena Spaulings Fine Art. The exhibition opened on April 30, 2019 and ran until June 15, 2019.
Moreover, Alex founded Freeway Eyewear company, which unveiled its initial six sunglass styles in the spring of 2010. The brand was inspired by freeways. The first six styles take their name from freeways, 1– Pacific Coast Highway, 10– Santa Monica Freeway, 15- Interstate 15, 101– El Camino Real, 110– Harbor Freeway and 405– San Diego Freeway, while the seventh, LA Rays, pays tribute to Ray-Ban, a popular eyewear brand.
During his career, Alex took part in numerous group exhibitions, held at different venues, including Kunstverein Braunschweig in Braunschweig, Germany (2005), Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2010), Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, (2014), Galerie Max Hetzler in Berlin (2015), Jewish Museum in New York City (2016) and others.
Beginning in 2010, he also participated in many solo and two-person exhibitions, held at different galleries and museums around the world, including the Roski MFA Gallery in Los Angeles (2010), Carl Kostyál gallery in Stockholm (2013), Gagosian Gallery in Rome (2014), Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art in Oslo (2016) and others.
Also, one of Israel's latest works is his feature-length teen surf film and multi-platform project, called "SPF18" (2017).
Currently, Israel lives and works in Los Angeles.
("In I Kings: Torn in Two", Alex Israel uncovers the messa...)
2013Alex Israel’s practice explores the iconography of his hometown, the Hollywood film industry and the cult of celebrity, embracing its clichés and styles, and posits Los Angeles as central to an understanding of American culture and the American dream. In his paintings, sculptures and installations – including also elements from talk shows and performance art – he conveys, transforms and comments on this city’s mythology and aesthetic. Also, Israel is interested in the ability of mainstream cinema to manipulate its viewer.
Quotations:
"My sunglasses are not my art, it’s just a sunglasses brand, and it’s important for me to be clear about that; that not everything that I do has to be art. I like working in different platforms, I’m interested in various media, sometimes its art and sometimes its not. But when it came down to making my sunglasses it was really important to me that they drove the same vocabulary of references that was inspiring my work. A lot of those things relate to the aesthetics that are very regional in southern California."
"I think L.A. has long held a special place in the collective imagination. Because so many of us have grown up watching television and movies that are filmed in L.A., we have an idea of the city that's tied to televisual and cinematic fantasy."