Yair Garbuz
Israeli artist (1945–2026)
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Yair Garbuz (Hebrew: יאיר גרבוז; 29 September 1945 – 29 April 2026) was an Israeli visual artist, writer, author, humorist and opinion journalist. He was a recipient of the 2004 EMET Prize in painting and was director of the HaMidrasha Art School at Beit Berl College for 12 years.[1][dead link]
Early life and education
Yair Garbuz was born in Givatayim, Mandatory Palestine on September 29, 1945.[2][3][4] His parents were immigrants from Poland.[3][5] His siblings included Aharon Harel, who went on to serve as a member of the Knesset from 1981 to 1988, and Alon Garbuz, the manager of the Tel Aviv Cinematheque.[4]
From 1962 to 1967, while a member of Kibbutz Kfar HaHoresh, he studied painting under Raffi Lavie. He also attended the Avni Institute of Art and Design in Tel Aviv.[4]
Career
From his debut exhibition in 1967,[4] Garbuz's artwork, which included paintings and collage work,[5] appeared in dozens of one-man shows and group exhibitions in Israel and abroad.
In the 1970s Garbuz worked in a variety of media, from installations to artist's books containing political commentary and self-parody. He often referenced other artists and employed visual and verbal jokes. More specifically, he wrote satirical cultural commentaries for Davar Aher, a supplement to the Hebrew-language newspaper Davar, using the alias Y. Polani.[4][5] On Israeli television, he hosted a satirical show on Channel 2 and appeared as a cultural panelist on Channel 8.[3][5]
Gabruz was also an educator. From 1973 to 2009, Garbuz taught at "HaMidrasha" art faculty, Beit Berl College, which he directed from 1997.[3] He also taught at the Avni Institute, Tel-Hai Academic College, and the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem.[2] He became the Cultural Director of Basis for Art & Culture, an art school in Herzliya, in 2015.[6]
Death
Awards and recognition
Garbuz was described as "adept in the poetics of loneliness, constantly lighting fires that signal from one mountaintop to the next an ironic wish to belong."[9]
- Sokolov Prize for journalism (1993)[5]
- Kugel Prize for literature, awarded by the Municipality of Holon (2001)
- Emet Prize (2004)[2][4]