Selected Works

HARAN KISLEV / BIO
b. 1985, (Kibbutz Be’eri, Israel)

Haran Kislev is a painter whose work bridges the personal and collective experience of life on Israel’s southern border. Born in Kibbutz Be’eri, where his family were among the founding members, and while still living and working there, he witnessed first-hand the events of 7 October 2023. On that day he and his family endured horrifying hours sheltered within the kibbutz; around ten percent of the community were murdered that day, and the trauma of that event has become a pivotal force in his art.

Kislev earned his B.F.A. magna cum laude in Multidisciplinary Art from Shenkar College (2016) and studied at Hakolel Studio of Contemporary Art with Ran Tenenbaum and Guy Avital, and at Hatahana School for Figurative Drawing and Painting with Ran Tenenbaum and David Nipo. His works combine thick, sculptural layers of oil paint with fragments of text and memory, oscillating between abstraction and figuration. He often forsakes brushes, using knives, hammers, gardening tools, pneumatic compressors, to physically confront the canvas, turning painting into an act of encounter and survival.

Before the war, Kislev’s practice focused on the border landscapes between Israel and Gaza: roadblocks, armed forces, ephemeral fences and shifting horizons. After 7 October his paintings became direct testimonies of lived trauma and resilience. His recent solo exhibition, “Hanging the Darkness” (Zemack Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, 2025), marked a turning point in his oeuvre. The show made major headlines across the Israeli press and sold out completely on its opening day—underscoring both the emotional urgency of his work and its cultural resonance.  He now finds hope through his paintings and incorporates this hope into the images.

As the The Jerusalem Post observed, his bold oil colours “stand in contrast to the seemingly tranquil nature scenes on which they are based,” turning the canvas into “a safe room of sorts, a space for processing fear and reclaiming hope.”

He is a recipient of the Young Artist Award from Israel’s Ministry of Culture (2018). His paintings have been acquired by leading private and public collections in Israel, including the Israel Museum (Jerusalem) and the Israeli Knesset Art Collection.

Kislev’s art stands as both memorial and affirmation: a record of destruction, and a declaration that even amid devastation, creation endures.

Kislev is represented by Zemack Contemporary Art.

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