Maia

Maia Zer "Big Self" 2003  private collection

Maia Zer (b.1962) is a contemporary Israeli artist. She studied at the Avni Institute of Art and Design in Tel Aviv from 1984-87, and additionally was a student of Israel Hershberg. Zer also spent several years painting in Amsterdam and in Paris. The artist maintains a large art library which is important to her process and to her inspiration. She states, "I see the dialog[ue] between artists through the ages as an essential tool in my work." It seems apparent when one views her ouevre that she has spent time in serial aesthetic discussion with Antonio García López, Avigdor Arikha, Gregory Gillespie and Lucian Freud, all artists of relatively recent demise. Zer credits her influences from the more distant past as "Ingres, Holbein, Balthus and so many more.."

Maia Zer "Twisted Self"  2012  Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Maia Zer "Sunset" 2001  private collection

 Zer has exhibited her work in numerous venues including the Tel Aviv Museum of Art from which she received the Haim Shiff Prize for Figurative-Realistic Painting in 2009. The artist's website can be seen here.