Michael Bar-Am
About
Michael Bar-Am (1944–2023), born in Switzerland, a member of Kibbutz Dovrat, was an artist and musician whose work spanned over four decades of daily drawing. He began drawing in 1979, and from then until his death in 2023, he never put down his pen. The Language of Line and Rhythm As a drummer and percussionist, Bar-Am sought a way to give music a physical and material expression that would remain even after the sound had stoped. Drawing became for him a tool for immortalizing the fleeting moment. His work was characterized by a unique technique of lines and scribbles, usually created with a black rapidograph on paper. Alongside his ink works, Bar-Am created rare series with colored pens and shades of gold and silver, and in exceptional cases he even turned to working with a brush. "The line is a feeling in time; it divides and also connects, it is the beginning and the end of everything. With the help of the line I express my feelings – from storm to peace of mind, from love to jealousy. Through the line I experience the 'now' and discover the order in coincidences." (Michael Bar-Am) Stations on his artistic path Bar-Am's work has gained recognition in Israel and abroad. In 1987, he presented an exhibition at the "Kibbutz" gallery in Tel Aviv that combined drawing with live concerts. In 1991, the documentary "Drummer in the Desert" was produced about him, commissioned by Swiss television, a film that traces the tension between kibbutz life and his artistic work. During the 1990s and 2000s, he held numerous solo exhibitions, including in Lausanne and Bern, Switzerland, and in leading galleries in the kibbutz movement (Beit Hashita, Jezreel, and Orchan Dovrat). In 1997, he realized a dream and established his own studio and gallery in Kibbutz Dovrat, where he continued to play, paint, perform, and present temporary exhibitions almost until his last days. Michael Bar-Am left behind a rich legacy of hundreds of works, which constitute visual evidence of the magnificent encounter between rhythm, emotion, and line. Send feedback
