Gideon Gechtman

Israeli artist and sculptor

Gideon Gechtman (1942 – November 27, 2008) was an Israeli artist and sculptor. His art is most noted for holding a dialogue with death, often in relation with his own biography.

Gideon Gechtman was born in Alexandria, Egypt. He moved to the British mandate of Palestine with his family in 1945. He studied at the Avni Institute of Art and Design (1961–1962), Hammersmith College of Art (1968–1971), the Ealing School of Art, and Tel Aviv University (1975–1976). After returning from London with his future wife singer/actress Bat Sheva Zeisler, he created minimalistic art that was typical for that period. These works were described to "didactically demonstrate structural and figurative change in material and appearance." Gechtman taught at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem (1972–1975) and the Art Teachers Training College of Beit Berl Academic College (1971–2008). In 1973 Gechtman had his first solo exhibition in the Yodfat Gallery in Tel Aviv. The exhibition, named "Exposure", signified Gechtman's increasing interest in the connection between art and the biographic dimension. On the walls of the gallery were enlarged photographs of the body shaving process before the open heart surgery that Gechtman underwent in 1973. Also in this exhibition were real and fabricated documents regarding Gechtman's medical condition. At the closure of the exhibition Gechtman put up obituaries for himself in Israeli dailies Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post, as well as around his home in Rishon LeZion. Gechtman told later about the reactions: "Teachers from Bezalel said to me: 'Have you gone mad? You frightened everyone.'" The obituaries were a returning element in Gechtman's art for years to come. In 1999, he exhibited a remodelled hospital environment under the name Yotam, named after his son who had died. Gideon Gechtman died of heart failure on November 27, 2008.

Gideon Gechtman at Artfacts. net