MATAN BEN-CNAAN

MATAN BEN-CNAAN

Born in 1980, Israel Lives and works in Haifa, Israel.

Matan Ben Cnaan
(b. 1980) is an Israeli painter whose work combines classical elements and biblical narratives with contemporary art and present-day themes.

Ben Cnaan is the first and only Israeli artist to receive 1st place in the most prestigious award for realistic painters: The BP Portrait Award (2015) by the National Portrait Gallery in London, England. Ben Cnaan’s winning painting Annabelle and Guy narrates the tragic and harrowing tale of Jephthah and his daughter.

His scenic painting exposes viewers to complex moral dilemmas, interpersonal relationships, and human behavior. Adopting classical elements to develop his figurative paintings, Ben Cnaan creates a pictorial language with a vocabulary that allows him to express these complex issues on canvas. The basic sentence structure of this language consists of gestures and positioning as shapes and colors in lieu of verbs, nouns, and adjectives.

Ben Cnaan draws considerable inspiration from the morally laden stories of the Bible.
He reinterprets the stories and recasts them with present day people, to communicate the ageless quality of these basic issues.

Ben Cnaan is the recipient of the 2017 Haim Shiff Prize for Figurative-Realist Art presented by The Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Following the award, the museum will present a retrospective exhibition which encompasses the artist’s works from different stages of his career. Opening on June 24th, 2018 until October 27th 2018.

Ben Cnaan is represented by Zemack Contemporary Art Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel.