He is most commonly recognised for his large-scale, colour, staged photographs inspired by biblical scenes, historic paintings, Greek and Roman Gods and photographs recording the founding of Israel.
Nes’ works deal with timeless and timely sujects such as life, death, war, love and religion in the Middle East, yet he makes nothing explicit, suggesting but never defining.
“The photographs make comments on Israel manliness, on the social realm and also on the composition and lighting of photographs.”
“My staged photographs are oversized and often recall well known scenes from Art History and Western Civilisation combined with personal experiences based on my life as a gay youth growing up in a small town on the periphery of Israeli society.”
-Adi Nes
“My staged photographs are oversized and often recall well known scenes from Art History and Western Civilisation combined with personal experiences based on my life as a gay youth growing up in a small town on the periphery of Israeli society.”
-Adi Nes
Possibly Nes’ most well known work is the adaptation of Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper.’ Using Israeli soldiers Nes delves into themes of masculinity, fraternity and national and cultural identity, questioning gender identity in the Israeli army.
The Last Supper 1999 - Adi NesHis early works have been characterised as challenging the masculine stereotype of the Israeli man by depicting homoerotic, sleeping, vulnerable subjects.
Over his career Nes has won several awards comprising of The Nathan Gottesdiener Foundation Israeli Art Prize in 2000, The Education, Culture and Sport Minister’s Prize for Artists in the Visual Arts in 1999 and the Sandra Jacobs Foundation Prize in 1993.
Adi Nes now lives and works in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Untitled 1998
From the colection 'Soldiers' 1996
Untitled 2006
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