Amit Kanfi Explores Blunt and Dark Allure in his Work
Image: Amit Kanfi, Happy Meal, 180x180, acrylic on IKEA curtain, 2020
Autodidact artist Amit Kanfi began painting following the military operation “Protective Edge" in July 2014, which left him with emotional scars and deep trauma. The macho environment, which characterizes the combat units, did not allow him to share the mental difficulties he was facing with those around him. The notebook and pencil served him as a safe space in which he could shout his authentic voice and release the burden of dealing alone with what the world presented to him.
During his teenage years, he moved from country to country, following his father's job. Kanfi adapted to the society that surrounded him in each of his family's journeys, examined the aesthetics and characteristics of those who surrounded him, and became a short-time local in each place he landed.
Image: Amit Kanfi, Copy Paste, 90x150, acrylic on canvas, 2018
During his late adolescence, he was living in Amsterdam, where he discovered punk culture. He adapted the style, musical taste, and slang of the scene and joined a band as a drummer. When he returned to Israel, after graduating high school, Kanfi had to adapt to the society that surrounded him once again, and joined the Israeli Defense Force and served in an elite combat unit.
Today, Kanfi is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Tel Aviv. He has exhibited in group exhibitions and created personal art projects in Israel and around the world. Kanfi is working in mediums such as painting, graffiti, sculpture, animation, video, and installation. His works continue to express the same urgency that drew him to the sketchbook.
Image: Amit Kanfi, Save the Planet, 170x220, acrylic on canvas, 2020.
His paintings are expressive, blunt, and possess dark allure. His technique is intuitive and fast and resonates with the impatience of a troubled child. Kanfi uses the paint straight from the tube, in some parts with gentle brushstrokes, and in others, he draws with his hands and feet, sometimes adding bodily fluid and concluding by writing a sentence or word that leaves no room for interpretation.
Image: Amit Kanfi, I Love the Police, 150x220, acrylic on canvas, 2020
Kanfi’s work is naive, sarcastic, and dark, possessing childlike aesthetics, hue colors, and the symbols that filled the lives of his generation. He is not academically trained, nor is he influenced by the dictates of the academic art world. Kanfi is indifferent to the cultural demands that circle him, striving to break the rules and to convey raw emotions with uncompromising sincerity.
Image: Amit Kanfi, Cofee Light, 200x200, acrylic on light cotton fabric, 2019
