Amit Berman
Amit Berman moved to Milan with plans to study architecture. During the Covid lockdown, which he spent alone after a breakup, he started painting. Originally from Tel Aviv, he now lives in Rome. Berman works from snapshots of his own life. In 2024 the Jewish Museum of Venice acquired one of his paintings, based on a photo from that Milan lockdown and painted three years later. In December he shows in Miami for the first time, at Art Basel Miami Beach and Untitled Art.
Q: First of all, tell us a bit about yourself. How did you get to painting?
A: I am a painter originally from Tel Aviv, currently based in Rome. I started painting during the Covid lockdown in Milan. I moved there because I wanted to study architecture, but eventually I never really started. I was going through quite a complicated relationship and breakup and decided to stay by myself when Covid erupted. During those days, I wanted to explore my interest in shape and color through bodies, nature and spaces, and that solitude made me search for new ways of expression.
Q: What makes a photograph worth painting for you?
A: Photographs are an essential part of my practice, and they are always taken from life. They are never staged or directed. They capture real, mundane moments that hold some sort of enigma and transcendence when transformed onto the canvas. Many of them are captured while sensing some sort of dialogue with art historical references. For me to proceed with a photograph and turn it into a painting, I need to feel strongly attached to it. It needs to hold tension, and it needs to resonate with the current theme I am trying to explore.
Q: A lot of your pieces take place in domestic interiors. How do you decide what goes into a room?
A: As I mentioned, all the works are based on real lived moments. I am very much drawn to intimate spaces that can be used as vessels for an emotional or psychological state. From these real moments and real spaces, I can choose what to add or subtract.
Q: What art historical references make it into the work?
A: The references vary across different periods and mediums. In the last few years, it has mostly been a dialogue with late 19th- and early 20th-century painters, as well as Baroque, Renaissance and medieval painting. Sometimes the dialogue also extends to more recent conceptual art and sculpture. In my latest solo exhibition, "Unfamiliar, Luminous, Remote," at Fabienne Levy Gallery in Lausanne and Geneva, some of my main inspirations were Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Edvard Munch and Simeon Solomon.
Q: A Transferable Safe Space went into the collection of the Jewish Museum of Venice during the Biennale. What's the story behind it?
A: This painting is mostly about carrying an identity. It is based on an image from the time of the lockdown in Milan and was painted three years later. At its core is the idea of creating rituals in order to preserve a sense of familiarity, a safe space, a home.
Q: You have Art Basel Miami Beach and Untitled coming in December. What are you working on for them?
A: Yes! I am very excited to show my work in Miami for the first time. I am currently working on a new body of work that grew out of the research I was doing for my latest exhibition.
