Noma Bar's Second Look: A New Exhibition That Is a Blast of Color, Humor, and Wit
The Tel Aviv Museum of Art honors the influential Israeli artist who has worked with the biggest magazines and most prestigious museums. Illustrator and designer Noma Bar has a unique, graphic, and colorful way of looking at the world, and a second look at his works always reveals another layer. Bonus: children will also discover its magic in seconds.
The entire story of illustrator and designer Noma Bar is about the "additional look." It is no wonder that the title given to the first exhibition in Israel dedicated to his work is "Second Look." A dog contains both a cat and a mouse, and a shark's maw is also the leg of a victim. Every object requires a moment of pause, after which amazement almost always follows — at the brilliance, the sharpness of thought, and the direct, original approach.
The new exhibition that opened this week at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art offers a comprehensive look at one of the most influential illustrators working on the international scene today. Noma Bar, originally Avinoam Bernstein, is an Israeli who has made a name for himself globally. His works have appeared on the covers of leading newspapers and magazines, from The Economist to The New Yorker, as well as on books by industry giants. He does not just design images; he shapes the identity of prominent cultural institutions and top-tier international brands, from Apple to Netflix.
A Clear and Sharp Image
Bar, born in 1973, is a graduate of the Department of Visual Communication at Bezalel. After completing his studies in 2000, he moved to London with his wife and creative partner, Dana, where he has lived ever since. His visual language is minimalist, universal, and recognizable: it requires no language, just a clear and sharp image.
The exhibition includes seminal works that shaped his design language. In the final room, Bar's sketchbooks are displayed—notebooks he fills with lines and colors that spark his ideas. On the wall are drawings from when he was nine years old, already showing characters with cacti instead of hair and keys instead of teeth. You can literally see how his visual perception has refined over the years, but the humor and wit have always been evident.
Much More to See: Exhibitions for Kids This Summer
A museum is a great alternative for an experience with children during the heavy heat of August. Parallel to the Noma Bar exhibition, where it is appropriate to ask what the kids see in each image, other exhibitions are running at the Tel Aviv Museum that appeal to a wide age range. This is in addition to dedicated children's activities advertised on the museum's website, including workshops on collage, cyanotype, and more.
The miniature exhibition "Tiny Worlds" seeks to crack the secret of the magic of small scale. Dozens of contemporary artists present their small worlds, breathing life into shrunken models. Yayoi Kusama's infinity mirror room is also open. For over fifty years, Kusama has created mirror rooms that envelop visitors and immerse them in her colorful, exciting world. The visit is limited to one minute per person, but it is definitely worth ending your museum visit with.
Playfulness in Every Work
In his childhood, Bar spent a lot of time in forests, drawing. For 20 years, he has been working while inspired by the trees. What caught his eye in the forest was the "negative space," the gaps between objects. In his eyes, this space was more than positive. When his gaze meets the world, he focuses on both the object itself and what is hidden around it. The moment of discovering the internal logic of his works is just like a child's game: there is magic and surprise. Every complex idea is summarized into one clear, understandable image.
The exhibition was curated by Yuval Saar. While Bar's works are usually digital illustrations, the playground they built together at the museum features sculptures and rotating exhibits that are great fun.
It is impossible to miss the giant pink bear standing upside down. Bar often takes toys and creates faces on their back side, seeking to show his daughters that everything has another side—a first, creative lesson in coexistence.
The First to Read Atwood
One of the advantages of being Noma Bar: he is among the first to receive a new book by Margaret Atwood to create an image for the cover. In his first collaboration with the iconic author, he was asked to illustrate the cover of "The Handmaid's Tale." The image of the red dress and bonnet, familiar to those who watched the series, takes on the profile of a man—the Commander—in the negative space. The Commander's eye, depicted as the moon, hints at a constant gaze at the woman who has been stripped of her desires. Bar is also responsible for the cover illustrations of the esteemed Japanese author Haruki Murakami, having illustrated 15 of his books.
The new work Bar created especially for the exhibition was conceived in cold London but precisely captures the heat of Tel Aviv with an all-Israeli object: matkot paddles. In his work "Tel Aviv Summer," swimsuits, birds, diving goggles, and dog ears are all made of matkot paddles, painted with Tambour colors, the exhibition's sponsor.
The main sponsor is Coca-Cola. Members of the Coca-Cola app can purchase an entrance ticket for only 10 shekels, starting this week and for two months (while supplies last).
The exhibition will be on display until 16.01.27. Museum entrance price is 55 shekels; 45 shekels for students/Digitel holders; 27 shekels for senior citizens/disabled certificate holders; children under 18 are free.
