Amikam Toren (born 1945 in Jerusalem) is a British artist whose works explores painting, sculpture, moving image and mixed media.
Following hundreds of shows, over four continents, he has been cited by journalists[6][7][8] and academics[9][10] as, "An artist of international importance"[10] And criticised by some for making work too political to be shown in public galleries.
"[13] His work, "of profound intellectual rigor and salience,"[14] frequently employs strict 'propositional' rules of production but is nevertheless often deeply moving, with a strong aesthetic beauty.
[15] For instance, in one of his limited prints, A User's Guide to Married Life - now owned by the United Kingdom Government[16] - the Whitechapel Gallery has said, "he transforms the bland graphics of signage into a tender expression of the emotional values of a shared existence.
"[17] Toren's work explores the conceptual and material framework that defines art, the relation between form and content, object and representation.
"[36] Over hundreds of printed reviews, monographs, thesis and academic critiques, his works have been - almost universally - well received by art critics[24][37] and scholars.
For instance, his Armchair painting, Untitled: Kill Rushdie was made in 1990 but was unable to be shown in Britain until twenty-eight years later in 2018.
[23] Such works – using graffiti seen regularly in London at the time of making[39] – sought and seek to comment on the often shocking or offensive nature of our shared cultural environment,[40] and challenge rather than elevate the phrases used.
[42][43] The phrases Toren uses in some works, which may be: beautiful, tender, celebratory, or disturbing,[40][44][45][46] comment on how we move through a culture and environment, that sometimes reflects our own views and morals, but at other times is antithetical to our beliefs.