Nirit Takele

Nirit Takele is an artist known for using bold colors and building up faceted figurative bodies by employing near-abstract, flat forms.

Biography of Nirit Takele

Nirit Takele was born in 1985 in Ethiopia. In 1991, when she was only six years old, her family made Aliyah to Israel during "Operation Solomon" - an Israeli military operation for transporting thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 36 hours.

From a young age, Nirit Takele honed her painting skills by studying the works of artists such as Peter Paul Rubens, Diego Rivera, and David Hockney. From 2011 to 2015, she studied at Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, School of Multidisciplinary Art. She graduated with a BFA in 2015.

In 2014, Nirit Takele received an award for academic excellence, The Talia Sidi Prize, from Shenkar College. She is a recipient of Sotheby's 'Under The Hammer' Prize (2017) and the Ministry Of Culture and Sports Award - A Young Artist Award for 2019. 

Nirit Takele's Paintings have been acquired by numerous public and private collections, including Tel Aviv Museum of Art, The Israel Museum, Shenkar College, Start Collection, and many more.

Her recent solo exhibitions include "Three Views" at Hezi Cohen Gallery in Tel Aviv (2019) and "Flying with Angels" at Tafeta, Addis Fine Art Project Space in London (2018). 

Currently, Nirit Takele lives and works in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Nirit Takele's Art Style

Nirit Takele is an artist known for using bold colors and building up faceted figurative bodies by employing near-abstract, flat forms. Demonstrating a keen understanding of the impactful interplay between adjacent colors, her figures burst forth from the canvas with vivid dimensionality. Nirit delves into her cultural heritage within her works, capturing the everyday life of the Israeli-Ethiopian community and drawing inspiration from ancient Ethiopian sagas and folk tales etched in her memory from youth.

During a two-month residency in Addis Ababa facilitated by Serge Trioche's Israeli art incubator Start Residency Program and hosted by Addis Fine Art, Nirit reconnected with her birthplace, resulting in some of her most remarkable works. Influenced by the vibrant colors surrounding her, she embraced a brighter palette, infusing the already exuberantly colorful works with enhanced vividness and depth.