OFER LELLOUCHE

NEWS

Born in Tunisia in 1947, Ofer Lellouche moves to Paris with his family at the age of 14, for political reasons. He studies mathematics and physics at the Collège Saint-Louis. In 1966, two months before his final exams, he abruptly leaves France, fleeing a traumatic experience, and settles in Israel. There, he discovers a deep attachment to the country and its language.

During his military service, he takes part in the Six-Day War and the “War of Attrition.” He then falls seriously ill and is discharged. It is during his convalescence that he turns to painting—a visceral and vital gesture. He trains with Yehezkiel Streichman, a major figure in lyrical abstraction, at the Avni Institute of Art in Tel Aviv. He later returns to Paris, where he deepens his study of sculpture in César’s studio, while also earning a master’s degree in literature focused on the work of Stéphane Mallarmé.

Pierre Restany dedicates several texts to his work, highlighting his ability to express a universal interiority through rigorously constructed forms. His work is exhibited in numerous international institutions, including the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and more recently, in a major retrospective at the Albertina Museum in Vienna.