David Gerstein

David Gerstein was born in 1944 in Jerusalem

Gerstein was born in Jerusalem to parents who came from Poland. He and his twin brother Yoni showed a talent for drawing from an early age. At 13 he was sent to an art camp in Jerusalem, and later he took classes at the Beit Zvi Art Center in Ramat Gan.

During his army service he painted oils of fishing docks, boats and kibbutz scenery. He then studied at Bezalel, where he met Avraham Ofek, who influenced his style. He went on to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and at the Art Students League in New York.

Back in Israel he taught at Bezalel, first drawing and then in the jewelry department, where he exposed students to modern art movements. In 1973 and 1974 he completed a master's degree at Saint Martin's School of Art in London. He served as a senior lecturer at Bezalel until 1985.

He began as a figurative painter and won the Israel Museum Prize for illustration. From 1980 to 1995 he made mostly free-standing wooden sculptures, then turned to laser-cut, multi-layered steel wall sculptures. He created more than 40 public sculptures in Israel and others abroad, and in 2016 he won a Taiwanese award.