Eshel Meir

Meir Eshel, known as Absalon, was an Israeli-French artist and sculptor known for his "Cells" living units.

1964 to 1993The "Cells" living unitsWhite sculptural installationsVideo works such as "Solutions"

Born: 26 December 1964, Rehovot
Died: 10 October 1993, 20th arrondissement of Paris
Occupation: artist, video artist

Eshel Meir was born in 1964 in Rehovot

Meir Eshel was born in Ashdod in December 1964, the eldest of 4 children of Elie and Adèle Eshel. At 14 he began studying at the Air Force technical school in Haifa.

After finishing school in 1982, he served as an aircraft technician at the Hatzerim air base. From 1985 to 1987 he lived in the dunes south of Ashdod and in Sinai, built a wooden cabin and made a living from jewelry.

In 1987 he moved to Paris and lived with his uncle Jacques Ohayon, through whom he met Christian Boltanski. He studied art in Paris-Cergy, attended Boltanski's class at the Beaux-Arts and took the name Absalon. In 1989 he received a scholarship to the Institut des Hautes Études en Arts Plastiques.

His early works arranged white-painted objects in space, such as "Proposal for Habitation" (1990). In 1990 he exhibited in Jerusalem, and in 1991 he moved to the former studio of Jacques Lipchitz in Boulogne. He then designed 6 living cells meant for 6 cities, including Paris, Tokyo and Tel Aviv.

In 1989 he learned that he carried HIV. He died on 10 October 1993 from an illness linked to HIV. The documentary "The Seven Years of Absalon" won the jury award at Docaviv in 2022.