Olaf Kühnemann

Olaf Kühnemann was born in 1972 in Basel

Olaf Kühnemann was born in Basel, Switzerland, in 1972 to German parents, Markus and Christiane. He grew up in Arlesheim in a home shaped by Anthroposophy. After his mother married the Israeli professor Shimon Levi, the family moved to Montreal and in 1980 to Herzliya.

In Herzliya he studied painting with the sculptor Zvi Lachman and later worked as an apprentice in his studio. He spent 1987 to 1988 at Michael Hall, an Anthroposophical school in England. In New York he studied at the New York Studio School from 1990 to 1992 and earned an MFA at Parsons School of Design in 1994.

In 1994 he returned to Israel and joined the Givon Art Gallery as an assistant, working there for 8 years alongside artists such as Moshe Gershuni and Raffi Lavie. From 2000 to 2009 he painted from family photographs and showed work at the Herzliya Museum, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and the Israel Museum. In 2014 he was included in the book 100 Painters of Tomorrow.

In 2009 he held his first large solo show in Germany and moved to Berlin, his mother's hometown, where his work turned more abstract. Since 2021 he has been co-founder and creative director of the Laba Berlin fellowship program. He is married to Tal Alon, founder of Spitz Magazine, and has 2 sons.