Art and designיאיר גרבוז

Yair Garbuz

Yair Garbuz was an Israeli painter, writer and satirist who headed the HaMidrasha art school at Beit Berl College and won the EMET Prize in 2004.

1945 to 2026Collage paintingSatire under the name Y. PolaniHeading the HaMidrasha art schoolThe 2015 Rabin Square speech

Born: 29 September 1945, Givatayim
Died: 29 April 2026, Ramat Gan
Occupation: painter, opinion journalist, docent, artist
Party: Meretz

Yair Garbuz was born in 1945 in Givatayim

Yair Garbuz was born in Givatayim in 1945 to parents who came from Poland. His brother Aharon Harel served in the Knesset, and his brother Alon Garbuz ran the Tel Aviv Cinematheque.

As a member of Kibbutz Kfar HaHoresh, he studied painting with Raffi Lavie from 1962 to 1967. He also studied at the Avni Institute in Tel Aviv.

His first solo show opened in 1967, and his collage paintings later appeared in dozens of exhibitions in Israel and abroad. He wrote satire for the Davar Aher supplement of Davar under the pen name Y. Polani and hosted a satirical show on Channel 2. He taught at HaMidrasha from 1973 and became its head in 1997.

Garbuz ran on the Meretz list in Knesset elections. In 2015 he gave a speech at a rally in Rabin Square that drew criticism from both right and left.

After retiring, he moved in 2012 with his wife Margalit to live between Safed and Ramat Gan. The Tel Aviv Museum of Art held a solo show of his work in 2017. He died in 2026 after an illness, leaving his wife and 3 children.