Michael Elkayan"Woman of Valor"Limited Edition #54/499 Image"8.5X11.5 Inches.Custom Frame:13X17 Inches Michael Elkayam, born in Morocco in 1954, is the scion of an illustrious family of scholars and craftsmen renowned for their jewelry, calligraphy and copper relief inscriptions and ornaments. Michael arrived in Israel with his family in 1956. From an early age, he learned to love and appreciate art, and was encouraged to develop his own creative talents. While studying at the Mikve Israel Agricultural High School in Tel Aviv, he participated in numerous graphics, painting and sculpture workshops. Michael continued his education at the Beersheva Academy of Fine Arts and the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem, specializing in graphic techniques. Michael Elkayam's works employ both classic and contemporary artistic techniques, reflecting the timeless elements of Jewish symbolism. His subjects focus on mysticism and other Jewish themes: Ritual objects, amulets, blessings, images from the Bible, the synagogue and Jewish home, holidays etc. Elkayam uses various media for his creations, including oil on canvas, watercolors, chalk and especially traditional ink-on-parchment inscriptions. These liturgical citations, proverbs, benedictions and Biblical passages are exquisitely illuminated in bold bright colors, manifesting a genuine synthesis of the old and the new, the classic art of Jewish calligraphy with the most advanced principles of contemporary design and composition. Traditional Jewish art has always shunned realistic depiction of human subjects, in keeping with the Third Commandment: "thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image..." Michael Elkayam continues this tradition, concentrating on symbols readily identifiable with Judaism and the Jewish People. Michael Elkayam is a member of the Israel Association of Artists and Sculptors and has exhibited his works extensively in Israel and abroad

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