Joseph Amar
(1954–)
(–2001)
Joseph Amar
1954–2001
Joseph Amar (1954–2001) was born in Casablanca, Morocco, in 1954, and he immigrated to Toronto, Canada, as a child in 1957. Living in Toronto and New York, Amar created sculptural paintings focused on materiality, always allowing the material to guide his practice. His career was cut short in 1991 when he was in an accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down.
Growing up around the arts, Amar received the Dorothy Reid Scholarship to attend the Ontario College of Art in 1974. However, he quickly abandoned his classes and got a studio on Queen Street West to focus on his studio practice. Taking inspiration from European art movements focused on exploring material, including Arte Povera, Dadaism, and the work of the Spanish Expressionists, such as Antonio Tàpies, Amar collected found materials from his neighbourhood and incorporated them into his paintings. It was these found materials that then guided his creative process.
After several successful exhibitions in Toronto, Amar and his wife moved to Brooklyn, New York, in 1979. Amar’s later work in New York was defined by its unique dialogue with minimalism. Beginning with sheets of lead affixed to plywood as his base, Amar would work the lead surface with materials such as graphite, oil pigment, and beeswax.
In 1981, Amar's work was exhibited by Ivan Karp at the O.K. Harris Gallery which later led to a solo exhibition in 1984. By 1985, Amar was represented by the Bess Cutler Gallery, the largest gallery in SoHo at the time. His success continued in 1987 when his work was included in Simila/Dissimila, a significant exhibition curated by Rainer Crone at Städtische Kunsthalle in Dusseldorf, Germany. The show later travelled to several galleries in New York City. In 1991, Amar and his family were in a fatal accident with a drunk driver. His wife was killed immediately, and Amar and his daughter were both severely injured. While his daughter recovered, Amar was left paralyzed from the neck down, no longer able to paint.
Amar’s work has been exhibited internationally and is held in a number of public and private collections around the world, including the Guggenheim Museum, New York, the Brooklyn Museum, New York, and the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, among others.