Yuval Barel (1982, Jerusalem) is a Berlin-based contemporary painter whose work unfolds the metaphysical lacuna between ideology, psychotheology, and primordial love.
Embracing a dystopian approach to art, Barel perceives painting as a counteraction—an act of resistance, a nonsensical vision, a wild prayer imbued with a revolutionary spark.
His practice is rooted in an independent exploration of visual language and conceptual depth. His paintings confronts "the real" through a dynamic system of contradictions and paradoxes, oscillating between expression and erasure, revelation and concealment. This Sisyphean endeavor transforms into an absurd ritual suffused with mystical undertones, when what remains is a silent witness to an inevitable, yet hopeless, quest.
Barel’s works have been shown in notable venues such as the Jewish Museum in Berlin, Motus Fort Gallery in Tokyo, the MACT/CACT Museum for Contemporary Art in Switzerland, Stripart Festival in Barcelona, and the Collectors Show at ArtPrize Hub, Michigan. His path has been supported by the Artist-Teacher Scholarship from the Israeli Ministry of Culture (awarded for two consecutive years), and a cultural scholarship from Alma – Home for Hebrew Culture.