Michael Gross’s (1920, Tiberias - 2004 Even Yehuda ) expression ranges between extreme contrasts, and brings together a soft lyricism and expressive outbursts, which correspond to the nature of experience. In his works one can find, side by side, images that are essentially mimetic-figurative, and conceptual elements that are on the verge of abstraction, like kinds of objective ciphers which were born from his subjectivity in process of distillation and refinement.
- Prof. Mordechai Omer
The work of Gross may be seen as a constant testing of boundaries, an ongoing negotiation over how to represent what is. Tirelessly, he takes a chance on distilling, from the simply apparent, one truth that applies equally to a visual and emotional reality. Perhaps his work might also be described as a Sisyphean effort to redeem the sparks of existence from non-existence, or more: an attempt to close the tragic gap between “I” and “it” (the world), between inner consciousness and the alienating otherness of reality. - Yigal Zalmona
Michael Gross exhibited his works for the first time in 1952, at the Salon of Young Painters in Paris. In 1964 he was awarded the Struck Prize, in 1967 the Dizengoff Prize, in 1971 the Gold Medal at the 11th International Art Biennial in São Paulo, in 1977 the Sandberg Prize of the Israel Museum, and in 1987 the Minister of Education and Culture Prize for Painting and Sculpture.
He has participated in many international exhibitions, among them the Venice Biennale (1960), the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1964), the Drawing Biennial Rijeka, Jugoslavia (1970), the 11th International Biennial, São Paulo (1971), the International Art Fair, Basle (1981) and Documenta 9, Kassel (1992).