Samuel Hagai

Samuel Hagai also known as Shmuel Hajaj is a hyper-realism and surrealism painter who works and exhibits in New York, Los Angeles and Israel.
Hagai's artwork has been covered by several high-tier news publication for his hyper-realistic murals artwork.
==Biography==
Hagai was born in 1982, in Kfar Yona, Israel. He grew up and was educated in Netanya. At an early age, he became interested in painting, teaching himself to paint using oil paint on the canvas at the age of 12. In 2015, while visiting his sister who was living in New York at the time, he made the decision to settle there. That same year, he committed himself to turn his passion for painting into a profession, and in 2019 he moved to Los Angeles. Since then, he has divided his time between Israel and the United States.
==Career==
In 2014, he was invited to exhibit his works via the Art People Gallery in collaboration with "SNAC EXPO". Hagai was invited by the American chain of department stores "Macy's" to create a mural artwork for the 2017 Christmas season. His paintings were displayed in the department store for a period of two months and were viewed by millions of people from across the United States and around the world.
In 2017, he painted four murals at the U.S. Air Force Base in New Jersey, and the same year, set up an independent exhibition in West Village, New York. His artworks are displayed in public spaces (among others, on the streets of Manhattan, New York, Los Angeles, and Israel), in galleries, exhibitions and museums, military bases, corporate offices, institutions of higher education in Israel and in the United States. Moreover, his artworks are also presented at the Herzliya Marina (a mural of 700 square meters); in the "Campus for Jewish Life for Art Fitness"; at the ZK gallery in San Francisco; in the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center in Palo Alto" and at other locations.
In 2015 and 2018, he held a solo exhibition at Basquala Art and Biderman Gallery, where they chose to keep presenting his paintings. In that year, Hagai took part in a group exhibition at the Suzanne Dellal Center, and in March his paintings were put up for auction. In 2017, a documentary film was produced and released, depicting the difficulties and challenges he experienced on the road to success. Hagai is also a teacher and conducts painting workshops at the Kibbutzim College of Education.
==His artworks==
Hagai paints oil paints in the art genre of hyper-realism and surrealism. His paintings present recurring motifs, among others: nature, landscapes from different angles, as well as human figures that simulate inner sensations such as shyness, fear, concealment and introspection. In all his paintings, one can distinguish inner changes and inner depth (focusing on the question of how it is perceived and how it really looks). Other themes which are characteristic of his paintings are portraits that are peeled away at the layers and also black & white color schemes combined with other colors.
==Personal life==
In 2019 he participated as a resident in the reality show "Big Brother", Season 9, on Channel 13.
== References ==
==External links==
* Official website
* Learning to paint with fun, sart
* documentary film, YouTube
* Samuel Hagai will return to his home in New York. Will he return to Israel?, Marriv TMI
Category:Artist
Category:Israeli people