Calman Shemi (Argentinean, b. 1939)

Shemi began studying art as a child in Argentina and continued his artistic pursuits after moving to Israel in 1961 at the age of 22. He credits his art teachers—Libero Badii in Argentina and Rudi Lehman in Israel—with awakening in him an interest in the abstract qualities evident in natural forms. Shemi's early sculptural work was biomorphic and abstract, recalling the work of Constantin Brancusi, an artist he has much admired.

When Shemi has stated that his current art is "totally abstract," he has intended that his art not refer to specific locations, events, or points in time. Rather his art is about being in this world. It is about existing on this earth a...