Alex Israel

Alex Israel studied at University of Southern California, Yale University and Harvard-Westlake School. Places of work recorded in the authority are Los Angeles. Work by Alex Israel is recorded in the collections of Museum of Modern Art, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and Whitney Museum of American Art.

• Name — Alex Israel • Born — 1982 10 • Birthplace — Los Angeles, California, U.S. • Education — Yale University (BA) University of Southern California (MFA)

The son of a real estate developer, Israel was born at UCLA Medical Center. He grew up in Westwood alongside two sisters. He attended Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City before completing his undergraduate studies at Yale University in 2003. His first summer back from Yale, he worked part-time as an intern for the conceptual artist John Baldessari, and for Ann Goldstein, who was a curator at MOCA at the time. Later, he worked as an assistant at the gallery Blum & Poe before moving to New York City to work at Sotheby's auction house. After working for the artist Jason Rhoades, followed by a brief stint as a salesperson for Hauser & Wirth. He went on to receive a M.F.A. from the University of Southern California’s Roski School of Fine Arts in 2010.

Early in his career, Israel maintained a studio at 3113 Beverly Boulevard in Filipinotown. Since 2016, he has been working from a 10600 sqft studio at Warner Bros.’ Burbank backlot, designed by Johnston Marklee & Associates.

Between July 2011 and May 2012, Israel produced a web series called, "AS IT LAYS," in which he interviews 33 LA celebrities. The diverse group of subjects includes Rachel Zoe, Oliver Stone, Perez Hilton, Michael Chow, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Marilyn Manson. The first thirty videos were shot in the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, and on location at the subjects’ homes and offices. The series premiered during an exhibition at Reena Spaulings Fine Art March 11 through April 8, 2012. The first thirty videos were released online. On May 19, 2012, The MOCA LA presented the series as a special one-night screening and performance event. In between screenings of video portraits, Israel created three additional interviews with surprise guests Laird Hamilton, Molly Ringwald and Melanie Griffith, in front of the live audience.

From July 13–15, 2012, "Easter Island Venice Beach" was erected in the recreational area of Venice Beach as part of the Hammer Museum’s Venice Beach Biennial. Curated by Ali Subotnik, the installation plays off the Easter Island statues in the southeastern Pacific Island. Israel says that he was inspired when he found four giant replicas of the sculptures at a prop house in Hollywood a few years earlier.

The first of his video series, produced in 2010, invites viewers to "watch and follow the lives of jaded young adults as they navigate the golden light and melancholic shadows of life in the magical dreamscape of Los Angeles." The dialogue-free series is composed of a trailer and ten clips between two and six minutes long.

Israel directed SPF-18, a feature-length teen surf film and multi-platform project, which was written by Michael Berk and released on both Netflix and the ITunes Store on September 29, 2017. It featured Noah Centineo in a starring role in addition to Molly Ringwald, as well as cameos by Keanu Reeves and Pamela Anderson.

In 2016, Israel and Bret Easton Ellis worked together on a set of collaborative paintings, taking samples of Ellis's text and laying them across stock images of Los Angeles that Israel selected and purchased the licensing to.

Israel lives on Sunset Boulevard.