about
NACHMAN PORAT
Nachman Porat's paintings combine rattan caning, wood shavings and sawdust with acrylic paint to inspire meditations on form, texture and colour. The red rivers and colourful orchids of the Canaima jungle and the vast whiteness of salt mines abutting the turquoise and navy waters of the Caribbean are part of Venezuela’s visual character and the source of inspiration for Porat’s work. His art is also driven by the texture and rhythm of natural materials.
Nachman Porat was born in Israel in 1952 and immigrated to Venezuela in 1956. In 1990, Porat moved with his family to Toronto, Canada, and began making tables from naturally red, yellow and purple wood found in South America. He won a design award in New York City in 1996. Porat, a mechanical engineer by training, took art history and colour theory courses at Ryerson University and the University of Toronto and also studied under the renowned Venezuelan ceramist, Dalita Navarro.
