AVIV BENN

In a world of sharing, it is still hard to give away your own body parts (besides your liver, of course). But a friend can give her teeth to a friend, particularly if they have been modeled in 3D. Such a gift is daily routine for Aviv Benn, because teeth— alongside hands, skulls and eyes—form the main imagery in her current works. They tell “the tale of who we are and what we are made of,” the artist says. In dreams, teeth falling out symbolize fear of loss and demise, because they are the most lasting relic that remain after death. Demise is hard to bear in a secular, capitalist and positivist society.

Aviv Benn deals with the dissection of the human body. Her single works relate to each other and form an entity, her “body” of work. By repeating key elements like teeth, skulls and hands, Aviv Benn uses them as an instrument to allow the viewer to calmly consider and process the idea of death. Salon hanging mixes with a punk atmosphere. Nailed canvases and affixed paper works are evocative of postered walls. Her absurd combinations of gestures and expressions are inspired by cartoons, punk aesthetics, depictions of vanitas or danse macabre, the Middle Ages and Northern Renaissance as well as Internet imagery. The works of the New York street art scene of the 1980’s became a role model for Aviv Benn’s direct and straightforward visual language. 

Aviv Benn ironically laughs at death with her paintings and reintegrates it into society and personal life. The artist dissects the perfect entity of the body into separate parts that do not decay, but in fact come to life individually in the artist’s vivid works. In the exhibition, at least fifty of Aviv Benn’s works will appear like a plant, growing beyond the usual borders of galleries or common curatorial hanging systems. The exhibition SHARE YOUR TEETH (WITH THE ONES YOU LOVE) at the Art von Frei Gallery in Berlin opening March 17th 2016, is the first comprehensive solo show of Aviv Benn in Europe introducing her rich body of work by the curator Tina Sauerländer.

Aviv Benn (*1988) is an Israeli artist currently residing in Berlin. She holds a BFA cum laude from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, Israel. The artist was selected to participate in the student exchange program with OCAD University in Toronto (2013), the international artist residency programs AFFECT at Agora Collective in Berlin (2014) and PILOTENKUECHE at Spinnerei in Leipzig (2015). In the same year, she received a grant from the Rabinovich Foundation in Israel.