Aviv Benn

Aviv Benn’s (b. 1988, Tel Aviv. Lives and works in London) paintings are a visual universe starring symbolic archetypes that pop up and reappear time and again, and together formulate the dreamlike world they inhabit. These colorful figures take over the entire painterly space, encompassing their surroundings, dissolving and merging, floating in an unknown limbo. Her view on painting is as an act of compulsion and a ritualistic repetition of images, motifs and ornaments. Repeating the same imagery over numerous canvases, informs a narrative that stretches beyond the boundaries of a singular artwork; new relationships are woven together to build a vivid myth throughout her work.

Benn completed her MFA in Painting and Drawing in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2018, and her BFA at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem in 2013. Benn had solo exhibitions at Extase Gallery, Chicago(2020), in RawArt Gallery, Tel Aviv (2019, 2017), Off-White Columns Gallery, New York(2019), Devening Projects Gallery, Chicago (2018), and Art Von Frei Gallery, Berlin(2016). She participated in various group exhibitions in Germany, Chicago, New York and Tel-Aviv. Her work was featured on various publications and platforms such as New American Paintings, ArtMaze Magazine, Artnet, The Art Newspaper, Ha’aretz Daily Newspaper, and more. Benn participated in artist residencies including Affect in Berlin (2014), PILOTENKUECHE international artist residency, Leipzig (2015), and the Vermont Studio Center artist residency (2019). She received the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 2021, The Rabinovich Foundation Grant in 2015 and 2019, and the Graduate Dean Professional Development Award from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2017 and 2018.