Bosi Contemporary is pleased to present Soft Corps a solo exhibition by Israeli artist Shony Rivnay. Combining sculpture, photography, video, and painting, the exhibition reveals a unique body of work that simultaneously embraces beauty and the post-apocalyptic.
Living in one of the world’s most contested regions, Rivnay confronts topics such as conflict and the transforming power of love and beauty. Rivnay’s ongoing fascination with brands and logos is reflected in all of his works and derives from a successful career in advertising, an industry he left in 2008. His exploration of graphic languages manifests itself most conspicuously in the presence of pattern—from William Morris florals to geometric carpet design—throughout his work for the past thirty years. A series of pop-inflicted missile heads and sumptuously hand-crafted missiles on display in the gallery create a dream-like poetic reality. Photographs and a video produced in Israel convey a sense of universal human pathos and question the premise of violence, in particular the manmade autonomous kind, as seen in contemporary warfare. The works serve as a reminder of the devastation brought about by decades of conflict and become silent pleas for peace and understanding across cultures.
Shony Rivnay holds a BFA degree in Fine Arts from the prestigious Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, Israel. He has had solo shows at numerous locations such as Temp Art Space gallery, NY, curated by Tim Goossens; Hamburger Bannhoff Museum Campus, Berlin, an official collateral event with the Berlin Biennale 2012; and Tavi Dresdner Gallery in Tel Aviv, among others. His works have been presented in group shows around the globe in venues such as Youkobo Art Space, Tokyo; Artlife for the World Gallery, Venice, Italy; Florentin 45 Contemporary Art Space, Tel Aviv, Israel; and at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel, and more. This year Rivnay will present solo shows at the CCJ Museum in Sao Paulo and at Baro Gallery, Sao Paulo, Brazil, as well as at Anat Ebgi Gallery in Los Angeles. Rivnay lives and works in Tel Aviv, Israel.