Nationality Israeli, Jewish Known for Video art Education Columbia University | Role Artist Name Guy Ben-Ner | |
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Born 1969 Ramat Gan, Israel Profiles | ||
Guy Ben Ner - Stealing Beauty_arc
Guy Ben Ner (born in 1969) is an Israeli video artist. He lives and works in Tel Aviv, Berlin and New York City.
Contents
- Guy Ben Ner Stealing Beautyarc
- Guy ben ner interview
- Biography
- Art career
- Exhibitions
- Awards and recognition
- References
Guy ben ner interview
Biography
Guy Ben-Ner received a Bachelor of Arts in Education in 1997 from Hamidrasha School of Art, Ramat Hasharon and a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University in New York City in 2003. At Columbia, he studied under the critic Jerry Saltz.
Art career
Since the early 1990s, Ben Ner has filmed a series of short videos starring himself and his family, often using the intimate spaces of their home as ad hoc set, studio, and fantastical playroom. His works are often exhibited with the simple sets and props created for the videos.
Wild Boy (2004), an adaptation of François Truffaut's 1970 film L'enfant sauvage (The Wild Child), can be shown in two forms: alone, or incorporated into an installation that re-creates a woodland set that the artist built in his kitchen, complete with a tree and a carpeted hill on which visitors may sit to watch the video. In Stealing Beauty (2007), the artist's family staged guerrilla theater in IKEA showrooms: Moving among the displays, they conduct a reasonable facsimile of family life; dishes are done, discipline imposed, discussions held (private property is a topic), and everyone tucks in for the night — in numerous beds — as IKEA's other customers wander through.
In Foreign Names (2012), Ben Ner visited nearly 100 Aroma Espresso Bar locations, left a fake name in English that would be called out at the counter when his beverage was ready, then edited all the videotaped segments to create an "ode" lamenting the disappearance of waiters. Soundtrack (2013) takes an eleven-minute scene from Steven Spielberg's 2005 movie War of the Worlds as a "ready-made" soundtrack and pairs it with footage shot in Ben Ner's kitchen in Tel Aviv, with smashing plates and combusting appliances.
He is represented by Postmasters Gallery in New York, and Aspect/Ratio in Chicago.
Exhibitions
Ben-Ner represented Israel in the 2005 Venice Biennale. He also had solo exhibitions at the Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv (2006); Center for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne (2006); Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Montreal (2007); L'Espace Shawinigan of the National Gallery of Canada (2008); and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (2009). His work is currently in a group show titled Uncommon Commonalities at Aspect/Ratio in Chicago, IL.