SHONY RIVNAY: UNFOLDING
January 23 – April 20, 2019
SARAHCROWN is pleased to present Unfolding, a solo exhibition of Israeli-American artist Shony Rivnay. The project is conceived for the public spaces at The Yard – Columbus Circle as part of the Art In Lobbies program. The installation, spanning three floors, will feature a selection of recent paintings shown for the first time in New York.
Rivnay, son of an Entomologist, is inspired by the fascinating worlds that unfold under the microscope and that appear in scientific illustrations where existence is represented in its smallest elements. As an observer of both the scientific and artistic realms, Rivnay developed a visual language that interprets the micro and macro levels of our world. In his works, he intuitively explores the many different constituents of existence, from the smallest particles to bigger elements. Empirical and spiritual research unite in these large and powerful canvases representing a playground for primordial shapes and structures where the observer is invited to delve into an unknown yet familiar realm of creation, origination and manifestation.
Rivnay doesn’t try to tell a specific story but he unfolds visually the magical underlying structures of our world. His paintings are born out of a “dissociation of the mind from reason or rationality”[1]. He paints with spontaneity and following internal impulses, driven by his instincts and primordial wisdom, bridging the two worlds of conscious and subconscious and intuitively showing that all elements of the living realm are made of the same miraculous matter.
During the creative process, Rivnay elaborates on a first vague and subconscious idea of an image. He delves into a dialog between materials, internal stimuli, and external input and absorbs this energy. The horizontal painting surface, lying on a floor or a table, becomes a leading force of his movements which translate his perceptions into the creation of the physical work. The infinite forms and shapes are born out of the use of a variety of different tools, not only the paint brush. In the resulting works, on canvas and on paper, sharp elements stand out in front of energy loaded monochrome backgrounds ‘aesthetically relating to works by Juan Miró, Mario Merz, and Jean Arp [2]. Different painting techniques infuse the sensation of a well-choreographed group of different dancers where each one has its very own character and role, yet, they complete each other to a perfect play.
The exhibition Unfolding features a broad selection of Rivany’s most recent paintings and invites to overcome any preformatted view of our reality and to start seeing with the heart.
[1] Nogah Davidson, ‘How Things Work 2018’, 2018, Shony Rivnay’s solo exhibition at Nulobaz Cooperative Art Space, Tel Aviv, IL
[2] Naomi Lev, ‘The Observer’, 2018, New York, NY.
Opening: January 23, 5:30 – 7:30 pm
Exhibition: January 23 – April 20, 2019
Location: The Yard: Columbus Circle, New York, NY
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Shony Rivnay is an interdisciplinary Israeli-American artist based in Tel Aviv, Israel. He works in various media including painting, sculpture, video, installation, and performance. He has exhibited solo shows in numerous locations around the globe including SPRING/BREAK Art Fair (NYC), TEMP Art Space (NYC), Bosi Contemporary (NYC), Hamburger Bahnhof Museum Campus (Berlin), and Tavi Dresdner Gallery (TLV), and has participated in group shows in venues such as Youkobo Art Space (Tokyo), Artilife for The World Gallery (Venice, IT), CICA Museum (South Korea), and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (Tel Aviv), among others. Rivnay has participated at the prestigious I-Park Residency (2016), and HomeBase Residency (Germany, 2012). Recent solo shows include “How Things Work” (2018) curated by Nogah Davidson at Nulubaz Cooperative Space for Contemporary Art in Tel Aviv, a show at The Yard — Columbus Circle, NYC (2019) curated by SarahCrown and an upcoming solo exhibition at Beit Haomanim in Tel Aviv (2019) curated by Arie Berkowiz. His works are in private and public collections worldwide. He holds a BFA from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem, Israel.
