Bezalel

1970s

“Shony Rivnay began his artistic career as a student at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. During the 1970s, while conceptual art was thriving and the German artist Joseph Beuys emerged as a central figure in the international artworld, Rivnay created two unforgettable works, which succeeded amazingly at capturing the “spirit of the time,” the international zeitgeist. In the first work, Rivnay painted a bare canvas – the traditional painterly support – black and white, and added the sentence: Shony’s Black on White Canvas. On a shelf below the canvas, he left several Black & White whisky bottles and glasses, together with a sign: “You can drink as much whisky as you like as long as you stand by this work.” The play on words and colors, and the unabashed, total exposure of the artist’s act of seduction pointed to the seductive, titillating nature of all works of art, which beseech us to turn to them. In another work, Rivnay created a performance of sorts, which consisted of an “official visit” to the Bezalel art department. Wearing a suit and tie, he walked through the department and scrutinized everything he came upon, in accordance with the fictive aura he created for himself. Rivnay’s artworks were remarkable in terms of their self-reflexive character, and capacity for addressing the sociological context in which they were situated. Implicit to them were questions such as “Who created the creators?” or “What transforms a work into an artwork?” – questions similar to those addressed by the eminent French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. Even as a student, Rivnay grasped art’s indisputable right to manipulate its audience, while revealing its underlying makeup.” Dr. Ktzia Alon, 2010