Ofer Grunwald
Ofer Grunwald (b. 1980, living and working in Brussels and Jerusalem) is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist, working mainly in mixed-media installation and figurative sculpture. His work is informed by his background as a world-leading bonsai artist, and driven by a fascination with processes (whether personal, social, cultural, technical, or artistic) and the tension between the dynamic and the seemingly static.
Ofer’s installation pieces emanate from various deeply-ingrained traditions that have served as a formative backdrop for him, personally. These can be cultural traditions, religious traditions, artistic traditions, etc. His work tends to turn a critical, but ultimately compassionate eye on these traditions. By rendering them contemporary and dynamic, Ofer highlights the dissonance between tradition as a static object, and the dynamics of the society that practices that tradition.
Ofer has exhibited both locally and internationally in such exhibitions as Disconnected Medium (Hassid Gallery, Jerusalem, 2016), Vessels (Jerusalem Biennale, 2017), Hybrid Botany (Benyamini Center, 2018), Heterotopeum (Canberra, Australia, 2018), Illusion of Motion (Jerusalem, 2019), Monoculture (Tel Aviv, 2020), and built a temporary public installation in Canberra, Australia commissioned during his 1-month visiting artist residency at the Australian National University’s School of Art and Design.
Solo exhibitions:
2021 - My Mother's Country, Architects’ House Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel
2021 - Internet of Things, Barbur Gallery, Jerusalem, Israel
2018 - Inundation, Art Not Apart, Canberra, Australia
2018 - Heterotopium, National Arboretum Canberra, Australia
2017 - Vessels, Jerusalem Biennale, Israel
Group exhibitions:
2021 - State of Repair, Vacant Museum (online exhibition)
2020 - Walking Museum fundraising exhibition in Knokke, Belgium
2020 - The (New) Dictionary of Things, London Festival of Architecture, UK
2019 - Hamekarer 2019, Hamekarer, Tel Aviv, Israel
2019 - In the East, Cymbalista Jewish Heritage Center, Tel Aviv, Israel
2018 - Hybrid Botany, Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Center, Tel Aviv,
Israel
2016 - Disconnected Medium , Hassid Gallery, Jerusalem, Israel
Grants and Awards:
2021 - Official Pre-Selection, Figurativas 2021, MEAM, Spain
2020 - Gent Culture Department grant, Belgium
2019 - Israel Ministry of Culture Independent Artist Grant
Residencies:
2018 - Australia National University School of Art and Design Visiting Artist
Residency, Canberra, Australia