International fashion label COS presents their first collaboration in Israel with local installation artist Ohad Benit. Check out 'Down to Earth' at the Fresh Paint Art Fair’s Gallery Weekend
Those who are fans of the London-based cult fashion brand COS will enjoy an extra special addition to the Fresh Paint Art Fair this year. The brand, which has become known for its high quality closet staples that reinvent classic cuts with perfectly poised draping in an elegant color palette, is melding their design aesthetic with Israeli design innovator Ohad Benit. COS has supported the arts since the launch of the brand through collaborations with established and emerging artists, galleries and creative studios, including joint work with The Serpentine Galleries, The Guggenheim New York, Frieze London and New York and Design Miami and with artists such as Snarkitecture, Sou Fujimoto, Studio Swine, The Donald Judd Foundation and AFSO / ANDRÉ FU.
Benit specializes in conceptual art and design with an emphasis on experiential environment and art product design, ranging from concept to product through space design. He is at home on the seam between art and design, creating a symbiotic message between the two approaches. "I find myself standing on the thin line between art and design, to explain my voice I would like to talk about how I see the difference between them."
Down To Earth COSXOhadBenit © Itay Benit
The designer deals with clients and their needs, creating solutions. The artist expresses himself," he explains. "I find that I have found my meeting point between these two realms. Because most of my work begins from within myself, my life experience, my everyday. Making my work a way to express myself in a very intuitive manner. From there I move on to site specific design art work that forms an action of thought for the clients I work for. I search for deep understanding of their need and then I form an experience. I am constantly inspired by raw materials, and search for the simplest manipulation of matter. My motto is “Mass production - handmade”, forming a sort of one man factory."
Benit's 'Down to Earth' is a sculptural installation overseen by artistic director Eyal de Leeuw that will open to the public in COS’ unique space housed at the old Agricultural Bank House in Tel Aviv for Fresh Paint. Featuring a collection of geometric compositions made from sustainable materials, the installation is suspended throughout the space. Some of the pipelines, which are made of glass, are lit from within, creating a clear sense of depth while playing with light and shade, guiding visitors in a visual journey from two dimensions to three dimensions. The geometric elements are finished with a range of experimental and tactile materials, which have been especially crafted for the installation.
Ohad Benit © Itay Benit
'Down to Earth' deals primarily with gravity and the impact it has on the way the geometric elements hang, similar to clothes hanging on a line to dry. The installation is inspired by the way COS collections explore materials, shapes and textures, highlighting the contrasts, while provoking interest and deliberation. Video mapping projection and ambient sound provide another layer to the floating installation, resulting in an experimental immersion for the viewer.
"I draw inspiration from my daily surrounding. The use of local, readymade materials offers endless opportunities for manipulating the mundane and familiar into an innovative, attractive and surprising object,"
Inspired by the centennial anniversary of the Bauhaus movement, Benit’s work attempts to reconstruct the graphical happening and the artistic experiences that emerge from the ongoing dialogues between shapes, materials and colors. Corresponding with Bauhaus aesthetics, it inspired by the works of László Moholy-Nagy, a Hungarian painter, photographer and professor at the Bauhaus School in Weimar, who was at the forefront of the New Vision Movement. "I draw inspiration from my daily surrounding. The use of local, readymade materials offers endless opportunities for manipulating the mundane and familiar into an innovative, attractive and surprising object," says Benit. "In ;Down to Earth', I have tried to provide a visual and physical expression to the interplay between textures, shapes and colors. By obsessively manipulating weights and compositions, I have created dissonance and connected the material extremes of various elements, making the rigid as loose as a garment hanging on a line to dry."
Down To Earth COSXOhadBenit © Itay Benit
As an Israeli designer, Benit has found his niche, using the country's push and pull, simultaneous surplus of resources in specific industries and lack thereof in others to fuel his mediums: "We are a small country and yet I find around me a rich and creative world in many fields. You can see it through the sheer amount of ideas and the ability to form something out of nothing. Israel is not a productive country in terms of manufacturing. This is where the designer comes in, working with what is available and finding creative solutions to produce," he explains.
"There are brilliant minds here, but I feel that the orientation does not source from the details but from the 'broken whole'. People like fast processes and we don’t have the privilege to normally focus on one thing. The designer is also the content manager, producer, public relations officer, and accountant; a multi-talent. The country is still young and does not have a specific aesthetic, looking around every corner looks different. We are a pretty small design scene, and there is a high motivational drive in the local design world."
Down To Earth COSXOhadBenit © Itay Benit
'Down to Earth', Fresh Paint Art Fair as part of the Gallery Weekend May 31-June 2. Old Agricultural Bank Building, 37 Carlebach St, Tel Aviv. Opening hours: May 31, 10:00-16:00, June 1, 10:00-18:00, June 2, 10:00-18:0