Ariel Schlesinger

An Israeli contemporary artist, Ariel Schlesinger is known for a diverse body of work that navigates sculpture, conceptual art, and installation art. Through his practice, he creates new uses for mundane, utilitarian objects, rearranging them in ways that leave viewers simultaneously amused and apprehensive.

Born in 1980 in Jerusalem, Schlesinger currently lives between Berlin and Mexico City. He studied at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem and the School of Visual Arts in New York City. After moving to Berlin shortly after his graduation, he’s been awarded residencies in Germany, France, Italy and Japan. Schlesinger has had a large number of exhibitions, including venues such as Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv, Galleria Klerkx, Milan, Galerija Gregor Podnar, Berlin and Ljublijana, Musée du Chateau de Montbeliard, Montbeliard and Künstlerhaus, Bremen.

Characterized by an inventor’s imagination and a razor-sharp wit, Schlesinger personifies objects through clever alterations, highlighting their strangely moving fragility and beauty. Combining household objects and simple technology, he creates absurd acts and rare and surreal objects. His works suggest many contexts and situations including the tensions of his native region. Interested in the tangible and fragile verge of collapse, a lot of his work holds some sense of danger.