Aviv Grinberg is a Tel Aviv based artist whose body of work combines portraits and sculptural acts. Grinberg utilizes various materials and mediums in order to push the boundaries of painting, and deal with themes that are rooted in different aspects of his life, such as his social settings, familial background and local surroundings.
Grinberg completed his mandatory military service as a warden in military prison. The official task of the wardens was to reform soldiers and re-integrate them back into the primary military system. However, the system lacked the basic tools to do so. Instead, the wardens were ordered to conduct and maintain strict cleaning drills in a building so severely neglected, that made cleaning it impossible.
The sisyphean nature of the prison work brought into Grinberg’s awareness a recurring pattern that presented itself in other aspects of his life. Patterns that reflected in the habits of his family members as futile attempts to resolve pathologies, for instance: an obsession with order and cleanliness, and repeated attempts to be cleansed of psychiatric medications.
Grinberg lives in the Neve Shaanan neighborhood. The neighborhood itself suffers from severe neglect and is in desperate need of maintenance, but, ironically, has an abundance in maintenance stores. Grinberg insists on purchasing his materials from these local stores, thus creating a dialog with the neighborhood, its residents, and the resources it offers.
Grinberg shifts between sculpting and painting, creates large-scale complex installations by which he mocks and glorifies the fruitless act of cleaning. The various types of cleaning liquids provide the pieces their color. In this manner, he samples, isolates and re-examines the colors, and by doing so reveals their dual nature: vibrant and alluring, and yet toxic.
