BEN ELHAV

As an artist, I’ve always been concerned with the exploration and manifestation of personal truth. Through my work, I seek to make the viewer aware of my and their own truth, the ways we consciously or unconsciously express it, and our tendency to force those truths into becoming reality. In this process, the conceptual becomes tangible. Much of my work is centered around our hidden construction of memory, thought, and the way they fashion the world we live in.

A bad idea can create a bad reality if taken to its conclusion, so the first step to creating a better world must begin in the mind. If I can guide the viewer to constructing a more honest and nuanced understanding of their world, then I can make the outcome of their interaction with the world more positive, and prevent a toxic personal truth from becoming reality. To facilitate this process, much of my work takes the form of false constructions of cities, regions, or people. I create pieces that manifest stereotypes and archetypes but always have cracks of incoherence within them, hoping the viewer will notice contradictions and begin to question the information. If I can trigger even a little skepticism in my viewer, they can critically analyze the world they are presented with in future.

My process as a whole is the process of world creation. Through my art, I build worlds that are open to change and interpretation, allowing me a space to experiment with themes and ideas that I couldn’t test in real life. In reality, we only have one world and an extremely limited number of opportunities to irreversibly define it. I create art with the hope that we make the right decisions when we do.