Destructive Beauty, 2019, Olya Brener

Photo: Hadar Saifan

What

Fireproof concrete, glass; melting

Who

Olya Brener, b. 1979

Why

Olya Brenner fashioned a series of concrete sculptures depicting rabbits in profile, which appear as frozen, faceless duplicates of one another. In order to counter the cold, gray and hard concrete, Brenner introduces warm, colored glass. The spots of color distinguish the rabbits from one another, endowing them each with a unique identity. In this work, Brenner returns to a subject that has preoccupied her for many years: the human exploitation of animals in order to fulfill human needs and desires. The crumbling, crude concrete makes reference to the painful experience of laboratory animals. The grouping of the rabbits together underscores this reference to research laboratories, in which such cruel actions are often undertaken. “My work,” says Brenner, “touches upon one ounce of the daily suffering of animals exploited by humans in various experiments.”

Where

On display at the Rothschild Gallery, Tel Aviv Biennale of Crafts & Design, MUZA – Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv.