Eldar Krainer MRSS

Intrigued by the transformative impact of digital language on love and intimacy, his sculptures and installations explore the hope and despair inherent to dating apps, where emotions turn into commodities and are constantly mobilised through transactional platforms in search of external validation.

Forever aspiring for social acceptance, individuals are forced to shape their bodies to fit a certain standard and demand. Just like online images that undergo constant editing and often drift far from reality, for instance, someone who presents themselves as a tough and macho guy on Grindr may turn out to be a shy and sensitive person in real life, so as Krainer's sculptures deceive the viewers by pretending to be something that they are not; soft-to-the-touch castings of poly-foam look hard as stones, a roadblock that looks massive and heavy is hollowed and can be carried around like a toy.

Using "cold" and industrial materials like 3D prints, resin, concrete, aluminium, and steel to tell a personal story about love, his works challenge the dichotomy between technology and nature, suggesting a complex identity interplay between designed and organic forms of being.

Krainer graduated from the MFA Fine Art programme at Goldsmiths University in London, UK (2023) and his work been shown at Filet Gallery (LDN, UK), Studio Aliya 31 (TLV, IL), Studio West Gallery (LDN, UK), Copeland Gallery (LDN, UK), Edmond de Rothschild Center (TLV, IL), and at Art Cube Artists' Studios (JLM, IL). Additionally, he was featured at the 'The Wrong Biennale' in 2019 and in the esteemed annual Bauhaus Film and Video Art Festival in Weimar (DE) in 2017.