Konstantin Benkovich

The Russian and Israeli street artist, sculptor, and curator Konstantin Benkovich was born on 28 January 1981 in Volkhov, Leningrad Oblast. In 2007, he graduated with honours from the School of Monumental and Decorative Art of the St. Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design with a degree in Metal Art. Together with fellow alumni, Benkovich founded the Creative Forging studio specialising in the design and manufacture of architectural metalwork and art restoration projects.

Metalworking and forging techniques formed the backbone of Benkovich’s art: creating his pieces out of reinforcement bars and steel pipes, he uses traditional craftsmanship to reveal the conceptual essence of his works and ‘transfer’ two-dimensional drawings into three-dimensional space. Finding inspiration in the key figures of global contemporary art, including Jasper Johns, Jeff Koons, and Damien Hirst, Konstantin frequently resorts to iconic imagery of pop culture and daily life, deconstructing its familiar meanings in an attempt to express a critical outlook on the present-day reality.