Galerie Perrotin, New York presents Float, the fourth solo exhibition by Farhad Moshiri and the Iranian artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery in New York.
This new body of work articulates Moshiri’s multifaceted approach to art and the ideas that inform it. If on the one hand, the concept of floating is an indicator of Moshiri’s proclivity for exploring different art genres and media, on the other hand it communicates his desire to escape reality as we know it to seek
shelter in a fantasy world, where the absence of conventional rules and the possibility of repositioning existing elements in a new light can result in the creation of a parallel dimension where freedom is the only master.

photo perrotin.com

Art has a long-standing tradition of attempts to channel the creative process through the establishment of alternative worlds, but whereas in most cases this vision is translated into macroscopic epic ventures, Moshiri’s world manifests itself in a quieter, subtler fashion, spreading hints and signals while moving across a wide board that sees the artist engaged in a dialogue with an extremely rich vocabulary. Equally at ease with so-called high-brow and low-brow references, including Pop art, conceptual art, comics, advertising, classic portraiture, and religious iconography, Moshiri’s composite language is primarily a reflection of the different cultures that defined his growth as a human being and as an artist – a conflict that is still very much present today in contemporary Iran’s society, where Moshiri resides, and where the pillars that supported a secular civilization are subjected to daily reviews, questions and contaminations dictated by the inevitable progress of modern life. This factor, coupled with Moshiri’s attendance of the California Institute of Arts in the mid 1980s, where he first came to contact with other major unorthodox reality makers like Michael Asher, John Baldessarri and Don Buchla, and the opportunity he had over the past decade to witness the quick evolution of Dubai into the global, high-rise city it is today on the other side of the Persian Gulf, explains why Moshiri’s
artistic strategy relies almost entirely on his observation and collection of these extremes and their amalgamation into a larger scenario he constructed himself. This is particularly exemplified in a work like “I Scream Float” (2014), where a set of falling ice creams are juxtaposed to the pale black and white
depiction of a murder scene, as if the artist is publicly ordering his materials to challenge preconceived notions.

photo perrotin.com

Punctuated by humorous puns such as in “Travelers” (2014) where two lions pose quietly with “I wish we could travel” and “If we had a credit card we could travel the world” in Persian script embroidered with beads, or introspective moments, like the retro-flavored portrait of a woman holding a book in
“Falling to Sleep” (2014) and the pensive girl sitting next to the cut-out of a flower pot in “Drift” (2014), Moshiri’s paintings come across as the proverbial calm before the storm when put next to their explosive counterparts, like “Falling Star” (2014) or the powerful three-dimensional “Knives on White Frosting” and “Wooden Knives on Yellow” (both 2014). The monochrome backgrounds pierced by blades, while resembling healing practices like acupuncture, also symbolize a frictional relationship with abstraction – the bastion of modernism whose quest for the removal of ornamentation and imagery surprisingly resonates with some of the basic principles of religious fundamentalism.
Lost in their thoughts, Moshiri’s characters, like his falling stars and knives, are floating, ultimately sharing the predominant sentiment expresses by their author in their constant search for a place they can call their own.

photo perrotin.com

Text by Michele Robecchi

via perrotin.com

The post Farhad MOSHIRI at Galerie Perrotin appeared first on INHALE MAG.

In this exhibition, the individual is treated as a Wunderkammer of sorts, and its five traditional categories are transferred to the realm of human existence and redefined as: instincts, simulacra, mind, oddities, and exotica. Such categorization aims to question and broaden the manifold aspects of the present-day notion of self. Wunderkammer objects and contemporary artworks are juxtaposed with each other to reveal striking affinities and contrasts. From wonders of the world to wonders of the self – the show invites viewers to question the notion of the self.

Marina Abramović Self portrait with skull, 2005, Courtesy Marina Abramović and Sean Kelly Gallery New York, Photo Paolo Canevari © Marina Abramović

Both the exhibition and the publication accompanying it are the product of a collaboration between the three curators Fanny Nina Borel, Myrto Katsimicha, and Elisabetta Rabajoli, as part of their Master’s degree in ‘Curating the Contemporary’ at London Metropolitan University. The degree is led by Nico de Oliveira, with the Whitechapel Gallery and me Collectors Room/Olbricht Foundation as partners.

Matthew Barney, CREMASTER 5: her Giant,1997 © Matthew Barney, Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels

Featured artists: Marina Abramović, Eva Aeppli, Barry X Ball, Matthew Barney, Chuck Close, Graham Dolphin, Jan Fabre, Sylvie Fleury, Andreas Golder, Julie Heffernan, Krištof Kintera, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Terence Koh, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Juan Muñoz, Eadweard Muybridge, Tony Oursler, Gerhard Richter, Collier Schorr, Cindy Sherman, Helmut Stallaerts, Otto Steinert, Werner Rohde, Paloma Varga Weisz, and Erwin Wurm.

via me-berlin.com

The post Exotica at Collectors Room Berlin appeared first on INHALE MAG.

photo nicolaiwallner.com

Creating a physically immersive portrayal of the city, an exciting use of materials, colors, abstract and figurative elements come together, ultimately underlining what makes the city diverse as well as what brings it together. Working with unexpected surfaces, Johanson seamlessly incorporates these elements through paintings on found wood and installations—painting directly onto these surfaces. Cut out and layered one on top of the other, the materials combine to create a three-dimensional experience. A large installation runs throughout the entirety of the exhibition—a representation of the energy that pulsates through the city throughout night and day—creating a flowing dynamic that also physically links the works together.

The eclectic nature of this work makes evident the chaotic nature of the city of Los Angeles and its inhabitants, but it equally demonstrates a more serious underpinning. Johanson’s choice to use recycled materials is a decidedly political one, albeit with an aesthetic component. The commitment is one of conservation, and as such determines much of what Johanson does, further tying himself with his own immediate environment.

photo nicolaiwallner.com

via nicolaiwallner.com

The post Chris Johanson at Galleri Nicolai Wallner appeared first on INHALE MAG.

photo victoria-miro.com

The exhibition, which opened on 16 September 2014 comprises two elements: the main gallery houses a new body of paintings and large scale mosaic pumpkins which will be on show until 4 October; whilst a major new series of bronze sculptures will be on display in the gallery’s unique water garden until 20 December. The bronze pumpkins have been two years in the making and mark the first time the artist has worked with bronze on such a large scale.

photo victoria-miro.com

Since her earliest formative years, in a family who made their living cultivating plant seeds, Kusama has been fascinated by the natural world. She has always had an affinity with nature, particularly vegetal and floral life, but the pumpkin continues to occupy a special place in her iconography and is a motif she has returned to repeatedly throughout her career.

photo victoria-miro.com

via victoria-miro.com

The post Yayoi Kusama | Pumpkins at Victoria Miro appeared first on INHALE MAG.

The XX Barcelona Manga Fair will be held from Thursday, October 30 to Sunday, November 2 in Hall 1, Hall 2 and Plaza Universo at the Fira de Barcelona on Montjuïc.

The twentieth edition of the Barcelona Manga Fair will take over a record 50,000 m² of the Fira de Barcelona venue, 15,000 m² than last year’s 35,000 m². The event will cover the venue’s Hall 1, Hall 2 and Plaza Universo, where the stage will be located. Opening times will also be extended this year and the fair will open its doors to the public at 9:00 a.m. on all four days.

photo hostalmarenostrum.com

The post The XX Barcelona Manga Fair appeared first on INHALE MAG.