On the occasion of its group exhibition at Abu Dhabi Art (16 – 19 November 2011) Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde is proud to announce that it now represents Idris Khan (UK), Wim Delvoye (BE), Jean-Luc Moerman (BE) and Abdelkader Benchamma (FR/AL).
British artist Idris Khan creates dynamic, multi-layered photos, employing seminal texts, musical scores, paintings or culturally iconic photographic works, meditating on abstraction, identity and existential complexity. In ‘The World Of Perception’ a work created after the book by French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Khan photographed every page of the book before digitally combining them into a single image. The result of this homage is a series of blurred lines of type, in which a word can occasionally be deciphered. In this dramatic context, the book can be seen in a frozen instant, simultaneously pulsing and sublimated.
French-Algerian artist Abdelkader Benchamma creates black monochrome drawings on paper where the artist conceives and draws states of matter, events, explosions and fusions. The drawing venture into trouble zones, hesitate between sculpture and liquefaction, between the figurative and the abstract. Two works specially conceived for the fair will be displayed.
The works of Belgian artist Jean-Luc Moerman’s are rigorous yet fresh, meticulous but wild. Over the course of his career, he has appropriated an eclectic variety of media, from street stickers to classical art masterpieces and customised them with intricate, swirling decorative patterns. For our participation in Art Abu Dhabi, Moerman presents a work from his series that sees classic artworks - including some from the Orientalist movement of the early 20th century - carefully augmented and obliterated with his distinctive patterns. Proposing theories of form and appropriation, as well as subtly referencing censorship and creative integrity, Moerman’s practice creates intriguing and absorbing new textures.
From internationally renowned Belgian artist Wim Delvoye, we are displaying a piece from his Gothic-style work, ‘Dump Truck - scale 1/5’. Patterns are omnipresent in Delvoye’s practice, as his works tend to marry disparate elements into unexpectedly successful juxtapositions, putting the viewer in a position of simultaneous recognition of incompatible parts. Incidentally, Wim Delvoye will be staging a solo exhibition at Le Louvre, Paris from April to July 2012.
As well as these additions to the IVDE family, we’ll also be presenting works from existing gallery artists, Rokni and Ramin Haerizadeh and Jeffar Khaldi. One exceptional oil on canvas ‘The Cursing King’ by Rokni Haerizadeh articulates his typical fluidity to allegorically ridicule tyranny and people of power; a couple of small collages on paper by Ramin Haerizadeh demonstrating the artist’s brutal dark humour while exploring the theme of self-portraits in an atmosphere of political and historical satire.
And in an exclusive preview of Gallery IVDE’s forthcoming solo show by long-term collaborator Jeffar Khaldi (December 12 – January 12, 2012), we will be showing four works on paper, demonstrating Khaldi’s latest techniques, blending digital print technology with spray and oil paints, achieving a densely-textured metallic surface effect that imbue his found images - from YouTube clips of Arab rioters this year to historical photographs of political and rebel figures from across the Middle East – with a new degree of urgency, rawness and visceral power.
Please note that Rokni and Ramin Haerizadeh and gallery owner Isabelle van den Eynde will participate in ADA Conversations: Friday 18 November, 14:00 – 15:00, Manarat Al Saadiyat - Theatre
