Tariq Alvi
dal 19/11/2010 al 14/1/2011
Segnalato da
19/11/2010
Tariq Alvi
Michael Benevento, Los Angeles
Artist's images and sculptural forms frequently deploy elaborate and meticulous elements of collage as they amass, map, manipulate, punctuate and re-direct issues of desire, economy and formalism.
Michael Benevento is pleased to announce “XX,” the first Los Angeles solo exhibition by British artist Tariq Alvi.
Often involving processes of accumulation – paper cut-outs, magazine tears, photographs, pins, coins, drawings, club flyers, newspaper collages, silk screen prints, found wood, staples and mirrors – Alvi’s images and sculptural forms frequently deploy elaborate and meticulous elements of collage as they amass, map, manipulate, punctuate and re-direct issues of desire, economy and formalism.
The largest object on exhibition is “Disco Twig,” a fourteen-foot long mirror segmented into varied widths and assembled with found wooden sticks wrapped in torn-up dance club flyers. While playing on the inherent reflective nature of mirrors, and by extension issues of identity politics, Alvi’s repurposed and abstracted forms articulate, conflate and disrupt the formal notions of appropriation with a painstakingly manual production.
In “XXXX,” Alvi re-tools a fast-food menu similar to the one used in a earlier work, “Help” (2003), replacing each letter of the menu with the letter “X” while retaining each item’s price. Using the rhythm within a found form, the letter “X” connotes both abstraction and allusion – buried treasure, a kiss, “moonshine adult entertainment” – indicating a play on language, an investigation of linguistics and vernaculars of capital and consumerism. Alvi evokes the consumptive parallels between processed foods and bodies. Cut off from their prices, their signs of value, Alvi approaches issues of material worth in a market with the potential to effortlessly transform people into things.
Tariq Alvi has shown internationally, including solo exhibitions at Badischer Kunstverein (Germany), Chisenhale (London), 2nd Floor Projects (San Francisco), Cabinet (London), CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, and Whitechapel Gallery (London). He lives and works in London.
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 20th 6-8 PM
Michael Benevento
7578 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles
Gallery Hours are Tuesday - Saturday 10am-5pm
Admission free