The overall effect is purposely enigmatic - the creation of an obscure identity through a medium that crosses cultural, historical, and technological boundaries. Many of his portraits from the last two decades were initiated as photographs which were then replicated into small paintings, re-photographed, enlarged and printed onto canvas.
In production, Kami strays even farther from antiquity. For Kami, these works are not meant to function as funerary markers for unique individuals and their subjects have not died rather, Kami has chosen to depict nameless, unassuming individuals, some known to the artist, and others complete strangers. These painted elegies have long been viewed as crowning examples of Classical Art, but their aesthetics have not been appropriated without modification by the artist. Kami's name has become chiefly identified with these large-scale figurative paintings, many of which are reminiscent of Fayyum - mummy portraits particularly common of 1st century BC through 2nd century AD Roman Egypt. What Homi Bhaba refers to in Kami's work as a "mediated transmission across materials, genres, and time exposures," is most conspicuous in the untitled portraits on display in the gallery. Kami, which opens on January 10 and will continue through February 5, 2008, marks Kami's premiere exhibition at both locations.Įdward Said has written "Appeals to the past are among the commonest of strategies in interpretations of the present." This is perhaps why the paintings and drawings on display at John Berggruen Gallery are at once both aesthetically historical and acutely contemporary. John Berggruen Gallery, concurrently with Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, is pleased to present a two-part exhibition of paintings and works on paper by Iranian-born artist, Y.Z.
0 kommentar(er)
