carlier | gebauer is pleased to present the first solo exhibition in Germany of the Swedish-Palestinian artist Tarik Kiswanson. Currently based between Paris and New York, Kiswanson’s practice is shaped by a sculptural vocabu- lary inscribed with the hybridization of Middle Eastern cultural heritage and Western modernism, of art and the artisanal. From an intense process of interbreeding enigmatic works emerge, inciting ceaseless tension between their two poles. In light of this, its final signification remains in constant suspense.
Contact Sheet’s genesis lies in photographs dating from the 1970s document- ing the family life of the artist. The embroidery of traditional costumes present in the photographs becomes the central subject of the work. Playing with a shift of scale, from the microscopic to the monumental, Tarik Kiswan- son discharges the motifs from their folkloric references. Removed of all original contexts, the raw essence of his imagery opens up a multitude of interpretations. Quasi-abstract from this point on, the magnified details of the embroideries illustrate the circulation of certain primary forms across different époques and geographical regions, thus providing an unspoken pro- gression from the subjective and personal to the objective.
Installation Views
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Tarik Kiswanson, Contact Sheet, exhibition view at carlier | gebauer, 2016
Photo: Gunter Lepkowski -
Tarik Kiswanson, Contact Sheet, exhibition view at carlier | gebauer, 2016
Photo: Gunter Lepkowski -
Tarik Kiswanson, Contact Sheet, exhibition view at carlier | gebauer, 2016
Photo: Gunter Lepkowski