BODHI by Gazelli Art House

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SHOWCASING NE W WOR KS BY K H A N L A R GASIMOV SHAN HUR JAUME PLENSA O LY M P I A S C A R R Y

Pages 79 — 96

Foreword The chosen path we tread on unravels turns we cannot foresee. It is the mystery of occurrences that lead us to surrender our control – albeit temporarily – over our emotions and intuitive gestures, thoughts, and reactions. And it is this truest form of an inner state that allows us to clearly perceive what we see. Peel off the labels, associations, merits and credentials and you are faced with the bare backbone of an artistic outcome in its raw and untarnished purity. Marking the end of our inaugural series, and the opening show of our first permanent space in London, Bodhi provides an organic and open-ended conclusion to the various territories explored in the previous four shows: Fired Up, Down to Earth, Still or Sparkling and Air I Breathe. Touching on the topic of spiritual enlightenment through the means of contemporary art, the show brings to the forefront four diverse artists, through the eyes of which you are invited to make your own revelations. Each journey comes to an end, but every ending leads to a new beginning. Continuity being an innate feature of the gallery, we proudly open our doors and welcome you to the final show of the series upon which this gallery was founded. Thank you for your support and continued interest. I pledge to make it count. Mila Askarova CEO & Founder Gazelli Art House 79

The Classical Elements Bohdi Successfully establishing and developing a dialogue between the exhibited works of art defines the purpose of any curatorial effort. A concept as ambiguous and mystical as spiritualism or inner progression to ‘enlightenment’ enables one to draw similarities between various art forms and works of art despite the lack of clarity to the untrained eye. Nonetheless, an individual’s approach may guide the way into the exhibition, yet what the audience draws out of it – and this will inevitably vary – remains an inherent part to the actual show. The subjectivity of our perceptions, therefore, completes this exhibition. Sitting motionless with knees pulled up close to the chest, an outline of a figure oozes an aura of serenity and wisdom. Rising from the ground (making it a structured and planned product of earth), the letters climb up the invisible form, creating a steady platform for the figure to sit on. He overlooks the horizon, sees eye to eye with the future ahead. Bracing the energy around, the figure awaits the predetermined chain of events while guarding or perhaps holding onto his knowledge and beliefs. The transparency of the form highlights the fragility of our perceptions. It seems with a single blow of air the amalgamation of letters will disintegrate, blurring the stark outline of the form, making it slowly vanish. They will then travel onwards, taking on another shape close by or further away. Jaume Plensa’s Overflow I, as the title implies, depicts the inexplicable power lying within us – be it emotional, moral, physical or spiritual. “Letters and words became my materials now… the association of the letters like body cells can create words in more complex organisms; and the words between them can form a text that, gathered with others, can write a culture.” Jaume Plensa Plensa’s poetic outlook on the surroundings takes shape not only in stainless steel sculptures, but also in multi media drawings – adding his signature depth to the two-dimensional works. The Veiled Shadow series depict sculptural portraits of soft yet static expressions, reminiscent of the Renaissance precision and perfectionism. Dark streaks partially cover the image, casting a visible shadow over the subject, wrapping it in coy and demure mystery. Poeticism and the constant inner battle to reach self-perfection through the embrace of one’s surroundings lie at the heart of spiritual awakening. A handful of poets from Azerbaijan were picked to continuously recite a selection of poems on various surfaces ranging from untreated canvases to clay and photographic paper. This mantralike exercise explores energy transformation and the ability to alter its presence in the chosen material. Encouraging the viewer to employ the artwork as a means to self-discovery is at the core of Kahnlar Gasimov’s INTRODUCTION

practice. As part of his poetry recital series, Gasimov will exhibit unique photography prints on fiber base with copper and wood mounting, as well as a sculpture titled Walking in 8 Bodies Simultaneously, collars from eight poets’ t-shirts cast in bronze. “The path stretches from you to you. My work does not guide the audience to their own self-discovery, it rather enables them to rely on their own imagination, questioning what they see each time they see it.” Kahnlar Gasimov

The Most Honorable Being honors its place within the exhibition through its aesthetic resonance with human skin. Veins, hair, and the preconceived judgment of the softness of one’s own flesh wrap the surface of an everyday object – an umbrella. Serving as a (human) shield, Gasimov’s sculpture made of silicon, human hair, metal and epoxy inverts the concept of guarding and protecting our inner world by deliberately depicting our physical form on the outer surface of the umbrella. The piece, as the title suggests, praises the idea of transparency, linking our inner world to the surroundings. The analysis of one’s surroundings and projection of our reactions to them is also captured in Olympia Scarry’s new body of work. Focusing on mundane states of mind with spurs of frustration and boredom, Scarry solidifies the intangible feelings into a physical form as in the case of The Marble Bubble Wrap Painting. A simple stretch of bubble wrap over a wooden frame later takes on a heavier form once the material used in the piece is revealed. The physical intricacy of the work, however, throws the viewer into continuous doubt over the origin and the technique employed to reach such visual delicacy. Other works on display include Saliva and Bust – both self-reflective pieces inviting the viewer to reassess their conscious form. A gaping hole in the wall reveals a treasured object; a broken pillar screams hazard to those passing by. The practice of Shan Hur originated in the artist coming across a construction site which bewildered him into creating his own deconstructed sculptures, site-specific and reflective of the viewer’s physical interaction with artworks overall. The search and the element of discovery are entrenched in the artist’s work. To touch, often being a taboo subject in a gallery space, is what inspires Hur to continue his never ending research on the natural tendency to fall into predictable patterns of behavior and how unexpectedness can often lead to a new way of thinking. Hur’s photography taken with his mobile phone is the artist’s own perception of the streets he visits – a continuous exploration of the inevitability of change as sites close, amidst construction only to open later with a replaced business or a home. 81

INTRODUCTION

“The space used to be different – it is being changed into something new. Certain things have already happened and are progressing in a certain direction. They have some stories as they are, although they temporarily sidestep into silence and incompleteness” Shan Hur Walking through the gallery, one feels exposed to the various forms, materials, concepts that each artist delivers. Never imposing, these works are a subtle introduction to some, a gentle nudge to those that got distracted along the way, and an arrival to others. Whether this exhibition will draw on certain memories or open new doors to endless thoughts, inspiration to move forward and to enrich our perceptions is at its core. Mila Askarova

INTRODUCTION

Khanlar Gasimov The Most Honourable, 2004 Silicone, human hair, steel, epoxy 92 = 46 = 6cm

Khanlar Gasimov Spreading the poetry over the city, 2011 Performance still

KHANLAR GASIMOV

Shan Hur Inclined Angles, 2011 Wooden floor 525 = 412 = 35cm

Shan Hur Ball in the Pillar, 2011 Concrete, plywood, timber, basketball 510 = 23 = 32cm

SHAN HUR

Jaume Plensa Veiled Shadow XVIII, 2011 Mixed media on paper 42 × 30cm Courtesy of the Artist & Richard Gray Gallery

Jaume Plensa Veiled Shadow XLVI, 2011 Mixed media on paper 42 × 30cm Courtesy of the Artist & Richard Gray Gallery

JAUME PLENSA

Olympia Scarry It’s What You Make Of It My Friend, 2008 Neons, Glass, cables, mirrors 210 × 60 cm

Olympia Scarry The Bubble Wrap Painting, 2010 Silicone, plexiglass 45 × 35 × 5cm

O LY M P I A S C A R R Y

Khanlar Gasimov Born in Baku, Azerbaijan Lives and works in Connecticut, USA

Shan Hur Born in Seoul, Korea Lives and works in London

1990 MA Sculpture, University of Art, Baku, Azerbaijan

2010 M.F.A. Slade School of Fine Art, UK

Group & Solo Exhibitions 2011 Inclined Angles , Hanmi gallery, UK (Solo show) 4seen, The gardens gallery, Cheltenham 4482 IV, Bargehouse, London, UK The Open West , Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK -1st Award Shan Hur Solo Project , London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, London, UK Having a dig, Arch402 , London, UK 2010 CUBE Open 10, CUBE: Centre for the Built Environment, UK The Grass Will Grow Over The City, Hackney Wicked Festival, London, UK Present From The Past , Korean Cultural Centre London, UK M.F.A Degree Show, London, UK 4482III , Bargehouse, London, UK Artist In Residence, HEALâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S, London, UK 2009 Interim Show, London, UK Make it. Print it. Pack it. Ship it , closed shop (Fedex), London, UK CROSS FIELDS, Korean Cultural Centre, UK B.F.A Degree Show, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea

Group & Solo Exhibitions 2011 Gallery stux- New york, NY The venice Biennale, 54th International Art Exhibition (Azerbaijani pavilion) 2010 Contemporary Art Center Tou scene, Norway 2009 Contemporary Art Center, Warsaw Poland Voltahalle Basel Switzerland, 1994 Gallery Hittite, Toronto, Canada Gallery Sobot Fine Art, Toronto Canada 1993 Gallery Hittite, Toronto, Canada 1992 Gallery Karney, Toronto, Canada 1989 Central Union Art Galley, Moscow 1987 Architect Union Gallery, Baku, Azerbaijan 1986 National Republic Gallery, Baku, Azerbaijan Public Commissions 2008 Rockefeller Park Cleveland, OH 1989 International Tourist Center, Baku, Azerbaijan, 1989 National museum center, Baku, Azerbaijan

Publications 2011 Making surroundings II Intriguing Encounter 2010 Making surroundings

Articles 2011 This is Gloucestershire, Newspaper A-N magazine, Articles by Shan Hur Big picture

Awards and Residencies 2011 The Open West , Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK -1st Award 2009 Group residency based around Kurt Schwitters Merzbarn 2007 Brighton University Art faculty Prize

Olympia Scarry Born in Geneva, Switzerland

Jaume Plensa Born in Barcelona, Spain. Selected solo exhibitions 2011 The Hermit, Richard Gray gallery, Chicago, IL Echo, Mad. Sq. Art., 2011, Madison Square Park, New York Anonymous, Galerie Lelong, New York Jaume Plensa, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK 2010 Heart of Trees, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham Cantique des Cantiques, Galerie Alice Pauli, Lausanne, Switzerland Around Shadows, Galerie Scheffel Bad Homburg Les alphabets de l’âme, Galerie Lelong, Paris L’Ame des Mots, Musée Picasso, Antibes, France Jaume Plensa, Obra sobre papel, Galería Estiarte, Madrid Genus and Species, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas 2009 Jerusalem, Espacio Cultural El Tanque, Tenerife, Canary Islands Triptych, Mario Mauroner Contemporary Art, Vienna In the Midst of Dreams, G alerie Lelong, NY Slumberland, Galerie Lelong, Paris Silent Music, Diehl + Gallery One, Moscow 2008 Jaume Plensa, Mimmo Scognamiglio Artecontemporanea, Milano Jaume Plensa, Centro de Arte Caja de Burgos, Burgos Jaume Plensa, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, Michigan Jaume Plensa, La Riva de Acheronte, Im Dialog IX, Stadtkirche, Darmstadt 2007 Jaume Plensa, MAMAC, Musée d’Art moderne et d’Art contemporain, Nice Nomade, Bastion Saint-Jaume, Quaid Rambaud Organaized by Musée Picasso, Antibes Silent Voices, Museum at Tamada Projects, Tokyo Jaume Plensa / Shakespeare, Fundación Círculo de Lectores, Barcelona 2006 I In His Eyes As One That Found Peace, Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago / New York Jerusalem, Museu d’Art Modern i Contemporani Es Baluard, L’Aljub, Palma de Mallorca 2005 Jaume Plensa, CAC Málaga, Centro de Arte Contemporaneo, Málaga Is Art Something In Between?, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim Jaume Plensa, Ópera, teatro y amigos, Museo Colecciones ICO, Madrid 2004 Jaume Plensa, Livres, estampes et multiples sur papier 1978-2003, Musée des Beaux Arts, Caen, F / Fundación César Manrique, Lanzarote Silent Noise, The Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago / Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans / University Gallery - Fine Arts Center UMASS, Amherst

Selected group exhibitions 2011 Glasstress - La Biennale di Venezia, Istituto Veneto di Scienze Lettere ed Arti, Palazzo Cavalli Franchetti, Campo Santo Stefano, Venice Picasso to Koons , The Artist as Jeweler, Museum of Art and Design, New York, USA European Ivestment Bank Collection, Byzantine & Christian Museum, Athens The Last Freedom, From the Pioneers of LandArt of the 1960’s to the Cyberspace, Ludwing Museum, Koblenz Art on Lake, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest Freibeuter der Utopie, Weserburg / Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen Artzuid 2011, Amsterdam 2010 L’océan, visions d’artisties du 19o au 21o siecle, Belleveu, Biarritz,, France Umedalen Skulptur 10, Umeå Sculptur Park, Umeå, Sweden Fiax Lux, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo MACUF, A Coruña Sculptors celebrate the legacy of Fred and lLena Meijer, Frederik Meijer Gardens Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, Arts Towada, Towada, Japan Disquieted, Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon 2009 We, Vancouver Biennale, Vancouver, Canada Corpo Automi Robot, Museo d’Arte de Lugano, Villa Malpensata e Villa Ciani, Lugano Conflicting Tales: Subjectivity (Quadrilogy, Part 1), The Burger Collection, Berlin 2009 Sculpture at Pilane 2009, Tjörn, Sweden Niigata Water and Land Art Festival 2009, Japan Art Albertina, Albertina Museum, Vienna Beyond Limits, Shotheby’s at Chatsworth, Chatswhorth House, Derbyshire Unconditional Love, Arsenale Novissimo, 52 Biennale di Venezia, Venice La escultura en la colección del IVAM, IVAM– Institut Valencia d’Art Modern, Valencia Transparency, open air light art during the EU Presidency of the Czech Republic, Prague 2008 Beyond Limits, Shotheby’s at Chatsworth, Chatswhorth House, Derbyshire, World of Glass, Museum Kunst Palast, Dusseldorf España, Arte Spagnola 1957-2007, Da Picasso, Miró, Dalí, Tápies ai nostri giorni, Palazzo Sant’Elia, Palermo Digitale Raumkunst / Digital Artspace, Stiftung Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum - Zentrum Internationaler Skulptur, Duisburg 2007 Figura humana y abstracción, Esculturas de los siglos XX y XXI, Colección Würth, Alemania y España, Museo Würth La Rioja, Logroño Dialogues Méditerranéens, Saint Tropez Barcelone 1947–2007, Fondation Marguerite et Aimé Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence Sculpture Biennale Kijkduin 2007, International Glass & Sculpture Exposition, The Hague La Palabra Imaginada, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Esteban Vicente, Segovia Entre la palavra e a imagem, Museo da Cidade, Lisbon / Centro Cultural Vila Flor, Guimarâes Monumental, Sotheby’s at Isleworth, Windermere, Florida

Selected awards 2011 Premis GAC 2011, Association of Catalonian Galleries Award, Barcelona 2010 Best Published Book in 2009 - Bibliophily Status, Ministry of Culture, General Direction for Books, Archives and Libraries , Madrid, Spain Civic Trust Awards , Liverpool, UK 2009 The 2009 Marsh Award for public sculpture, London, UK Precast Concrete Society Special Creativity, London, UK 2007 Heitland Foundation Prize, Celle, Germany 2006 The Bombay Sapphire Prize/Annual International Award for glass work , The Bombay Sapphire Foundation, London, UK Villa de Madrid Etching Award, Madrid, Spain 2005 Awarded honorary doctorate of The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, USA 2003 Villa de Madrid Sculpture Award , Madrid, Spain

2007 BFA/Psychology, The American University, London, UK

Solo Exhibitions 2008 Go For It , CONDUITS/Gea Politi, Milan, Italy Selected Group Exhibitions 2011 Commercial Break , The Garage of Contemporary Culture Moscow, Venice Biennale, Venice, IT Modern Abstract and Minimal, Baliche/Hertling/ Conduits/Johan Koenig, Conduits/Gea Politi, Milan, IT Gloria Hole, The Fireplace Project, East Hampton, NY Involuntary, Ford/Projects, New York, US NothingEverTouches , Armory Show 2011, Chiles Matar, New York, US Under Construction, SAKS, Geneva, CH 2010 Nude as Muse: Playboy Art Salon, Art Basel Miami, US Normal Dimensions: Carol Bove, Susan Collis, Olympia Scarry and Xaviera Simmons curated by Neville Wakefield, Half Gallery, New York, US Architectural Playgrounds , Barbican Center, London, UK 2009 PLAY A Festival of Fun, Paradise Row, Prakke Contemporary & The Wallis Gallery, London, UK The Embassy, 20 Hoxton Square, London, UK Unconditional Love, Arsenale Novissimo, Venice Biennale Collateral, Venice, IT Metropolis , Tunnel 228, London, UK 2008 OMG A special Project by Olaf Breuning , CONDUITS/Gea Politi, Milan, IT The Rebirth, LVMH Foundation, Royal Monceau, Paris, FR 20 Hoxton Square Presents , Group Show, London, UK 2007 20 Hoxton Square Presents , Group Show, London, UK

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