Schleicher + Lange

Timo Nasseri: Epistrophy

Timo Nasseri presents a series of works in different media, based on the Muqarnas, a type of corbel used as a decorative device in traditional Islamic and Persian architecture (from the 11th century onwards). Muqarnas encircle a space and shape its void. When contemplated from below they tend to create an abstract image of infinity. The original motif consists of a number of basic shapes that can be combined endlessly to create different patterns that never repeat themselves. Timo Nasseri seems to have found in the historical Islamic adornment the same pleasure in extricating a structured volume from a surface.
His latest sculpture, inspired by this architectural pattern and entitled Epistrophy #1, is deliberately severed from its past. It is embedded in the wall, leaving the sky accessible. Its polished stainless steel surface reflects the surrounding world rather than representing it, or rather represents it as totally fragmented and multiplied.

The exhibition also includes drawings based on the geometric calculations used to build Muqarnas. The lines interwine on the page, against a black background, presenting at once visual fascination and the formula behind it via the mathematical annotations that punctuate the drawing. The drawings, which lie somewhere between an architect’s layout and a representation of heavenly beauty, are the by-product of a process leading towards an intuitive abstraction. Another version of the original shape appears on a display bearing objects that are similar to the Muqarnas’ interlocking honeycomb structure. But in this case they are closed chambers, and filled, like so many confined small skies. In his new show, Timo Nasseri plays on oppositions such as empty/full, mirror/opacity, surface/image, like two worlds, which – despite stemming from each other – have developed their own autonomous chemistry.