Iman Issa
Proxies, with a Life of Their Own
11 Dec 2020 - 14 Mar 2021
Iman Issa Book of Facts: A Proposition, 2017 Book, reading display of white table with stool Courtesy the artist and carlier | gebauer, Berlin / Madrid Photo: Günter Kresser
Iman Issa Masks for a Multiple-Role Actor, 2020, from the series Surrogates 3d prints, wood, steel, thread, metal wire, acrylic, epoxy, paint, text panel Commissioned by TAXISPALAIS Kunsthalle Tirol for Iman Issa___Proxies, with a Life of Their Own Courtesy the artist and Rodeo, London / Piraeus Photo: Günter Kresser
Iman Issa Masks for a Multiple-Role Actor, 2020, from the series Surrogates 3d prints, wood, steel, thread, metal wire, acrylic, epoxy, paint, text panel Commissioned by TAXISPALAIS Kunsthalle Tirol for Iman Issa___Proxies, with a Life of Their Own Courtesy the artist and Rodeo, London / Piraeus Photo: Günter Kresser
Iman Issa Masks for a Multiple-Role Actor, 2020, from the larger project Surrogates (detail) 3d prints, wood, steel, thread, metal wire, acrylic, epoxy, paint, text panel Commissioned by TAXISPALAIS Kunsthalle Tirol for Iman Issa___Proxies, with a Life of Their Own Courtesy the artist and Rodeo, London / Piraeus Photo: Günter Kresser
Iman Issa Masks for a Multiple-Role Actor, 2020, from the larger project Surrogates (detail) 3d prints, wood, steel, thread, metal wire, acrylic, epoxy, paint, text panel Commissioned by TAXISPALAIS Kunsthalle Tirol for Iman Issa___Proxies, with a Life of Their Own Courtesy the artist and Rodeo, London / Piraeus Photo: Günter Kresser
Iman Issa Masks for a Multiple-Role Actor, 2020, from the larger project Surrogates (detail) 3d prints, wood, steel, thread, metal wire, acrylic, epoxy, paint, text panel Commissioned by TAXISPALAIS Kunsthalle Tirol for Iman Issa___Proxies, with a Life of Their Own Courtesy the artist and Rodeo, London / Piraeus Photo: Günter Kresser
Iman Issa Masks for a Multiple-Role Actor, 2020, from the larger project Surrogates (detail) 3d prints, wood, steel, thread, metal wire, acrylic, epoxy, paint, text panel Commissioned by TAXISPALAIS Kunsthalle Tirol for Iman Issa___Proxies, with a Life of Their Own Courtesy the artist and Rodeo, London / Piraeus Photo: Günter Kresser
Iman Issa Masks for a Multiple-Role Actor, 2020, from the larger project Surrogates (detail) 3d prints, wood, steel, thread, metal wire, acrylic, epoxy, paint, text panel Commissioned by TAXISPALAIS Kunsthalle Tirol for Iman Issa___Proxies, with a Life of Their Own Courtesy the artist and Rodeo, London / Piraeus Photo: Günter Kresser
Exhibition view Iman Issa___Proxies, with a Life of Their Own, TAXISPALAIS Kunsthalle Tirol, 2020 Courtesy the artist, carlier | gebauer, Berlin / Madrid and Rodeo, London / Piraeus Photo: Günter Kresser
Iman Issa Untitled (Study for 2019), 2019, from the larger project Lexicon Single-channel video, news, color, text panel under glass 2:21 min. Courtesy the artist and Rodeo, London / Piraeus Photo: Günter Kresser
Iman Issa raises questions about the relevance of forms and iterates the past into virulent present. With her installations, films, publications, and sound works, Issa creates playful studies that allow viewers to experience the blind spots that run through present visions of the past. Historical artifacts, the genre of the artistic self-portrait, film sequences, the history of ideas, and cultural practices – such as museal conventions of showing and preserving – are drawn upon, variegated, and reinterpreted.
The works challenge the status commonly designated to the images, objects, descriptions, and subjects in the exhibition space by proposing different relationships between them. Each sculptural object, for example, is assigned a text precisely describing in straightforward language an existing object, painting, film scene, et cetera, however these written descriptions are incongruent with the sculptures presented. Although characterized by a high degree of precision and clarity, the individual elements of each work interact with each other and the viewer in a manner resembling a complicated conversation where basic terminology still needs to be negotiated . . . a process of perception that opens up essential questions instead of closing them.
For her first comprehensive solo exhibition in Austria, Issa has created numerous new works presented at the TAXISPALAIS within the context of her ongoing work series.
Curated by Nina Tabassomi
The works challenge the status commonly designated to the images, objects, descriptions, and subjects in the exhibition space by proposing different relationships between them. Each sculptural object, for example, is assigned a text precisely describing in straightforward language an existing object, painting, film scene, et cetera, however these written descriptions are incongruent with the sculptures presented. Although characterized by a high degree of precision and clarity, the individual elements of each work interact with each other and the viewer in a manner resembling a complicated conversation where basic terminology still needs to be negotiated . . . a process of perception that opens up essential questions instead of closing them.
For her first comprehensive solo exhibition in Austria, Issa has created numerous new works presented at the TAXISPALAIS within the context of her ongoing work series.
Curated by Nina Tabassomi