Shila Khatami
20 Feb - 30 Mar 2010
SHILA KHATAMI
"Topspin"
February 20–March 30, 2010
Opening: Friday, March 19, starting at 6.pm
The Berlin-based artist Shila Khatami (b. 1976) presents Topspin, her second solo exhibition at Galerie Susanna Kulli.
“Topspin” is a tennis term for a widely use forehand and backhand shot. Hitting the ball with an up-and-forward swing lends it a forward spin; it flies high above the net and then steeply descends, only to bounce back from the ground just as steeply and high. The extreme angles that can be played with such highly arched trajectories ideally drive the opponent far from his court, enabling the player to prepare for an attack.
The hanging arranged by the artist is not the only feature of the exhibition that recalls this sort of exchange of shots. On the level of content, too, the visitor recognizes a complex variety of references. The perforation pattern in the particleboards on which she paints already contains the circular shapes that become active pictorial elements in works such as Oops! and 99 x 66.
The triangle acts with no less self-confidence. Whereas Heissluft [Hot Air] integrates it into the pictorial plane, it rises out of this plane in Kawasaki and finally emancipates itself, in the shape of the Rechendreieck [Calculation Triangle], into a support for straight lines in search of a network.
This play with the qualities of different colors and surfaces is a characteristic feature of Khatami’s creative work. The works on exhibition also show great diversity in the gestural application of paint. In addition to the searching lines mentioned above, there are also flowing, resolute, and dissipating brushstrokes.
Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s arrangement of luscious spheres and fragile lines in the oil painting Steigend, fliegend, fallend [Rising, Flying, Falling] (1934, Kunstmuseum Basel) inspired Khatami’s 2007 installation SOX. Taeuber-Arp’s balanced use of shape, color, and rhythm is equally in evidence in Khatami’s recent works.
We would be delighted to see you at the gallery and invite you to join us for the opening on February 19, 2010, starting at 6.pm.
"Topspin"
February 20–March 30, 2010
Opening: Friday, March 19, starting at 6.pm
The Berlin-based artist Shila Khatami (b. 1976) presents Topspin, her second solo exhibition at Galerie Susanna Kulli.
“Topspin” is a tennis term for a widely use forehand and backhand shot. Hitting the ball with an up-and-forward swing lends it a forward spin; it flies high above the net and then steeply descends, only to bounce back from the ground just as steeply and high. The extreme angles that can be played with such highly arched trajectories ideally drive the opponent far from his court, enabling the player to prepare for an attack.
The hanging arranged by the artist is not the only feature of the exhibition that recalls this sort of exchange of shots. On the level of content, too, the visitor recognizes a complex variety of references. The perforation pattern in the particleboards on which she paints already contains the circular shapes that become active pictorial elements in works such as Oops! and 99 x 66.
The triangle acts with no less self-confidence. Whereas Heissluft [Hot Air] integrates it into the pictorial plane, it rises out of this plane in Kawasaki and finally emancipates itself, in the shape of the Rechendreieck [Calculation Triangle], into a support for straight lines in search of a network.
This play with the qualities of different colors and surfaces is a characteristic feature of Khatami’s creative work. The works on exhibition also show great diversity in the gestural application of paint. In addition to the searching lines mentioned above, there are also flowing, resolute, and dissipating brushstrokes.
Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s arrangement of luscious spheres and fragile lines in the oil painting Steigend, fliegend, fallend [Rising, Flying, Falling] (1934, Kunstmuseum Basel) inspired Khatami’s 2007 installation SOX. Taeuber-Arp’s balanced use of shape, color, and rhythm is equally in evidence in Khatami’s recent works.
We would be delighted to see you at the gallery and invite you to join us for the opening on February 19, 2010, starting at 6.pm.