Ziba Ardalan Livres

The up-and-coming Leipzig painter David Schnell (b. 1971) employs elements of landscape in all of his edgy, large-scale canvases, but he is by no means a traditional landscape painter. A younger contemporary of Neo Rauch and Tim Eitel, Schnell uses oils, tempera and acrylics to render obsessive spaces that often feel as if they might engulf the viewer. Relying on very strong linear perspective and vanishing points to create his idiosyncratic pictorial order, where even the trees are perfectly straight vertical forms, he often seems to counteract that very order with a subliminal, hyperactive energy that buzzes through the paintings--perhaps suggesting a critical stance towards our treatment of nature in contemporary society.

The multimedia group exhibition ‘I Know Something About Love’ features installations and video works by Shirin Neshat, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Yinka Shonibare MBE and Yang Fudong. Each of the artists has explored the theme of love through the perspective of their own personal experiences and observations. Alongside rich illustrations, this comprehensive, full-colour catalogue features insightful essays by Parasol Unit’s director/curator Ziba Ardalan and Eva Illouz, professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and includes a selection of internationally acclaimed love poetry by various poets through the ages.

Kaum ein Künstler weiß die Mittel des Kinos so souverän zu bedienen wie Eija-Liisa Ahtila. Inspiriert von wahren Geschichten, erzählt sie von Protagonisten, denen die Welt unter den Füßen wegbricht, die plötzlich wie Hunde auf allen Vieren kriechen, durch die Wälder fliegen. In ihrer neuesten Filmarbeit zeigt die Künstlerin die haarsträubende Geschichte einer finnischen Dichterin, gespielt von Kati Outinen und bekannt aus Aki-Kaurismäki-Filmen, die für einen Roman über ein Verbrechen recherchiert, und in deren Haus plötzlich der Tod hereinbricht. Sie wehrt sich, aber zwei Jungen, wiederauferstanden aus ihren Recherchen, öffnen dem Tod die Tür. Die Kinder, zwei Algerier, hatten im algerischen Unabhängigkeitskrieg ihren besten Freund getötet – einen Franzosen. Wie immer bei Ahtila mischen sich Dokumentarisches und offen Inszeniertes, Außen- und Innenwelt: anders als im kommerziellen Kino werden die filmischen Fragmente erst im Kopf des Betrachters zu einem Ganzen neu geschnitten. In dieser Offenheit der Struktur, in der die Künstlerin nur die Fragen stellt und dem Publikum scheinbar alle Antworten überlässt, liegt die künstlerische Faszination.

Darren Almond's work examines recurring themes of time, memory, human labor and exploitation. Published for Almond's solo exhibition at London's Parasol Unit, Index is a book in two parts. The first catalogues the exhibition, while the second provides a retrospective of the artist's work to date. Almond is represented by Matthew Marks Gallery, New York.

Bharti Kher's first solo exhibition held in a public art institution in London is composed of a selection of works from the recent past, with an emphasis on the artist's sculptural works. Known for her extensive use of everyday, found objects and imaginatively transforming their identity, Kher empowers her often otherworldly creations to present themselves unabashedly as if they were a natural part of our culture and environment.

Eleven artists reflect on the alarming entropy of the 21st century This book presents works from 11 international artists responding to the current state of the world through themes of environmentalism, racism, political activism, globalization and digitalization. Artists include: Darren Almond, Oliver Beer, Julian Charrière, David Claerbout, Bharti Kher, Teresa Margolles, Martin Puryear, Rayyane Tabet, and more.

Jakub Julian Ziolkowski’s paintings are a wild hallucinatory journey into his strange and often frightening universe. Skeletons battle soldiers in murky swamps; towers of eyeballs goggle cartoonishly; flesh peels wetly off bare bones. Ziolkowski has an unflinching attitude to the corporeal: the body takes centre stage, at once defiled and dissected To mark the occasion of his solo exhibition( 9th June to 29 July, 2011), Parasol unit has produced a unique and comprehensive publication. The catalogue is hardcover and in colour throughout and features insightful essays by Parasol unit’s Director/Curator Ziba Ardalan and Jakub Banasiak, critic and curator, currently running Wydawnictwo 40000 Malarzy, a publishing project, and KolonieGallery in Warsaw. The publication comprise a first part, which focuses on the works exhibited in the exhibition Jakub Julian Ziolkowski: In Utero at Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art. The second part comprises approximately 30 selected works. The second part will be a more general overview of the artist’s oeuvre, with images and explanatory text for his most significant works. This will be an invaluable asset for students and admirers of his work.

Nathan Cash Davidson makes paintings featuring such diverse figures as King Henry VIII, Mr. Punch, George Bush and Ali G. Historical and popular cultural characters and the artist’s own family members meet animated gargoyles and mournful mythological creatures in otherworldly forests, cathedrals, desert islands and council estates; boldly rendered in vital, swirling jewel colours. Burlesque in which we've thrown it on its head is an encounter with Cash Davidson’s prodigious talent for figuration and architectural detail, and his wry and irreverent wit. These accomplished and confident works evoke a rich interior landscape whilst also offering an often bleak and discomfiting perspective of the contemporary metropolis. Cash Davidson’s writing – ‘…Armoured objects selected never last / faster / than the star/ Reflect the future and the past in one’ – echoes his preoccupation with leveling history, mythology and the 21st century. The organic narrative development of his imagery is also reflected in his use of the written and spoken word: plants unfurl; buildings spring up and sprawl out; figures appear. Of his poetic visual treatment of his urban surroundings, Cash Davidson has been said to possess ‘the potential to return the power of myth to “things drawn on walls”’.

boundary layer ist die erste umfassende Publikation zu den animierten Grafiken, die Tabaimos großformatige interaktive Video-Arbeiten illustrieren, darunter Japanese Kitchen (1999), hanabi-ra (2003), guigunorama (2006), public conVENience (2006) und yudangami (2009). Tabaimos handgezeichnete, bestrickende aber auch verstörende Animationen, in denen er die traditionelle japanische Malerei mit der digitalen Videotechnik verknüpft, werden von Ziba de Weck Ardalan und J. J. Charlesworth in gut lesbaren und informativen Essays analysiert. Behandelt werden sowohl die dunklen satirischen Arbeiten, die die moderne japanische Gesellschaft kritisieren als auch jene, die von den neuen Medien und Tabaimos persönlichen Erfahrungen inspiriert sind. boundary layer is a first full publication on Tabaimo works illustrating the large-scale interactive video pieces featured in the show, including Japanese Kitchen (1999), hanabi-ra (2003), guigunorama (2006), public conVENience (2006) and yudangami (2009). The Publication discusses Tabaimo’s beautifully hand drawn yet disturbing animations that mix traditional Japanese imagery with digital video technique. It both illustrates dark satirical pieces that critique modern Japanese society as those inspired by the media and Tabaimo’s own personal experiences.

Der Katalog präsentiert Kunstwerke von zwölf internationalen Künstlern, die sich in ihrem Schaffen von Paraden und Prozessionen inspirieren lassen. Die Arbeiten reichen von Skulpturen, Installationen, Filmen und Videos. Sie stellen kraftvolle Ausdrucksformen dar, die jeweils unterschiedliche historische, kulturelle oder politische Zusammenhänge zu erkennen geben.