Rashid Uri & Alexander Poliček

From February 11 to March 23, mental space gallery will host a two artist show by Alexander Poliček and Rashid Uri. The exhibition, entitled strange arrangement, does not intend to compare two artistic positions — rather, it is understood as an active dialog.

Alexander Poliček uses a wide range of various media for the implementation of his sculptural work. Industrially manufactured objects are modified readymades, which are used as setting displays for his light pillars installation. The backdrop creates a new space, partly erasing the white cube condition of the exhibition space. Pillar as architectural carrier element is transformed into decorative light object. The old stucco marble technique is combined with modern LED technique. Its polished and glossy surface contrasts sharply the raw and turbulent camouflage of the display units. The presentation is positioned at the intersection of reality and subtle magic, the rational and the irrational, known and unknown, and creates an atmosphere of impermanence, emptiness and desolation. Poliček openly plays with evident errors in narrative context which to observe are left to the viewer. Many of the objects shift between poetic and humorous moments and play with the viewer’s usual way of seeing things. He works at the interface between art and design.

The abstract and minimalistic wall objects by Rashid Uri are compositional play with texture and scale. Unprocessed synthetic materials are hand cuted into monochrome fields, which are delineated from one another. Landscapes of coherent unity are gently interrupted by combination of various materials and material thicknesses. Depending on viewers position the feigned flatness turns out to be illusion. Uri operates with categorical conception of flatness and dimensionality, smoothness and unevenness. The color selection is predetermined by the Industry. Concrete and functional use of construction materials is transformed into highly aesthetical assemblages. Simple geometrical forms rubs out the borders between physical and metaphysical space.

Horizontal and vertical lines inside the image area prolong the room axes. The works resist any interpretation and narrative description.

 

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Mental Space Gallery
mental space #16
Rashid Uri & Alexander Poliček
strange arrangement
11.02.2017 – 25.03.2017
Kahrstr. 59 (basement)
D-45128 Essen