Haig Aivazian, At every sunset, I think of you. Not because of some sense of beauty, but simply because I become acutely aware of how much time has passed since I last saw you, 2013. Charcoal and pastel on paper. 200 x 130 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg/Beirut
Haig Aivazian
Fugere
2 November 2013 – 5 January 2014
at Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg
Haig Aivazian (b.1980 Beirut) presents new sculptures, drawings and videos from his ongoing series Fugere, where the artist layers various histories of violence: from a highly televised rebuttal in response to racist insults on the pitch, to the occupation of inner-city neighbourhoods by police; and from the ascension onto an Olympic podium in the first post Soviet Games, to the weight of a dictator’s body as the trap door is released under his feet. History is not just entangled in sports, but also treated like a match, with freeze frames, replays and reverse angles. Here, the notion of time is malleable: the decades separating the release of two models of coveted basketball sneakers can be condensed into a frantic instant where two shoes are hurriedly thrown at an occupying president. Continue reading “Haig Aivazian “Fugere” at Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg”