GALERIE KASHYA HILDEBRAND
ZURICH
Press Release
Zurich, 4 December 2008
SUMAKSHI SINGH – PEEL TILL THEY BLOOM
18 December 2008 – 7 February 2009
Plateau, 6 x 3 x 2 cm, acrylic on polymer clay
Galerie Kashya Hildebrand is pleased to present Sumakshi Singh’s first
solo show with the gallery.
Singh’s work focuses on both human and natural erosion of spaces over
time. She employs the history and the physicality of the actual spaces
to create installations that generate a tension between an “idea” of
the space and its physical reality – juxtaposing cultural versus
natural perception. Having moved from India to the States, the artist
was struck by the high degree of manipulation found in the ‘natural’
environments and manicured green spaces of the American metropolis.
These highly artificial environments leave no space for the unexpected
or truly natural to evolve and survive. The artificiality and high
degree of manipulation in every detail seems symptomatic of a culture
that uncompromisingly assigns more value on immediate gratification
rather than slowly unraveling nuances.
Cracks in the pavement and other unplanned interventions offering
spaces for unnoticed microcosmic activity became sites of inspiration
and direct intervention for Sumakshi Singh’s work as welcome
intrusions
into
these
highly
controlled
environments.
Singh’s
meticulously painted, tiny sculptures are reminiscent of parasitic
forms growing off and perverting the manipulated environment, yet
beautifully magnanimous and extending themselves to larger metaphors.
These are accompanied by miniscule scars and amplified flaws that
convert the sterile gallery surfaces into saturated membranes that
resist efficiency in viewing, decoding and digesting as it becomes
impossible to decide what is the actual artwork and what is not.
This exhibition will showcase her intricate micro-interventions,
several watercolor and ink pieces that relate to them, and entire
wall-sized drawings that resemble peeling, deteriorating walls with
etched graffiti (traced from public monuments), upon closer inspection
exposing multiple layers of carefully painted, cut, and adhered paper.
The artist’s work constantly traverses the lines between metaphor,
reality and illusion and ranges from plays on space-time theories to
cultural critiques of place using paintings, installations, sculpture,
video and performance.
Sumakshi Singh first graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from the
University of Baroda before pursuing a masters degree at the Art
Institute of Chicago in 2003. She has won several awards and was
granted residencies such as the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France
or Khoj in Delhi, India. Her work has been predominantly shown in the
United States and is now for the first time being introduced in
Switzerland.
Opening in the presence of the artist:
Thursday, 18 December 2008, 6-8pm
Artist Talk:
Friday, 19 December 2008, 6.30-7.30pm
Opening hours: Monday to Friday 11-6.30pm, Saturday 12-4 pm or by
appointment
* * *
contact for further information and image material:
Kashya Hildebrand (English) or Nicole Rampa (German)
Galerie Kashya Hildebrand, Talstrasse 58, 8001 Zurich, Tel: 044 210 02
02, Fax: 044 210 02 15
info@kashyahildebrand.org, www.kashyahildebrand.org
for publications, press release and images can be downloaded under:
http://www.kashyahildebrand.org/zurich/press/sumakshi/index.html