Corrupted Theories
Until 15 July 2012
Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde
Al Quoz 1, Street 8
Al Serkal Avenue #17, Dubai, UAE
P.O. Box 18217
T + 971 (0)4 323 5052
info@ivde.net
Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde is proud to present Corrupted Theories, a solo show of works by Abdelkader Benchamma.
Abdelkader Benchamma delicately executes drawings and sculptures of states of matter, events, and explosions. The physical properties of forms alternate between sculptural and liquid states, between figurative and abstract matter, and succumb to processes of materialisation, or adversely dematerialisation, tensions, levitations, and contrary movements.
Benchamma builds multiple realities in which the strong influences of science fiction literature and cosmology, as well as existentialist theatre and literary investigations, emerge lucidly. Along with the concepts and theories, aspects of the visual expressions of these ideas filter into his drawing processes. He emphasises multiple realities by engaging a multitude of techniques, fusing graphic approaches to printing, photocopying, engraving, landscape, and scientific drawing.
Benchamma’s Sculpture drawings develop organically on the page, proliferating from their starting points into ambiguous masses, reminiscent of primordial matter, that offer a relief from tangibility by containing potential but no defined outcome beyond themselves. Suggestions of organic forms emerge, recalling mountain landscapes or planes of greenery, though nothing is explicit in these scenarios, and the implications are often conflicting. For certain drawings, Benchamma imposes restrictions upon himself. In a number of drawings, he uses only black marker pens. These drawings, coloured in varying shades of black, reveal questions of reality and illusion, wherein purples, mauves, blues, and greys emerge in a muted black rainbow, and the idea of true understanding becomes indeterminate and abstruse.
While Benchamma’s central focus is drawing, he occasionally develops ideas into wooden sculpture to further his conceptual questioning of reality and dimensionality. In wooden parquet floors, Benchamma shatters wood with all the material properties of a sheet of glass. Natural materials are manipulated and decontextualised to create a surreal and spectacular illusion.
Abdelkader Benchamma (b. France 1975 to Algerian parents) lives and works in Montpellier. He completed his studies at the École Supérieure des Beaux Arts de Paris in 2003. In 2011, Benchamma participated in the Future of a Promise exhibition at the Venice Biennale, and was commissioned for the Told Untold Retold exhibition at the Mathaf Museum, Doha, Qatar. He has had solo exhibitions across Europe as well as in Asia, and has works in public collections, namely the FRAC Languedoc-Roussillon, the Musee de Beaux Arts-Orleans, and Artotheque de Pessac in France.
*Image above:
Abdelkader Benchamma, Paysage et decor sans Lumiere (Landscape and Décor Without Light), 2012. Black felt-tip pens and markers on paper, 130 x 210 cm. Courtesy of Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde.
