Artist: Yaïr Callender
Exhibition title: For the vision of Abou Ben Adhem
Venue: 1646, The Hague, The Netherlands
Date: March 2 – April 1, 2018
Photography: Jhoeko / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and 1646, The Hague
1646 is very happy to announce the exhibition of Yaïr Callender (NL 1987), whose work we have been following closely since Yaïr was a student at the KABK.
In For the vision of Abou Ben Adhem Yaïr Callender is changing the space of 1646 into a sanctuary, a place to withdraw from the hustle and bustle of the street and daily life. Rather than sculptures he creates an environment that ofers tranquility for those who want to quench their thirst for peace and serenity. But more than just an architectural constructon this space contains associatons with a more ecclesiastcal atmosphere by means of a free use of of symbolic ornaments and forms that allude to elements such as a pulpit or baptstry. Callender also makes references to secular subjects as he ofers the visitors the opportunity to leaf through some available books, enjoy a water pipe and hang around for a while. These surroundings contain a versatlity of diferent kinds of sanctuaries and hide-aways to be actvated by the visitor at his or her own liking.
The architectural constructons of Yaïr Callender keep somewhere in between ornament, sculpture and monumental compositon and are ofen fuelled by his interest in the spiritual, which plays a pivotal role in his work. He gets his inspiraton from both religious texts as well as scientfc research and he draws connectons to physics, mathematcs, geometry as well as to history, religion and the use of symbolism. Furthermore Callender diligently studies processes of personal transformaton from a spiritual perspectve. His work doesn’t know the diference between personal concerns and professional performance as personal development fnds its form in his work.
For the Vision of Abou Ben Adhem (a reference to a poem by the romantc poet Leigh Hunt) portrays Callender’s interests in transformaton, in several ways: the transformaton from child to adult, emotonal and intellectual development or transformaton as awakening afer having been confronted with obstacles in life such as sickness, death, desire or happiness.
It has been very interestng for us to see how, throughout the years, Yair developed more and more the need to include the audience in the work, transmitng an overwhelming experience. This accounts also for For the Vision of Abou Ben Adhem when the work comes into existence when actvated by the visitor. This need to include the audience into an overwhelming experience feels very coherent for a work that tries to deal with states of being and topics much bigger than ourselves.
Yaïr Callender (NL, 1987) graduated in 2014 at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, and has received grants from Stroom Invest and Mondriaan Fund for emerging artsts. Callender has exhibited before at a.o. ‘Open Air’, as part of Art Roterdam 2018, TENT Roterdam, Kunstvereniging Diepenheim, Nest Den Haag and at the Unfair in Amsterdam.
