Artist: Mirak Jamal
Exhibition title: Mirak Djamal IRONIMUS ’91
Venue: Rolando Anselmi, Berlin, Germany
Date: April 30 – June 15, 2016
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Rolando Anselmi, Berlin
Galerie Rolando Anselmi is pleased to present “Mirak Djamal IRONIMUS ’91”, a solo exhibition by Mirak Jamal. The exhibition takes its title from a drawing made in Cologne, Germany – the artist’s childhood residence of the time. At the gallery space Jamal will present a site-speci fic accumulation of works allowing us to enter a new imaginary terrain revolving around a revisitation of an old drawing.
In 1991, the parents of the artist would encourage the pre-teen artist to enter a drawing into a caricature contest in Würzburg, Germany titled “IRONIMUS ’91”. Having made it into the selection, the work became published in a German caricature journal in company of adult satirists and political caricaturists. The stylized drawing, titled “Cool”, depicts a seemingly romanticized alleyway – undoubtedly inspired by cartoons and his familiar surroundings in Cologne, Germany.
Using this drawing as an entry point, Jamal navigates between the factual and fictitious – at once excavating and proposing anew. Utilitarian materials such as drywall panels, wood, mattress foam, and steel sheets, are transformed into objects of undeterred idealism bearing ampli fied figures, automotive gradients, sensitive machine carvings, and photographic anecdotes. Interior and exterior worlds are then reconciled through fractures of a strong personal past, and a surreal and yet familiar contemporary experience.
