28 January - 7 March 2014
New York, New York
(January 8, 2014) – Taymour Grahne
Gallery is proud to present 'Kesh
Angels, a solo exhibition of work by the Moroccan-born,
UK-based artist, Hassan Hajjaj. Marking the artist’s first exhibition in
New York, ‘Kesh Angels
presents a unique take on the vibrant street culture of Morocco and pays
tribute to the biker culture of the young women of Marrakesh in a series of
photographs, limited edition objects, an installation, and a video.
Hajjaj’s work plays
with and upends stereotypes, the power of branding, and the familiarity of
everyday objects, applying a ‘street-wise’ approach to his layering of
influences, items, and cultural signifiers to imbue the work with an
electrifying tension. His confident, upbeat portraits of young women wearing
veils and djellabah
while posing on motorcycles subvert preconceived notions of Arab women; his
subjects are traditionally clad but defiantly modern, bearing bright smiles and
the markers of youth, independence, celebration, and
fun. As Kelly Carmichael writes in her 2010 essay in Contemporary Practices,
“Hajjaj’s approach is to toy with the perceptions of Arabic culture and the
relationship between East and West, recasting iconic images and allowing shafts
of 21st century light to reenergize the encounter… [while] his
practice on inclusion and contrast rarely offers just one aesthetic of
theoretical opinion.”
Borrowing from the
tradition of African studio photography and the glossy aesthetic of the fashion
shoot, Hajjaj’s work combines the personal with the political, the
individuality of his subjects framed by consumer goods and adorned with
the trappings of culture and branding. The handcrafted inlaid wood frames are
made up of quotidian branded objects like soda cans and Moroccan packaging,
mixing old and new, both responding to and completing the works they
surround.
The exhibition is also
accompanied by a book on the last decade of Hajjaj’s work, published jointly
by Taymour Grahne Gallery and Rose Issa Projects, London. Concurrently,
the artist’s three-channel video installation My Rock Stars, Volume I (2012) is on view at the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California, through 20 July, 2014. The work,
which features performances by international musicians wearing clothes designed
by Hajjaj, is a recent acquisition by the museum.
Hassan Hajjaj left
Morocco for London at an early age. Heavily influenced by the hip-hop,
reggae, and club scenes of London as well as by his North African
heritage, Hajjaj is a self-taught and thoroughly versatile artist whose work
includes portraiture, installation, performance, fashion, and interior design,
including furniture made from recycled utilitarian objects from North Africa,
such as upturned Coca-Cola crates as stools and aluminum cans turned into
lamps. ' Kesh Angels features an
installation of his furniture in the lower gallery,
completely transforming the space into one of the artist’s signature
lounges.
Hajjaj was the winner
of the 2011 Sovereign Middle East and Africa Prize, and was shortlisted for
Victoria & Albert Museum’s Jameel Prize for Islamic Art in 2009. His solo
exhibitions have been held at The Third Line, Dubai; Rose Issa Projects,
London; Freies Museum, Berlin, as well as group exhibitions such as The
Marrakesh Art Biennale; Edge of Arabia, London; Photoqua, Paris; and
Re-orientations at Rose Issa Projects, among others. His work is in the
collections of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the
Victoria & Albert Museum, London; the Farjam Collection, Dubai; Institut des
Cultures d’Islam, Paris; Kamel Lazaar Foundation, Tunisia; Virginia Museum of
Fine Art, Richmond, VA, and more. The artist lives and works between London, UK
and Marrakesh, Morocco.
http://www.taymourgrahne.com/exhibitions/hassan-hajjaj-and39kesh-angels
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