We've all explored the power of repetition - whether condemned by a teacher to write lines, whose literal meaning is consumed by a greater consciousness, or flummoxed by uttering a single word so often, it loses all meaning. The artist Idris Khan is a young virtuoso of repetition. And experiencing his work, as with other adventures in repetition, is like watching the whole transcend the sum of its parts.
The Wallpaper* Handmade 2012 contributor has entranced patrons with his digital composites. He's layered every page of the Koran in a single frame and every stave of Chopin's 'Nocturnes' to beautiful, if bemusing, effect. His latest works venture out from there, this time layering his own writings into abstraction. For 'Beyond the Black', at London's Victoria Miro gallery until 9 November, he has used Friedrich Nietzsche's 'The Birth of Tragedy' as inspiration, engraving his analysis onto rubber stamps, then overlaying them in celestial formations until they leave the literal world and enter the sublime.
The artist, who favours monochrome, has gone for a Rothko-esque all-black look in many of his works here. His backgrounds are layers of black pigment, rabbit skin glue and slate dust, which he sanded down before building up the text in black oil paint. The exception is one climactic installation, in which 120,000 lines of text are stamped directly onto the gallery wall.
'Beyond the Black' is a love letter to modernists like Rothko, Ad Reinhardt and Richard Serra, all artists who worked with a black-on-black palette. Yet as the title hints, it is also a philosophical departure from modernism. The difference is Khan's use of language as a medium, employed to represent a barrier to true spirituality and also as a reaffirmation of our humanity.
The artist has taken inspiration from modernists like Mark Rothko, Richard Serra and Ad Reinhardt, all artists who worked with a black-on-black palette. Courtesy the Artist and Victoria Miro, London © Idris Khan.
The anchor of the exhibition is 'Walldrawing 2013', an installation featuring 120,000 lines of text, stamped directly onto the white wall of the gallery. Courtesy the Artist and Victoria Miro, London © Idris Khan.
The layering of the text renders it illegible. The repetition is a meditative exercise, devoid of literal meaning. Courtesy the Artist and Victoria Miro, London © Idris Khan.
The words that form the works explode outward in celestial forms. Courtesy the Artist and Victoria Miro, London © Idris Khan.
In their illegibility, the works seem abstract, otherworldly. Courtesy the Artist and Victoria Miro, London © Idris Khan.
The artist Idris Khan in his studio.
ADDRESS
16 Wharf Road
London N1 7RW
-
Watch dance, music and film collide at a unique event at Abbey Road StudiosIn this exclusive film, watch Abbey Road’s first Artist in Residence, Jordan Rakei, collaborate with industry-leading creatives to produce a dance performance in the hallowed Studio One
-
Frances Elkins gets her dues at Christie's this JuneYou can soon take home a piece of the legendary American designer’s legacy…including a $3 million Alberto Giacometti sculpture.
-
The new Phone 2 Pro from CMF combines generous scale with true affordabilityWe explore the ins and outs of the CMF Phone 2 Pro, the newest device from the Nothing sub-brand that focuses on bold design and carefully honed value engineering
-
Celia Paul's colony of ghostly apparitions haunts Victoria MiroEerie and elegiac new London exhibition ‘Celia Paul: Colony of Ghosts’ is on show at Victoria Miro until 17 April
-
‘Darker, more sinister themes’: Paula Rego’s decade of self-discovery is the subject of a new London exhibitionPaula Rego’s ‘Letting Loose’, at Victoria Miro in London, considers the artist’s work from the 1980s
-
Alex Hartley’s eerie ode to Carlo Scarpa in VeniceAlex Hartley’s theatrical new installation ‘Closer than Before’ at Victoria Miro Venice is a haunting take on architectural destruction in Venice
-
Stan Douglas’ riff on alternative realities has us seeing doubleCoinciding with the announcement that the Vancouver artist will represent Canada in the 2021 Venice Biennale, his galleries in New York and London are staging a dual survey of his ambitious video installation Doppelgänger
-
Singling out the solo booths to see at Frieze Los AngelesOver 70 galleries will descend on Paramount Pictures Studio for the second edition of the West Coast art fair (14-16 February), anchored by an ambitious programme of special projects, film screenings, talks, and institutional collaborations
-
Doug Aitken’s epic art finds a home in a transformed auto repair shop in CaliforniaAs Doug Aitken features in the Wallpaper* 300, our guide to creative America, we revisit the surreal signage and sun-blasted landscapes of his portfolio of work, exclusively published in our November 2019 issue
-
Artist Isaac Julien celebrates Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi on film -
John Kørner tackles the British sports of cycling, running and drinking
