The Nasher Sculpture Center has named Iranian artist Nairy Baghramian as the recipient of the 2022 Nasher Prize, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to sculpture. Baghramian will be presented with an award designed by Renzo Piano, architect of the Nasher Sculpture Center, at a ceremony in Dallas on 2 April, 2022.
Baghramian’s current show ‘Misfits’ at Galleria d’Arte Moderna (GAM) explores the artist’s distinctive and unconventional approach. Inhabiting both the interior and exterior of the spaces, Baghramian’s vast new show is curated by Bruna Roccasalva and has been conceived as a partnership between Fondazione Furla, GAM, and Fondazione Henraux.
This is a tribute to the awkwardness of play: the dysfunction, the disappointment, and the failure. By extension, the Berlin-based Iranian artist is honouring those who draw outside the lines: the nonconformists, the marginalised, the misfits.
Baghramian’s work has long toyed with the intersection of architecture, sculpture and the human body – ‘Misfits’ does just this, and more. By merging the idea of play as an educational tool with reflection on the experience of disappointment and inadequacy, Baghramian’s works are inextricably linked to all those who encounter them, and the larger socio-cultural context they occupy.
Nods to the unconventional began before Baghramian’s ‘Misfits’ even arrived on the scene. In the outdoor urban setting of the GAM, overlooked by the Neoclassical Villa Reale is a garden, open to adults, but only when accompanied by children. It was this tension between the playful world of childhood and the frustration of its limited accessibility, that sparked the inspiration for ‘Misfits’.
Another key chapter in the story of this show is the materials. The marble for Baghramian’s works was sourced from Fondazione Henraux, the Tuscan marble specialist and 2013 Wallpaper* Handmade collaborator. Baghramian travelled to the company’s quarries, on Monte Altissimo, where she closely observed the complex business of extracting and processing the material.
Top: Nairy Baghramian on a monumental Bianco Altissimo Cervaiole marble block (Statuary white). Above: the artist with Henraux sculpture department manager, at the Henraux headquarters, Querceta di Seravezza, Italy. Courtesy Fondazione Henraux.
‘Historically, marble has the connotation of weight and is the “perfect” material for sculpture, with the big promise of durability, and is overloaded with representational attitudes,’ says Baghramian. ‘Meeting at the quarry in Querceta with the wonderful elder quarryman was inspiring. He remembers almost every artist who came and worked with the marble in that area – Hepworth, Moore, Noguchi, Arp, Louise Bourgeois. He explains how he “reads” the veins in the block and senses the fragility of the marble.’
The disassembled parts of the resulting sculptures recall the structures of objects associated with play. ‘The new sculptures were inspired by assembly-building toys designed for young children: at first glance, the two parts of each sculpture appear to fit together, when in reality, they do not. This evokes disappointment, frustration, and the feeling of failure experienced by playing with a toy that does not function,’ the artist explains.
‘It is important that within the framework of educational, social constructs, and the reading of sculptural forms, the handling of the dysfunctional should be appreciated. The moment of the supposed final comprehension should be given space and not be determined as a transitional state in favour of harmony and the functional.’
Each work comprises two halves made of different materials: painted casted aluminium and wood for the interior pieces, and marble for those outside – and installed as the disjointed parts of a potential whole. From childhood, we are taught to assemble parts that dovetail to form perfect wholes: everything simply must fit together. Baghramian’s sculptures do everything but. Here, error is the only possible solution, and beauty is incongruity. As the artist concludes: ‘The Misfits are dedicated to those who fail to adapt to their social environment and remain marginal.’
INFORMATION
Nairy Baghramian, ‘Misfits’, until 26 September 2021, GAM – Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Milan, gam-milano.com
ADDRESS
Via Palestro, 16
20121 Milano MI
-
The bespoke Jaguar E-Type GTO melds elements from every era of the classic sports carECD Automotive Design’s one-off commission caters to a client who wanted to combine the greatest hits of Jaguar’s E-Type along with modern conveniences and more power
-
Casa Sanlorenzo debuts in Venice as a new hub for contemporary artThe luxury yachting leader unveils a stunning new space in a palazzo restored by Piero Lissoni – where art, innovation, and sustainability come together
-
Once vacant, London's grand department stores are getting a new lease on lifeThanks to imaginative redevelopment, these historic landmarks are being rebonr as residences, offices, gyms and restaurants. Here's what's behind the trend
-
San Francisco’s controversial monument, the Vaillancourt Fountain, could be facing demolitionThe brutalist fountain is conspicuously absent from renders showing a redeveloped Embarcadero Plaza and people are unhappy about it, including the structure’s 95-year-old designer
-
See the fruits of Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely's creative and romantic union at Hauser & Wirth SomersetAn intimate exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Somerset explores three decades of a creative partnership
-
Technology, art and sculptures of fog: LUMA Arles kicks off the 2025/26 seasonThree different exhibitions at LUMA Arles, in France, delve into history in a celebration of all mediums; Amy Serafin went to explore
-
Inside Yinka Shonibare's first major show in AfricaBritish-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare is showing 15 years of work, from quilts to sculptures, at Fondation H in Madagascar
-
25 artists reimagine the teapot at Milan Design Week 2025Come to Loewe’s cross-cultural tea party: pots of fun in Milan as artists, designers and architects celebrate the universal comfort of tea
-
Inside the unexpected collaboration between Marni’s Francesco Risso and artists Slawn and SoldierNew exhibition ‘The Pink Sun’ will take place at Francesco Risso’s palazzo in Milan in collaboration with Saatchi Yates, opening after the Marni show today, 26 February
-
What makes fashion and art such good bedfellows?There has always been a symbiosis between fashion and the art world. Here, we look at what makes the relationship such a successful one
-
Remembering Oliviero Toscani, fashion photographer and author of provocative Benetton campaignsBest known for the controversial adverts he shot for the Italian fashion brand, former art director Oliviero Toscani has died, aged 82
