ISMAIL ERBIL - THE EXHIBITIONIST

About

THE EXHIBITIONIST

Private View: Friday 14th October 2011, 6 - 8.30 p.m

SCHWARTZ GALLERY PROJECT SPACE

Exhibition dates: Saturday 15th October 2011 - Saturday 5th November 2011
First Thursdays late opening: Thursday 3rd November, 2011
Opening times: Thursday - Saturday 12 - 6 p.m

Ismail Erbil's site-specific installation 'THE EXHIBITIONIST' blurs the boundaries between the artist as maker and performer. Erbil has pushed the boundaries of his practice by creating an outfit that he will be wearing for the opening reception of 'THE EXHIBITIONIST' entitled 'Mission to Mars'. Acting as a kind of wearable intervention, the artist uses his body as a testing site for a 'live' collision between categories of art, fashion and performance.

The Schwartz Gallery Project Space becomes charged with inverted and unpredictable relationships between the objects Erbil has created and the outfit he will be wearing causing the viewer to consider the question of where does art 'happen' and in what space is this 'information' carried and interpreted.

The starting point for THE EXHIBITIONIST relates to a multi-faceted conception of the idea of 'ceremony'. Erbil continues to investigate the idea of ceremony or of a quasi-ceremony that unpicks and reconfigures relationships between found and purchased objects and an emerging language of sculptural processes that locates itself within the politics of the artist's identity, sexuality and the conflicting cultural reference points evident within his background.

Erbil focuses on the idea of a 'skin' or 'covering' throughout his installation moving from images and objects through to sound and garments. Covering and uncovering these components THE EXHIBITIONIST playfully interweaves new narratives through association and appropriation to create an 'otherworldly' quality. The body becomes a veiled conspirator in a surrealist tableau of objects that have been variously arranged, cut, knitted, shredded, deconstructed, stuck, glued and covered.

The viewer is invited to navigate this terrain and on the opening night is free to 'talk to the art', as Erbil will become a living component of the installation. After the private view the garment worn by the artist will be placed within the installation amongst the displayed works affecting a shift in the significance of the once-worn materials used by Erbil to construct the 'Mission to Mars' garment.

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Ismail Erbil completed a B.A in fashion design at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, London in 2002.

Recent group shows include A-L-L-O-T-M-E-N-T-S 2011, Unobtrusive Measures, curated by Mark Selby (2011), Patrick Michalopoulos and Ismail Erbil, 2010 (Schwartz Gallery Project Space), A-L-L-O-T-M-E-N-T-S (2010) and Wonder Island (2009), Flux (2008) at Schwartz Gallery, and Across the Grain at Forty Hall, London (2008) and his work has been shown at the Powerhouse in Brisbane, 2004, Australia. Ismail Erbil lives and works in London and is a part time tutor at London College of Fashion.

In addition to his studio practice, Ismail is also co-founder, director and artist-curator of Schwartz Gallery.

Ismail Erbil on re-title
http://www.re-title.com/artists/ismail-erbil.asp

http://www.schwartzgallery.co.uk/site/?page_id=8

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