MANI NEJAD AT KIPS GALLERY

Kips Gallery New York highlights the season with “Niemandsland”, a show of Berlin and London based artist Mani Nejad. The series consists of works of various media and formats weaving together layered compositions that go beyond the the sum of their productive parts.

While subjects and themes of the images have diverse origins there is still one leading thread throughout this series: space is not organized according to a straight forward linear logic or meticulous structural conception. Niemandsland rather follows its own autonomous and spontaneous tracks managing to unframe our practice of seeing from its frozen habits and conventional context.

The inherent relationship of the works on show also echoes subtle references in other terms: the images talk a common language of colour with hues primarily held in moderate black, grey and sand contrasting against crisp white flashes. They also talk a common language of motion and dynamic gestures branding them with a strong signature element.

The many forms and fragmented figures of these works tell a vivid story and are “awakened to live” by blending image segments from background into foreground and vice versa. This kind of melding game constantly alters the way the images will look adding another stunning effect to Mani Nejad’s works. Though each final image can still be discerned in its individual elements it brings forth something new: a third image that is questioning regular representational truths, an image emerging from a transient, subtly flickering, provisional status, unfolding into its final form of complex narration.