ART-PRESENTATION:Idris Khan

Working across mediums including sculpture, painting and photography, Idris Khan is well known for his large-scale works, which use techniques of layering to arrive at what might be considered the essence of an image, and to create something entirely new through repetition and superimposition. For his exhibition at Victoria Miro Mayfair, Khan has produced large-scale composite photographs made from a series of oil stick paintings.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Victoria Miro Gallery Archive

These have gone through an intensive process of overlaying lines of writing repeatedly painted onto a minimal ground, until the language becomes obscured. Documenting the journey of the paintings, Khan collects details of the line from every angle, and in doing so has the ability to constantly change its nature. The words are a response to the barrage of media images of conflict that are ‘’Un-escapable’’ in today’s world. By using Roland Barthes’ theory of the “Punctum”, Khan writes about a certain personal touching detail of an object or person that jumps out of the photograph and holds his gaze. The exhibition also includes a series of five 12 x 16 inch platinum prints, whereby a negative is made the same size as the finished image it is then contact printed onto a sheet of paper painted with platinum and iron salts, and finally exposed in daylight. Titled ‘’Church Walk Studio’’, these delicate, richly toned images have the quality of watercolour, which furthers Khan’s intrigue into pushing the boundary between a painting and a photograph.

Info: “Conflicting Lines”, Victoria Miro Mayfair, 14 St George Street, London, Duration: 1/5-6/6/15, Days & Hours: Thue-Sat:10:00-18:00, www.victoria-miro.com