ACROlisboa, Portugal: Booth L02

 Fridman Gallery and NOME Project present an installation of works in dialogue by Navine G. Khan-Dossos and Reuven Israel. Khan-Dossos’ paintings and Israel’s sculptures combine geometric abstraction with traditional aniconism of Islamic art. Both artists question ideologies that inform their practices in unique ways. Often using militant propaganda as source materials, Khan-Dossos treats painting as ‘informational’ act in which fields of knowledge are built from the conflicted and
complex relationship of Islam to the West. Israel’s sculptures, while also referencing religious and military symbolism, strive for autonomy as unidentifiable, freestanding objects. Khan-Dossos will premiere “Infoesque”, a series that recasts Rumiyah – ISIS’s main propaganda magazine that uses Western-style infographics – as traditional Islamic patterns and arabesques. Her “Studies for Sterlina” are based on Facebook posts and online media reports of a young Dutch woman who travelled to Syria and married an ISIS fighter. Finally, one of Khan-Dossos’ “Printer Paintings” composed from the principal tones of color printing – CMYK and grey – will contrast with the RGB palette of the works derived online. Israel’s sculptures are handcrafted – chiseled of MDF wood, sanded and colored in industrial paints – so meticulously, that they appear machine-made on an assembly line. In shape and surface, they adopt features of porcelain, plastic and metal. Questioning human tendencies to categorize and charge objects with meanings, the sculptures initially
evoke concrete associations, such as furniture, science fiction, religious artifacts and architecture, only to leave the viewer struck by inability to define them. In addition to questioning symbols and tools of authority, both artists challenge the formal divisions between media such as painting and sculpture, and between art and design. The resulting works are enigmatic, transcendental and defiant.