Opening: June 20, 6 - 9 pm
Artist Talk in English: June 28 at 2 pm

Galerie Georg Nothelfer is pleased to present a solo exhibition with new works by Iranian sculptor and drawer Mahdad Alizadeh 

Clay is at the heart of Mahdad Alizadeh’s art, which encompasses sculpture, installation, conceptual and performative elements, and most recently drawings. His small to medium-sized, fired and sometimes glazed clay sculptures are organically shaped and, although not figurative, tend to resemble plant or animal creatures and fragments. On a closer look, viewers recognise traces of the working process, such as hollows created by the ten fingers of his hands, cracks, and bruises. His drawings are linear and colourful and, like the sculptures, oscillate between associative representationalism and organic abstraction. Whether on paper or in clay, Alizadeh works intuitively; he does not start with an idea or imagination, but with his hands as a forming tool. While the artist’s physical proximity to the material, the intuitive and ritualised touching, feeling, and shaping are formativehere, he takes a step back from his works when it comes to their installation in the space. His interest in architecture certainly influences the plinths and environments he creates for his sculptures. He uses wood, chipboard, and adhesive tape to contrast the fired or glazed clay figures. What they have in common is an aesthetic of the unfinished that emphasises the material and its texture. Alizadeh also incorporates the viewer’s perspective on his works and deals with the discrepancy of physical presence and digital presentation in his more conceptual projects. His work merges between physicality and materiality, presentation and perception. In this way, he manages to question the very essence of art in our complex present. (Text by Hannah Jacobi)

Please note our Summer Break: August 6 – 16