Mahdad Alizadeh
Biography
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)
Exhibitions
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Collection Nothelfer. Selection of works by the artists of the gallery
23 November to 20 December 2024
Galerie
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ART COLOGNE
7 to 10 November 2024
Köln
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Everything is fine. Groupshow
24 February to 13 April 2024
Galerie
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More than 24 #2. Groupshow
10 November 2023 to 1 January 2024
Showroom
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Kabinett - Gruppenausstellung
28 April to 17 June 2023
Galerie
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Motions of Matter
18 February to 8 April 2023
Galerie & Showroom
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More than 24
2 December 2022 to 28 January 2023
Showroom
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ART COLOGNE
16 to 20 November 2022
Köln
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Positions Berlin Art Fair
15 to 18 September 2022
Tempelhofer Flughafen
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Mahdad Alizadeh / Emil Schumacher. sanctuary
27 November 2021 to 5 February 2022
Showroom
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Groupshow. All I Think About Is You
30 April to 26 June 2021
Galerie & Showroom