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February 20, 2008 | | Mona Hatoum |
Being a Palestinian born in Lebanon, Mona Hatoum, who currently shuttles between London and Berlin, is in a good position to make commentary on the difficulties a foreigner faces when trying to find a place to call home. This subject has been a reoccurring theme in her work for many years. She continues to investigate this idea in her newest exhibition currently on view at Galerie Chantal Crousel in Paris. While her work can be viewed with humor, it is also not afraid to address the darker challenges that face every one of us in our deeply troubled world. Works on view here include a barricade that also serves as a place for growth for that most sought after item, grass. Grenades that have been lovingly hand crafted are displayed on a table, ready to be wheeled into action. And the warmest of all household items, a carpet that seems to have been picked at, revels an "area-correct" map of the world without its arbitrary political divisions.
Hatoum work is most impressive when presented on a large scale, such as "Mobile Home". This work shows an assortment of household items that move gently along a pulley system that is confined between two barriers. This piece suggests that we must remain prepared to move as society is always in a perpetual state of flux. While large scale work can be stunning, an artist must realize that resources can dry up at anytime, and they need to be able to work with much humbler means, while remaining creative. Hatoum demonstrates her awareness to this creativity, with her small scale drawings on cardboard trays and paper cutouts. The cardboard trays are named after clouds, (think of lying in the grass dreaming), but they also suggest continents, what was or what could be. The paper cutouts remind us of the simple fun we had as children, and the cozy loving warmth that is perhaps the most important commodity of all.
The well traveled Hatoum has previously shown at the Venice Biennial, Sao Paulo Biennial, Documenta, SITE Santa Fe, Kwangju Biennial, as well as most major museums in the world. Besides Gallerie Crousel she is also represented by Gallerie Max Hetzler Berlin, White Cube London, Alexander and Bonin, New York.
Posted by Dennis Anderson at February 20, 2008 12:00 AM | Permalink | E-mail This
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