For his exhibition A Monument to Subtle Rot, Ali Cherri invites us to contemplate the intricate relationship between matter and history.
In a new series of sculptures, the artist reverses the notion of monumentality: his hybrid creatures, made from clay and bronze, embody a tension between vulnerability and resistance. Their enduring and immutable limbs are reminiscent of sculptures erected to celebrate and immortalize conquerors, yet their bodies seem to be on the brink of collapse. Bronze, the material of the powerful, is tainted by clay, the material of the oppressed. Suspended between monuments and ruins, these sculptures dismantle canonical representations of power and question our relationship to time.
The notion of transformation can also be found in a series of drawings depicting apples at various stages of rotting, a motif that references Alberto Giacometti’s work and recurs in still lifes throughout the history of art. Here, the apples are eaten from within. Mold becomes a metaphor for resistance and reclamation, a force that deconstructs dominant representations of history and offers a form of redemption through decay.
Ali Cherri’s practice challenges the construction of historical narratives and opens a dialogue between past and present, strength and fragility, destruction and creation. Through his films, installations, and performances the artist sculpts time.