Akim Monet at XVA Gallery Dubai

seeking al-tawhid in andalusiaPHOTOGRAPHY BY AKIM MONET

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copyright © akim monet 2014 www.akimmonet.com

A l Fah id i H i s to r i ca l Ne ighbo rhoodBur Dubai, Dubai, United Arab EmiratesTel. +9714 353 5383 - www.xvagallery.com

seeking al-tawhid in andalusiaPHOTOGRAPHY BY AKIM MONET

Established in 2003, XVA is one of the leading galleries in theMiddle East that specializes in contemporary art from the Arabworld, Iran and the Sub-continent. Exhibitions focus on worksby the regions foremost artists as well as those emerging ontothe scene. The gallery’s artists express their different culturalidentities and perspectives while challenging the viewer to loseprejudice and ignore borders. XVA Gallery exhibits both locallyand internationally; collaborating with galleries and participatingin international art fairs in order to further expose Middle Easterncontemporary art. For more information on XVA Gallery, pleasevisit www.xvagallery.com

About XVA GALLERY

Born 1968 in Geneva. Swiss Citizen. Lives and works in Berlin.Studied comparative literature and art history at Cornell University,New York State. Akim Monet has been showing his work publiclysince 2002. He has had several solo exhibitions of which“Passage to India” in New York and Mexico City, “Homage toGaudi” in Geneva and Belgium, “Pergamon” in Paris, and“Seeking Al-Tawhid I” in Kuwait. Monet's work is on publicdisplay at the Deutsche Bank Collection, New York. In additionto numerous articles in the international press, a monographabout Monet’s work was published in 2003: “The Space Between”(New York: Infinite Point Press). isbn 0-9728647-0-9

About AKIM MONET

The idea for "Seeking Al-Tawhid" came to me while thinkingabout the longstanding nonacceptance of depictions of humansand animals in Islamic art, and the resulting development of theArabesque in which abstract geometry and stylized organicmotifs are used to symbolize, within our manifest realm, thatwhich is beyond manifestation.

I pondered about a possible connection between the inventionof this visual language, which leads the eye back and forthbetween the second and third dimension, and the practice ofphotography, in which the representation of three-dimensionalsubject matter is rendered on a flat surface.

I discovered that the infinitely extensible designs in Islamic art,that are themselves made up of individual, self-replicating units

SEEKING AL-TAWHID IN ANDALUSIA

have been interpreted as visual demonstrations of the singlenessof God and his presence everywhere. They represent 'unity inmultiplicity' and 'multiplicity in unity'.

Technically the term for this 'Oneness' is Tawhid - a belief inGod's uncompromised unity and transcendence. The best-known expression of this Divine Unity is 'La-ilaha-ill-Allah', (Quran112:1): 'There is no god but God'.

With these thoughts, I embarked on a journey that began in2006 in Andalusia, where in the words of British orientalist andarchaeologist Stanley Lane-Poole, "Whatever makes a kingdomgreat, whatever tends to refinement and civilization was found inMoorish Spain."

Akim Monet

plates

12

Untitled 2, 2006

Archival Pigment Print on 100% cottonacid free watercolor paper with straight edges

70 x 100 cm - Ed. 7 + 3 AP

127 x 177 cm - Ed. 3 + 2 AP

Untitled 3, 2006


70 x 100 cm - Ed. 7 + 3 AP

127 x 177 cm - Ed. 3 + 2 AP

14

Untitled 6, 2006


70 x 100 cm - Ed. 7 + 3 AP

127 x 177 cm - Ed. 3 + 2 AP

16

Untitled 7, 2006


70 x 100 cm - Ed. 7 + 3 AP

127 x 177 cm - Ed. 3 + 2 AP

18

Untitled 9, 2006


70 x 100 cm - Ed. 7 + 3 AP

127 x 177 cm - Ed. 3 + 2 AP

20

23

Untitled 12, 2006


100 x 70 cm - Ed. 7 + 3 AP

177 x 127 cm - Ed. 3 + 2 AP

Untitled 15, 2006


100 x 70 cm - Ed. 7 + 3 AP

177 x 127 cm - Ed. 3 + 2 AP

25

Untitled 26, 2006


100 x 70 cm - Ed. 7 + 3 AP

177 x 127 cm - Ed. 3 + 2 AP

27

Untitled 28, 2006


70 x 100 cm - Ed. 7 + 3 AP

127 x 177 cm - Ed. 3 + 2 AP

28

Untitled 32, 2006


70 x 100 cm - Ed. 7 + 3 AP

127 x 177 cm - Ed. 3 + 2 AP

32

Untitled 35, 2006


100 x 70 cm - Ed. 7 + 3 AP

177 x 127 cm - Ed. 3 + 2 AP

Untitled 40, 2006


100 x 70 cm - Ed. 7 + 3 AP

177 x 127 cm - Ed. 3 + 2 AP

37

Untitled 41, 2006


100 x 70 cm - Ed. 7 + 3 AP

177 x 127 cm - Ed. 3 + 2 AP

41

Untitled 43, 2006


100 x 70 cm - Ed. 7 + 3 AP

177 x 127 cm - Ed. 3 + 2 AP

43

framing

Untitled 28, 2006 (Framed example pictured here)


Paper size: 70 x 100 cm Framed size: 74,6 x 104,6 x 4,5 cm

Ed. 7 + 3 AP

Untitled 28, 2006 (Large version also available)


Paper size: 127 x 177 cmFramed size: 137 x 187 x 6,5 cm

Ed. 3 + 2 AP

46

Akim Monet is a true visionary in more ways than one.

Andres Serrano, artist

Part of the beauty and intensity of Akim Monet's photographs has todo with the convergence of opposites, of past and present. Theystand sublimely poised in the space between.

Hilarie M. Sheets, writer for Artnews Magazine,The New York Times, and Art+Auction

Fascinated by the moment captured by the opening and closing ofthe shutter - creating what the artist calls the “burn” of the image -Monet's photographs conjure a mystery and beauty akin to alchemy.

Liz Christensen, curator,Deutsche Bank Fine Art

In his works, Monet succeeds i n establishing, through careful treatmentof light and luminescence, and delicate handling of image and icon,his own personal dialogue within contemporary art.

Dr. Ariane Grigoteit, curator,Deutsche Bank Collection

statements

Cornell University, NY Bachelor of Arts (Comp. Lit. & Art History) 1990

PHOTOGRAPHIC PROJECTS

Homage to Rembrandt Bugatti, Berlin (Germany) 2014Life in Death - the Catacombs Palermo, (Italy) 2010

Rodin – an engagement Musée Rodin, Paris (France) 2009 Seeking Al Tawhid Andalucia (Spain) 2006

Corrida La Goyesca Ronda (Spain)In the Vatican Gardens Rome (Italy)

Villa Adriana Tivoli (Italy) 2004 Pergamon Berlin (Germany)

The Caves – a meditation Vallorbe (Switzerland)Exotic Flowers Bali (Indonesia) & NYC 2001

Homage to Gaudi Barcelona (Spain) 2000 Passage to India Countrywide (India) 1992

PUBLIC COLLECTION

Deutsche Bank Collection, Frankfurt 2004Trading Floor, 60 Wall Street, New York

Global Asset Management Headquarters, 345 Park Ave, NYC

Akim Monet b. 1968 Swiss, lives in Berlin Germany

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

"Seeking Al-Tawhid in Andalucia" 22 Apr. – 4 May 2013 JAMM Gallery, Kuwait

"Rodin – A photographic engagement" 25 June 2009 Atelier Akim Monet, Berlin

"Pergamon" 17 Nov. – 10 Dec. 2005Galerie du XXe Siècle, Paris, France"Akim Monet - Hommage à Gaudi" 10 Apr. – 8 May 2004

Maruani & Noirhomme Gallery, Belgium"Hommage à Gaudi" 15 Jan. – 5 Feb. 2004

5, rue de la Muse, Geneva, Switzerland"Passage to India” 3 – 7 Apr. 2003

Muestra, Mexico, Carosso Fine Art, NYC“The Space Between” Book presentation 23 – 25 Feb. 2003sponsored by Collection Deutsche Bank

benefit «Free Arts for Abused Children, NYC»“Passage to India” 19 Jun. – 10 Aug. 2002

Carosso Fine Art, New York, USA

biography

CATALOGUE DESIGNAnne-Marie Visconti

Claudio FortugnoAkim Monet

www.agenziapropaganda.it

Akim Monet at XVA Gallery Dubai

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