L'invito a toccare le opere
Dal 3 aprile al 17 maggio
Inaugurazione Giovedì 3 aprile, ore 18.00
What? Armen Agop - « TOUCH »
Where? LKFF Art & Sculpture Projects Rue Blanche nr 15, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
In his second Brussels solo exhibition, Egyptian artist Armen Agop invites the viewers to do what is usually forbidden: Touch the sculptures. This new exhibition is about freedom. The freedom to touch the sculptures and, through this contact, the sculptures are given the freedom to move.
Freedom to Touch
Armen Agop suggests a different approach to art, one that goes beyond simply observing to also include physical contact. He encourages a more intimate and physical relationship with his installations, which enriches our experience.
Armen Agop’s body of work in black granite also introduces us to a part of nature that was once part of a mountain and is now sharing our space with us. It is a meeting between human nature and nature. By pushing us beyond the traditional dialogue we have with art he removes its sacredness and thereby dissolves the distance there is between us and the artworks, and also between us and nature.
Agop suggests that our role as admirers or critics is rendered meaningless when we meet the artwork on a distant level. He wants people to feel free to encounter the stone just as they might a person, by extending their hand. The relationship with art is then reconstructed, creating what could be called a new social consciousness between the viewer and the work of art.
Freedom to Move
These sober sculptures interact with us. At first glance they may seem reserved, stoic even, but these simple forms in black granite are just waiting to be touched to come to life.
They are not figurative, yet they are not abstractions from anything either. Agop’s sculptures are characterized by their ascetic nature; which excludes everything except that which is essential. His pure forms are defined by strong lines. They are beings in and of themselves. Balancing on only millimeters, all it takes is the slightest Touch and they begin to dance.
About the artist
Born in Cairo in 1969, Armen Agop first came to Italy in 2000 after winning the Prix de Rome.
In 2008 he was awarded “The Sculpture Grant” given once a year to a prominent international sculptor by the Swedish organization KKV-B. In 2010, he received the international Umberto Mastroianni award. In 2013, he was was awarded the Presidential Medal of the Italian Republic.
His works are represented in the Egyptian Modern Art Museum, Egypt, Aswan Open Air Museum, Egypt, Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art, Qatar, Villa Empain/Boghossian Foundation in Belgium, Giardino di Piazza Stazione in Barge, Italy, Coral Springs Museum of Art in Florida, USA and the Bozzetti Museum in Pietrasanta Italy.
Further information, contact Mijntje Lukoff - mlukoff@lkff.be - +32 (0) 474 88 12 25
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