Group show - Paul Maheke, Rebecca Ackroyd, Ndayé Kouagou
I like them, they're nice
LOCATION Nir Altman
CURATOR Ndayé Kouagou
AUTHOR Tatjana Schaefer
PHOTOGRAPHY Dirk Tacke
I like them, they're nice
Group show by Paul Maheke, Rebecca Ackroyd and Ndayé Kouagou Various Others, Munich - In cooperation with Peres Projects, Berlin and Galerie Sultana, Paris No need for a wall, it's a garden. No need for a roof, it's a garden. No need for much, it's a garden. One person will build the foundation and the other one will build the furniture and I'll do the rest. No concrete for our foundation but a constantly moving presence, to welcome you and anyone who wanna join. A nice place for a conversation or maybe THE conversation, with a perfect cast, why them you ask? Because I like them, they're nice. – Ndayé Kouagou The exhibition takes the personal connection between people as a starting point, from where space, experience and meaning are constructed. Each of the three artists individually deals with transporting internally formed questions and concerns to an external environment, within which the personal narrative becomes part of a larger context: Paul Maheke's approach extends from working with his own body to a general conception of the body as archive and echo. From this metaphorical perspective, he explores identity politics, especially in regard to queerness and blackness. Rebecca Ackroyd works in drawing, installation and sculpture. She transmits personally experienced urges and fears, such as the need for belonging or the fear of the unknown into ambiguous atmospheres, where these intimate feelings resonate with a public and each visitor individually. Ndayé Kouagou takes a similar interest in core emotions. In his performance and speech-based practice, he combines tales of the everyday with existential thought. With a strong sense of humor, his body of work tackles the very essence of being. In this show, all three artists engage in a mutual act of world-making enticing the visitor to finalize the art.
I like them, they're nice - installation view - Nir Altman, Munich
I like them, they're nice - installation view #2 - Nir Altman, Munich
Ndayé Kouagou - I truly advise you of becoming a loser, 2020 Plexiglas, epoxy resin, maps, 140x100x2 cm - Courtesy of the artist and Nir Altman, Munich
Paul Maheke - In Me Everything Is Already Flowing, 2016, Digital print on burnt fabric stretched on a frame, dried flowers 155x125x206 cm - Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Sultana, Paris
Paul Maheke -In Me Everything Is Already Flowing (detail #5), 2016, Digital print on burnt fabric stretched on a frame, dried flowers 155x125x206 cm - Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Sultana, Paris
Rebecca Ackroyd - (car drawing) - RA, 2020, soft pastel on paper, gouache 185 x 135cm - Courtesy of the artist and Peres Projects, Berlin
Rebecca Ackroyd - (Party) - party, 2020, soft pastel on paper, gouache, 185 x 135cm - Courtesy of the artist and Peres Projects, Berlin
Rebecca Ackroyd - Gory Details (detail #1), 2019, 160x60x70 cm, epoxy resin, steel fibreglass - Courtesy of the artist and Peres Projects, Berlin
Rebecca Ackroyd - Gory Details, 2019, 160 x 60 x 70 cm, epoxy resin, steel fibreglass - Courtesy of the artist and Peres Projects, Berlin
Paul Maheke - A Fire Circle For A Public Hearing & In Me Everything Is Already Flowing - Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Sultana, Paris
Paul Maheke- A Fire Circle For A Public Hearing, 2018 Silent HD video on a vertical screen (loop) 22.51 min - Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Sultana, Paris
Ndayé Kouagou - Be realistic think average and The most annoying thing there is! - Courtesy of the artist and Nir Altman, Munich
Ndayé Kouagou - The most annoying thing there is!, 2020, plexiglas, taxi fare receipt, 42x33x3 cm - Courtesy of the artist and Nir Altman, Munich
Ndayé Kouagou- Be realistic think average, 2020, plexiglas, taxi fare receipt, 42x33x3 cm - Courtesy of the artist and Nir Altman, Munich
Paul Maheke -In Me Everything Is Already Flowing (detail #3), 2016, Digital print on burnt fabric stretched on a frame, dried flowers, 155x125x206 cm - Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Sultana, Paris
I like them, they're nice
Group show by Paul Maheke, Rebecca Ackroyd and Ndayé Kouagou
Various Others, Munich – In cooperation with Peres Projects, Berlin and Galerie Sultana, Paris
No need for a wall, it's a garden. No need for a roof, it's a garden. No need for much, it's a garden. One person will build the foundation and the other one will build the furniture and I'll do the rest. No concrete for our foundation but a constantly moving presence, to welcome you and anyone who wanna join.
A nice place for a conversation or maybe THE conversation, with a perfect cast, why them you ask? Because I like them, they're nice. – Ndayé Kouagou
The exhibition takes the personal connection between people as a starting point, from where space, experience and meaning are constructed. Each of the three artists individually deals with transporting internally formed questions and concerns to an external environment, within which the personal narrative becomes part of a larger context:
Paul Maheke's approach extends from working with his own body to a general conception of the body as archive and echo. From this metaphorical perspective, he explores identity politics, especially in regard to queerness and blackness.
Rebecca Ackroyd works in drawing, installation and sculpture. She transmits personally experienced urges and fears, such as the need for belonging or the fear of the unknown into ambiguous atmospheres, where these intimate feelings resonate with a public and each visitor individually.
Ndayé Kouagou takes a similar interest in core emotions. In his performance and speech-based practice, he combines tales of the everyday with existential thought. With a strong sense of humor, his body of work tackles the very essence of being.
In this show, all three artists engage in a mutual act of world-making enticing the visitor to finalize the art.
Text: Tatjana Schaefer
Galleries bio
Galerie Sultana, Paris
Sultana's international profile has significantly developed since its creation due not only to its on-site program (Pia Camil, Jesse Darling, Celia Hempton, Paul Maheke, Mirak Jamal, Justin Fitzpatrick, Walter Pfeiffer…) but its participation at art fairs : Liste, Frieze, Armory Show, Material… and to the creation of Paris Internationale in collaboration with four others galleries. The move to Belleville in 2014 corresponds with the gallery's desire to participate in a dynamic, artistic neighbourhood in which young, emerging galleries and projects are blossoming, where curators, art writers can now be found. The Belleville district of Paris has gained considerable attention with the quality and freshness of its contemporary art scene.
Sultana's new space is a confirmation of the spirit of the gallery: the desire to give artists an independent platform to communicate, creating specific projects as well as curatorial propositions that go beyond the display of artworks.
Peres Projects, Berlin
Founded by Javier Peres in San Francisco, California in 2002, Peres Projects is a Berlin-based gallery promoting contemporary artists to an international audience. Gallery artists have been included in a wide array of internationally renowned exhibitions and their works are regularly exhibited by leading museums. Working closely with collectors, art advisors, and institutions, the gallery assists in building important collections of contemporary art. In keeping with our mission to advance the careers of the artists whom we exhibit and represent, we regularly participate in leading international art fairs and publish artist books, monographs and catalogs. Since the gallery's inception, it has operated project spaces and presented important exhibitions of
contemporary art in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Athens, Stockholm, and Berlin.