Nicoletti presents new solo exhibition by French artist Tarek Lakhrissi.
Nicoletti is delighted to announce the inauguration of its new gallery space on 91 Paul Street with a solo exhibition by French artist Tarek Lakhrissi, opening on 19 September. Combining poetry, film, sculpture and installation, Lakhrissi’s transdisciplinary practice centres on queer and diasporic perspectives and experiences. His installations borrow their aesthetics from literature and pop culture, often using autofiction – the interfusion of a biographical report with fictional elements – to discuss socio-political narratives.
Titled SPIT, this exhibition centres on a new body of work that invites viewers to navigate an oniric space. Testing the tensions between light / darkness and desire / melancholy, Lakhrissi explores the potential of fiction and eroticism as tools for emancipation from marginalisation. Inspired by an experience in which the artist was spat on and verbally attacked during Pride in Paris for carrying Palestinian and Algerian flags, the exhibition takes the physical act of ejecting liquid from one’s mouth, and the erotic and aggressive dimensions of this act, as a point of departure to explore tensions between violence and desire, subversion and resistance.
Giant 3D-printed works, including a larger-than-life Angry Face With Horns emoji, will be presented alongside glass sculptures of romantic symbols such as suns and kissing tongues. A recent development in the artist’s practice is represented by a series of drawings of queer figures, angels and demons. Combining dreams and fantasies with references to pop culture and sexual histories, these works speak to mechanisms of desire and identity formation.
NıCOLETTı is a London-based gallery dedicated to supporting the development of emerging artists. Established in May 2018, and based for 5 years on East London’s historic Vyner Street, NıCOLETTı moved in September 2024 to a converted warehouse on Paul Street, Shoreditch.
In early October, the gallery will participate in Frieze’s Focus section for the third year in a row, with a solo booth by young Togolese-British artist Divine Southgate-Smith.
Tarek Lakhrissi SPIT: 19 September – 2 November, 2024
Venue: 91 Paul Street in Shoreditch.EC2A4NY
Opening Times: Tuesday – Saturday, 11 AM – 6 PM.
Further Information: Index - Nicoletti (nicoletticontemporary.com)