Curated by Kamiar Maleki

Custot Gallery Dubai is delighted to present Richard Höglund: Desert Octave Dubai and the region, curated by Kamiar Maleki. This new cycle of paintings is part of the lifelong series of dynamic works entitled Sea Pictures describing portraiture as gesture in time and inspired by modernist approaches to representing the human spirit. Höglund states that “with Sea Pictures, I wanted to indicate a man by his index; by his trace rather than his likeness. I wanted to indicate humanity through mark and measure”. Höglund was particularly inspired by William Wordsworth’s sonnet entitled Nuns Fret Not at their Convent’s Narrow Room in the development of Sea Pictures. Desert Octave features a new direction in the artist’s practice where he explores working on linen with new materials such as Sahara sand mixed with bone dust. Höglund experiments the synergy between these natural media and their melodic interaction with spirituality, language and poetry. He remarks “I have never been to the Arabian Desert, though I have thought of it many times, most of my knowledge comes from an outsider. The romanticism of a place imagined has its own purity, in that it has not been tainted with experience. The title of the exhibition Desert Octave indicates the incomplete nature of the poetic endeavour.”

Richard Höglund (b. 1982, USA) lives and works in Paris, France. Solo exhibitions and projects include: Ronchini Gallery, London (2016); Skaftfell, Seyðisfjörður, Iceland (2015); Tête, Berlin, Germany (2012); Dimensions Variable, Miami, USA (2012); Mamco, Geneva, Switzerland (2010); Gallery Diet, Miami, USA (2009); Le Salon du Dessin Contemporain, Paris, France (2008); La Chaufferie, Strasbourg, France (2006). Höglund was awarded the Prix Jeune Création, Paris, France (2006) and has participated in several residency programs including Villa Ruffieux, Sierre, Switzerland (2013), cannonball, Miami, USA (2012) and Villa Bernasconi, Geneva, Switzerland (2010). Höglund studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and MIT in Boston, USA, and holds a MFA (DNSEP) obtained at the Haute école des arts du Rhin, in Strasbourg, France (2008). In 2013, Höglund was selected by Tacita Dean to participate in her workshop at the Fundación Botín in Santander.