Mark Hachem gallery has been an avid supporter of the kinetic art movement, representing historical artists with a central focus on cognition and visual perception. For the 2021 edition of Volta Basel, the gallery proposes a selection of artworks, from kineticism to Op’ Art, demonstrating the perennity of these movements through contemporary artists. Venezuelan artists Darios Perez Flores and Rafael Barrios carry out their artistic research on the subject of visual perception, situating themselves within the lineage of this iconic movement. Perception plays a central role the work of Barrios, an artist renowned for his alteration of space and volumes. This manipulation manifests itself in weightless sculptures, creating a virtual universe that takes shape in accordance with the viewer’s own input. For Volta Basel 2021 we will exceptionally present singular unique pieces by Kinetic masters Jesús Rafael Soto, Carlos Cruz Diez Dario Perez Flores and Phillipe Hiquily! The gallery will also be focusing on Michelangelo Bastiani, irrefutable master of perception, whose works are famous for their play on depth and volumes, concentrated around the use of water. His holograms can be described as microcosms, exceeding their two-dimensional nature. Likewise juxtaposing nature and technology, Shawn Smith uses systems of nature as a point of departure to create his sculptural works. In his “Re-things”, he creates three-dimensional representations of two-dimensional images of nature, which he finds online. He builds his objects pixel by pixel through a laborious process in direct contrast to the seamlessness and speed of the digital world. His main point of interest is in how each pixel plays an important role in the identity of the object, the same way that each cell plays a crucial role in the identity of an organism. Through this process of pixilation, details become distilled, distorted, or deleted. This multidimensionality can be traced again through the work of Patrick Hughes, creator of "reverspective", an optical illusion on a 3-dimensional surface where the parts of the picture which seem farthest away are actually physically the nearest. Kinetic art will be also represented by James Chedburn’s movement-based figurative work, which allows the visitor to interact with the object by turning a crank or activating a motor. His sculptures have a playful character and relate to a poetical and imaginary world. He uses brass wire to bring his sketches to life in three-dimensions, as well as discarded objects to add an element of nostalgia to his creations. As an echo to the Lebanese gallery, Mark Hachem Gallery invites you to discover some of the most talented artists of the Lebanese contemporary scene with works by Ghazi Baker, Betty Yaghi, Hanny Khoury and Rafi Yedalian. One of these artists is Ghazi Baker, whose style could be characterized as an exotic cocktail of lines and post-structuralist art, a cerebral and deliberately anti-thematic venture. His artistic influences include comic book art, music, movies, motorcycle culture, esoteric imagery and everyday life. These properties are also central to Betty Yaghi’s work, refuting the idea of art as simply the result of inspiration. According to Yaghi, regardless of its origins, beauty constitutes the lifeline of art, and is the beating heart of all of her works. Exhibited in Dubai, Miami and Beirut, Betty’s work could only be described as a window into an ethereal reality, a landscape between organic representation and whimsical inspiration. Finally, Isabell Beyel and Yves Hayat employ a ‘mainstream’ visual language related to mass culture and consumerism to denounce social issues and explore the question of identity in contemporary society. While Beyel uses recycled materials for her artworks, Wolfgang Stiller and Bombardieri use other kinds of resources. Ultimately, the multifaceted perspectives conveyed by the artists’ works contribute to a comprehensive examination of the role of the individual in the modern world.
