INFERNO

Alfredo Jaar | 25 Years Later | Goodman Gallery London | 14 November 2019 – 18 January 2020.

Following its London launch this month, Goodman Gallery now gears up for its first solo exhibition which will be by Chilean-born artist, Alfredo Jaar, opening 14th November.

Jaar is known to be one of the most uncompromising, compelling and innovative artists working today. He has realised more than 70 public interventions around the world — most recently, a new permanent sculpture commission unveiled at Yorkshire Sculpture Park in September, and a public artwork staged at this year’s Edinburgh Festival. His work is in major public collections worldwide, including Tate, Centre Pompidou, Museo Reina Sofia, MoMA, Guggenheim among others.

For his exhibition at Goodman Gallery, titled 25 Years Later, Jaar will present a selection of works from his iconic Rwanda series, 1994-2000, produced in response to the horrific scenes of genocide he witnessed in the wake of Rwandan civil conflict in 1994. The series is the artist’s attempt to make sense of the world, bearing witness to unspeakable truths. It acts as a poignant reminder of past horrors and critical thinking about current world events. The late curator, Okwui Enwezor, once described Jaar’s work as « one of the most developed commitments by a contemporary artist in the blatant embrace of the structural link between ethics and aesthetics, art and politics”.

Among the works presented is a large-scale installation as well as photography, film and multimedia pieces. Jaar will also premiere a new work in the series. It takes the form of text in neon: a poem by the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova which reflects Jaar’s mood in response to the current state of world politics.

Images: Six seconds (2000) – Be afraid enormity of possible (2014) – Teach us to outgrow our madness (performance Edinburg 2014) – Venice Biennal 2013 – copyright the artist