Aakash Nihalani – Tilt
Curated by Giuseppe Pizzuto
Critical essay by Claudia Giraud
Aakash Nihalani (USA, 1986) lives and works in New York. In 2008 he obtained a BFA at Steinhardt School, New York University (NYU) and in 2012 he gained a residency from Lisa de Kooning at the Willem de Kooning studio in East Hampton, NY. Known internationally, he has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in numerous countries including Saudi Arabia, India, United States, England, Italy and Hong Kong. Currently some of his works are visible at the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston (2017). The relationship of Aakash Nihalani with the urban architecture of New York was fundamental for his artistic development. The repetitive architecture of the city, its geometric shapes and its dimensions have attracted the artist who has begun to relate to it. The artist has found his meeting point with the public precisely in the universality of geometric language, accessible at every age.
“There is an inherent familiarity that we all have with shapes independently from our background and that’s a great starting point.” – Aakash Nihalani
After the exhibition Vantage inaugurated in 2014 at the Rome gallery, Wunderkammern presented in Milan a new solo show by Aakash Nihalani: Tilt. For this occasion the artist produced a site-specific work with adhesive tape and painting directly on the gallery walls. Investigating the theme of perception, Aakash Nihalani relates to space to create a unique and immersive experience in which the spectator is called to participate actively. The “tilted” disruptions, optical illusions created by the artist with bright colors, foster not only the opening of a playful and ironic three-dimensionality, but also of a deeper space of reflection on the use and consumption of today’s digital images, strictly two-dimensional. Aakash Nihalani presented for the exhibition at Wunderkammern, in addition to the site-specific installation, a series of small-format works created with ink and paint on paper.
CULTURAL PARTNERS
IED – Istituto Europeo di Design
