Photoscaled 3 (yellow), Photoscaled 1 (cyan), Photoscaled 2 (magenta) 2011, Two Thighs Rooted in Marble, 2010

Disappointed Pedestal (Green), Foot-Height Abridged Naked Youth (The Spinario), 2008, Ankle-Height Abridged Virile Bronze Figure, 2008

Disappointed Pedestal (Red), 2008, Calf-Height Abridged Satyre, 2008

Foot-Height Abridged Hercules, 2008, Downscaled and Overtbrown 3 & 4, 2008, Plinthe (detail), 2009

Ricky and Master Klaus, 2010, The Foot of Adrian Hermanides, 2008

all images courtesy of the artist

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In his sculptures, photographs and films, SHAHRYAR NASHAT often questions the representation of the body in art history and the conventions of mediation and presentation: NASHAT finds great pleasure in details, and his works or exhibitions involve his interest in art collections, art libraries, reproduction of works of art, as well as questions relating to appropriation and artistic reuse, display issues, and apparatus. Lighting, plinths, pedestals, and the mode of projecting and positioning all play pivotal roles in his work. Wherever he draws his source or reference material from, he consistently makes a certain artificiality or constructedness obvious in order to generate the possibility of critical reflection about the medium itself.

Iranian by origin but now a Berliner, he has also lived in Geneva and trained in Holland. His recent solo shows and projects include Workbench, Studio Voltaire London (2011), Line up, Kunstverein Nurnberg (2010); Remains to be seen, Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen and Plaque, Kunstverein Potsdam (both 2009); and Because the Ultimate Foundation is Not Founded, Elisabeth Kaufmann, Zurich (2008). NASHAT is participating in BICE CURIGER’s ILLUMInations at this year’s International Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.