Nadim Chaudry

Even The Animals

Saturday 24 April - 22 May 2010

New Art Exchange

 

New Art Exchange is proud to launch Even The Animals, the debut solo exhibition by Nadim Chaudry on Friday 23 April 2010.

 

Defining himself as a textile artist, Kashif Nadim Chaudry’s current practice is concerned with a search for the idea of the ‘Sacred’ and all its entrapments. Playing with the traditions and ceremonies of his own Pakistani Muslim background, as well as investigating a further marginalised identity as a British born gay man, Nadim’s search for the sacred raises questions around adornment, sexuality and the performances of religious and cultural ritual.

 

‘Even the Animals’ is a spectacle, a performance frozen in time. Referencing the solemnity of the congregation at mass or bejewelled wedding guests admiring their bride, Nadim’s fantastical sculptural beasts enact a surreal vision of a broken church.

 

 

Coming from a family heritage were textiles and tailoring have played a fundamental role, craftsmanship and the sensuality of cloth are defining features of Nadim’s working practice. A degree in textiles has very much focused his creativity around the importance of materiality and as he asserts:

 

"The heart of my practice lies with the working, shaping and moulding of physical ‘stuff’."

 

What makes a space or ritual sacred? What shapes, forms and colours are appropriate for such a task? Nadim is fascinated by these concerns, especially, if positioned on the outside looking in, in the vein of the sacrilegious.  Exploring notions of the mysterious and monumental, arguably aspects of the sacred, also inform his work, and provide a visual dialectic with the secular.

 

Skinder Hundal, Chief Executive of New Art Exchange said:

 

“We are always looking to support members of the local community, create opportunities for aspiring artists, and work in sync with our partner arts organisations. The Nottingham Castle Annual Open is a project that allows us to do all of this, and importantly increases access and opportunity for many to the arts. Through the Nottingham Annual Open’s - New Art Exchange Prize, we are delighted to have found a great new talent in Nadim, and look forward to supporting him in this his first exhibition, and his journey beyond.”

 

Even the Animals will be on show at New Art Exchange from Saturday 24 April to Saturday 22 May 2010, admission is free.