Chalis e Naamani

Critical text

Chalis e Naamani s (b. 1995, Neuilly-sur-Seine) installations intersect with various media that allow for an interwoven and linguistic exchange. Within them, a connection between painting, sculpture, popular culture, fashion, and technology emerges that almost seems like a personal archive of the artist and yet finds such a clear language with cultural references to the outside world. Even without knowing the icons of the Middle East or the lyrics of popular trap songs, connections can be made. They are scraps of a metropolis of the West and the Middle East, given a new concept of presentation by the vivid content of the works. The compositions evoke memories that look like the pulsating streets of Tehran, interplaying with fragments of Western pop culture formed into fabric structures in soft, irregular shapes.

Text by Saim Demircan, Maurin Dietrich

The artist’s voice

My mother used to tell us: 'Always be well dressed.' It is a language whose rules differ depending on the place, time and conditions in which it is used. It is a body modification tool, revealing systems of representation of the world.