The impossible joints of Nairy Baghramian's sculptures on display at Milan's GAM

Fondazione Furla and GAM-Galleria d’Arte Moderna present Misfits, a solo exhibition by Nairy Baghramian (Isfahan, 1971), curated by Bruna Roccasalva, held in the spaces of the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Milan. The first solo exhibition of Nairy Baghramian in an Italian institution, Misfits is the new exhibition project of the Furla Series cycle, the exhibition program promoted by Fondazione Furla and realized in collaboration with the most important Italian museums. The project summarizes some of the constituent elements of the artist’s work: from an interest in crossing and rethinking the boundary between interior and exterior, to an analysis of the relationship that binds the aesthetic object and the institutional framework that hosts it.

For Baghramian, every work of art, even in its substantial autonomy, is linked to the time, place, and socio-political fabric in which it is embedded, and the idea for Misfits arises precisely from the specific urban context in which GAM is located, an English garden that has the peculiarity of being accessible to adults only when accompanied by children. The contrasting suggestions aroused by a context that refers to a protected and playful universe such as that of children, but at the same time generates a sense of frustration because of the restrictions on its accessibility, were the prerequisite to the conception of Misfits. By hybridizing the idea of play as an educational device with a reflection on the aesthetic experience of inadequacy and imperfection, Baghramian has created a series of large-scale sculptures formally conceived to inhabit both the space inside and outside the museum.

The exhibition itinerary is divided into five rooms, each of which houses a sculptural element, and continues on the terrace adjacent to the rooms. Each of the works in the exhibition consists of two halves, made of different materials (painted aluminum castings and wood for the elements found inside, marble for those outside) and installed as if they were disjointed parts of a possible whole. The disjointed elements of these sculptures seem to evoke the typical structure of certain playful objects based on interlocking geometric shapes. From childhood we are educated to assemble elements with perfect interlocks and thus develop a pattern of thinking according to which everything must necessarily fit together with another. Baghramian’s sculptures deny this supposed coincidence: their forms do not fit together perfectly; on the contrary, they offer the experience of error as the only possible one, inviting us to discover beauty precisely in their imperfect juxtaposition.

The impossible fits of these sculptures become the starting point for questioning how disappointment, inadequacy, and imperfection are not only part of each individual’s formation, but can also have an autonomous raison d’être as formal manifestations.

Furla Series - NAIRY BAGHRAMIAN. Misfits is the result of a collaboration between Fondazione Furla and GAM-Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Milano, with the generous contribution of Fondazione Henraux for the production of the marble works.

The exhibition is open until Sept. 26.

Nairy Baghramian is a visual artist born in 1971 in Iran. In 1984 she moved to Berlin where she currently lives and works. She has had solo exhibitions at major museums including: MUDAM, Luxembourg (2019); Festival d’Automne á Paris at École des Beaux-Arts (2018); Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid (2018); SMK, Copenhagen (2017); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2016); S.M.A.K, Ghent (2016); Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2015); Museo Serralves, Porto (2014); Art Institute of Chicago (2014); Serpentine Gallery with Phyllida Barlow (2010); Studio Voltaire, London (2009); Kunsthalle Basel (2006). He has participated in biennials and major international exhibition events including: Performa 19, New York (2019); Venice Biennale (2019 and 2011); Yorkshire Sculpture International (2019); documenta 14, Kassel and Athens (2017); Skulptur Projekte Münster (2017 and 2007); 14th Lyon Biennale (2017); Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art (2012); Berlin Biennale (2014 and 2008). Baghramian was among the finalists for theHugo Boss Prize 2020 and has received numerous awards: Malcolm-McLaren-Award with Maria Hassabi (2019); Zurich Art Prize (2016); Arnold-Bode Prize, Kassel (2014); Hector Prize, Kunsthalle Mannheim (2012); Ernst Schering Foundation Award (2007). His solo exhibitions will soon be presented in various institutions: Secession, Vienna (2021); Haus der Kunst, Munich (2022); Carré d’Art, Nîmes (2022); Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas (2022). His works are in collections at prestigious museums such as: Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Solomon Guggenheim Collection, New York; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Tate Modern, London; MUDAM Luxembourg; Museo Tamayo, Mexico City; Museo Jumex, Mexico City; Nasher Art Center, Dallas; Art Institute Chicago.

For all information you can visit GAM’s official website.

Pictured: a room from the exhibition. Photo by Nick Ash

The impossible joints of Nairy Baghramian's sculptures on display at Milan's GAM

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