Nader Ahriman :: Allsopp Contemporary :: Artist

Biography

Nader Ahriman presents the viewer with painted manifestations of philosophical and literary modes of thought. Drawing on sources from Plato to Ezra Pound, Aristotle to Jung, Nader's paintings give literal figuration to abstract, academic concepts. The work address the fundamental relationships involved in the act of image making - that between aesthetics and content; an idea and its material translation. All this is done through what is essentially a speculative code - yet through Nader's suggestive and provocative titles the viewer is forced to engage with the works on an associative and intellectual basis. One's reading then shifts dramatically from surrealist anecdote to philosophical interpretation and comment. Can painted images effectively convey abstract modes of thought? As one might expect Ahriman's works refuse to give conclusive answers and in so doing further fuel this intriguing, time honoured debate.

Lives and works in Berlin

Education

Kunstakademie, Stuttgart

P. S. 1 scholarship, New York

Solo Exhibitions

2006

 Nader Ahriman: Paintings and Works on Paper 1995-1999, Allsopp Contemporary, London

2004

 Galerie Klosterfelde, Berlin

2003

Kunstverein Freiburg, Freiburg, D (cat.)

Project, Los Angeles, CA, USA

2002

The Void between Saturn and the Fixed Stars, Asprey Jacques, London

Helga Maria Klosterfelde, Hamburg

2001

E il naufragar m'e dolce in questo mare, The Project, New York

Unendliche Ruhe des seligen Nichts, Klosterfelde, Berlin

1999

equilibrium, intensity and mental geometry of the philosopher S., Helga Maria Klosterfelde, Hamburg

1998

The Quantitative Ontology of Reality, The Project, New York

Revolution der Viadukte, Klosterfelde, Berlin

1997

Helga Maria Klosterfelde, Hamburg

Ein moralisch-metaphysisches Moment, Kunsthalle St. Gallen, CH (cat.) c/o Atle Gerhardsen, Oslo

1996

"Aristoteles auf dem Eismeer", Klosterfelde, Berlin

Lukas & Hoffmann, Cologne

1995

Wiensowski & Harbord, Berlin

1993

Kunstitut, Stuttgart

Group Exhibitions

2003

Barraque D`Dull Odde (-Romantic-), Gigiotto Del Vecchio, Galleria, Continua, San Gimignano

2002

Asprey Jacques, London

Pertaining to Painting, Perspectives series organized by Paola Morsiani, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston and Austin Museum of Art, TX (cat.)

2001

Painting at the Edge of the World, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, (cat.)

neue Modelle / új modellek, Trafo - Haus für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Galerie Trafo, Budapest

2000

I fiori del mio giardino, Lucca (cat.)

Games and fairy tales, Museo - Laboratorio d'Arte Contemporanea, Città Sant'Angelo, I

Die Intelligenz der Hand, Rupertinum, Salzburg Berlin - Binnendifferenz. Phase 1"

1999

examining pictures, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, GB; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA (cat.)

Spellbound, Karyn Lovegrove Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Malerei, INIT Kunst-Halle Berlin

draw, Emily Tsingou Gallery, London

Lè Grând Præmière Opénïng Shöw, Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen

1998

warming, The Project, New York

Complexity beyond surface, KUNSTNETZWERK, Galerie Jörg Heitsch, Munich

Sehen sehen, loop, Berlin

1996

Something changed, Helga Maria Klosterfelde, Hamburg

1995

Griffelkunst Hamburg

Film Cut, neugerriemschneider, Berlin

1994

Studio Artists, P. S 1 New York

1990

The New Age, London

1989

Kunstverein Stuttgart