ICA SF showcases an ambitious solo exhibition from Iraqi-born artist Hayv Kahraman.
Hayv Kahraman, “Neurobust no. 5” (2023, oil on linen)
Viewing artist Hayv Kahraman’s oil painting “Loves Me, Loves Me Not” is an exercise in allowing beauty to unfold while understanding insidious colonial-era practices. It’s a lot to unpack. And it’s all riveting.
Hayv Kahraman, “Loves Me, Loves Me Not” (2023 oil on linen)
Three installations grace Kahraman’s exhibition, Look Me in the Eyes, at ICA SF: paintings that debut the artist’s new marbling technique, a large-scale sculptural installation and an audio installation. Even if patrons aren’t familiar with her work, they’ll leave the show recognizing Kahraman as one of the world’s most influential female voices.
Inspiration for Kahraman’s art comes from her experiences as an Iraqi refugee in Sweden, where she felt an enormous burden to assimilate and lose her national identity. The artist’s research also led to 18th-century Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus and the colonial and gender hierarchy ingrained in naming plant species friendly to European interests.
Artist Hayv Kahraman
Surveillance and botany take center stage in Kahraman’s work. Plants, composed of eyes and eyebrows and offering an overriding sense of paranoia, flourish. The work simultaneously reveals vulnerability (hinting at government surveillance) and defiance. Need an artistic wake-up call? This is the show to see this winter. Through April 21, 901 Minnesota St., 415.226.9250, icasf.org
Photography by: ICA SF; ICA SF; PILAR CORRIAS GALLERY, JACK SHAINMAN GALLERY, VIELMETTER LOS ANGELES AND THE THIRD LINE
