Ziba de Weck

Charles Avery

Now available again, the Islanders: An Introduction is the latest instalment in Scottish artist Charles Avery's epic project which began in 2004. For the first time, the whole project thus far was brought together including several new works.Avery has created texts, drawings, installations and sculptures which describe the topology and cosmology of an imaginary island, whose every feature embodies a philosophical proposition, problem or solution.Imbued with a formal beauty, humour, and a spirit of philosophical enquiry, these vivid and intricate works invite the viewer to recreate the Island in their own minds, and to use it as an arena for exploring philosophical conundrums and paradoxes.This much anticipated book is the culmination of the first phase of a totally unique project created by this very promising, young British artist.Published on the occasion of the exhibition at Parasol unit, London, 10 September – 8 November 2008.

An Introduction

The Islanders

Shirin Neshat

I Know Something about Love

Sarah Brown

Shezad Dawood

Oliver Basciano

Shezad Dawood's first solo show in a London institution, comprises recently executed light sculptures, an installation of large-scale paintings on textile, and two films, one of which, Towards the Possible Film, gives its title to the exhibition.Many of Dawood's questions and investigations are rooted in his own cultural heritage, life experience, and a deep desire to encourage communication between different cultures, people, and even the past and future. His extensive travels and research, together with his deep interest in the fantastical, unusual and speculative, all vitally feed into some extraordinary episodes and narratives in his films.Towards the Possible Film, 2014, was shot at Legzira beach in Sidi Ifni, Morocco. In a landscape that could well be an alien planet, otherworldly figures appear as if to threaten the peace. Dawood found a deep source of inspiration in the region's history and the many wars fought in the 1950s and '60s between Spain, Morocco and the independent Saharan tribes.Dawood's light sculptures stem from his interest in mysticism. For example, The Black Sun, white-neon circle, is essentially concerned with the mystical transformation of the self as represented by the allegory of the eclipse and the notion of the dark night of the soul. While his installation of large-scale paintings on textiles, that were stitched during the 1970s by women in Pakistan, creates a dialogue between two worlds and two realities, both past and present.Published on the occasion of the exhibition Shezad Dawood: Towards the Possible Film at Parasol unit, London, 4 April - 25 May 2014.

Towards the Possible Film

Y. Z. Kami

Julien Bismuth

Emerging Persian-born figurative painter Y.Z. Kami's canvases feature flat, matte portraits resembling Byzantine frescos or Egyptian Fayum portraits. Included here are such works from the past decade, along with abstracted collages, made from poetry and prayer texts, inspired by the whirling motions of Sufi dervishes.

Endless Prayers

Y.Z. Kami

Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art

Published to accompany the exhibition held at the Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art, London, Mar. 2013.

Phantom Fuel

Navid Nuur

Ziba de Weck

Books

Your next favorite book is out there