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Avish Khebrehzadeh

Avish Khebrehzadeh

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Avish Khebrehzadeh, The Unnameable Dream, 2011

Avish Khebrehzadeh

The Unnameable Dream, 2011
video animation on painting
6 min 20 sec | edition of 3
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ed. 2/3 The narrative depicts the transformation of a hippopotamus into a rhinoceros at the hands of a pair of taxidermists. Drawn in her very distinctive spare style, Khebrehzadeh employs...
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ed. 2/3

The narrative depicts the transformation of a hippopotamus into a rhinoceros at the hands of a pair of taxidermists. Drawn in her very distinctive spare style, Khebrehzadeh employs a minimal aesthetic and restrained line to create her narrative, subjects, individuals and the lone animal who all hover against a background, which is plain and luminous, intensifying their solitude.

The four scenes of the video projection depict in theatrical succession the following stories: a pair of acrobats perform; a pair of taxidermists enter with a hippopotamus, engage in preserving but ultimately artificially transforming the animal into a rhinoceros before presenting their transformed feat on a revolving stage; in a fury of excitement the taxidermists are seen mounting their creation, madly tickling each other; finally, a little person enters, wishfully attempts to transform himself into a rhinoceros, plants a rhinoceros horn on his own forehead, climbs a ladder and sings.

The free-associative nature of the narrative sequences owes itself to a fascination with the Theatre of the Absurd.
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