Idris Khan: repeat after me

Abstract

Idris Khan is internationally recognized for a densely-layered, poetic body of work imbued with echoes and reverberations that evoke the flow of time. Drawing inspiration from culturally coded sources and artifacts, Khan explores themes including history, religion, music and cumulative experience. Repetition and ritual are central to Khan's approach to image-making and have remained a throughline in his practice. Spanning painting, photographic prints, watercolors, works on paper, sculpture, and video, Khan condenses human experience into images that encapsulate the metaphysical collapse of time into singular moments. "Idris Khan: Repeat after me" chronicles the development of the British artist's practice across more than two decades, from his early monochromatic photographic works to a new series of abstract watercolor compositions that encapsulate the essence of iconic paintings of the 16th-18th centuries through their use of color. Accompanying his first US exhibition, this catalogue will feature essays by curator Marcelle Polednik, art critic David Carrier and a conversation between Idris Khan and artist Edmund de Waal. London-based Idris Khan (*1978, Birmingham) is one of the most exciting British artists of his generation. Upon completing his Master's Degree in Fine Art at the Royal College of Art in London in 2004, he first garnered international attention for his digital layering of black-and-white photographs. In 2018, he created the British Museum's first site-specific work, he has had numerous international solo exhibitions, and in 2017 was awarded the American Architecture Prize for his design of Abu Dhabi's Wahat Al Karama.

Contents

Preface / Idris Khan -- Idris Khan and the surface of time / Marcelle Polednik -- Layering, repetition, and ritual: the central concerns of Idris Khan's visual art / David Carrier -- Idris Khan in conversation with / Edmund de Waal.