Wadsworth Athenaeum’s MATRIX series spotlights Nevine Mahmoud
Nevine Mahmoud, ‘Wax Lips seated,’ 2021. Polyester resin, plastic, plastic chair and steel hardware. Courtesy of the artist and M+B, Los Angeles. Photo credit: Ed Mumford
HARTFORD, Conn. — Glass, stone and resin compose sculptural works by Nevine Mahmoud that simultaneously evoke the human body, inanimate objects and organic forms. They are at once natural and manufactured; alive and disembodied; inviting and disturbing. The nine works in the exhibition are arranged across the gallery space by the artist, who is deeply engaged in exhibition design, to propel visual associations and conversations between the works. Nevine Mahmoud / MATRIX 188 is on view at the Wadsworth from February 3 to May 1.
“Mahmoud’s seductive, alluring forms spark curiosity as they continually shapeshift before your eyes,” said Patricia Hickson, the Wadsworth’s Emily Hall Tremaine curator of contemporary art. “From animal to vegetal to mechanical, the fluid connotations of her sculptures connect a surreal sensibility with feminist fearlessness.”
Nevine Mahmoud, ‘Triple Swell,’ 2020. Azzuro Aquamarina marble, glass and acrylic. Courtesy of the artist and Soft Opening, London. Photo credit: Daniel Terna
Mahmoud works with rigorous materials, including hard stone, a traditionally male-dominated craft due to the intense physicality of manipulating the medium, and more recently, glass — both cast and hand blown. Fueled by the artist’s interest in unusual material combinations, vibrantly-colored glass objects with slick, shiny finishes contrast with the matte surfaces and muted tones of marble.
Nevine Mahmoud, ‘yellow Toy, Leg (Lila), and Leg (lilac),’ 2020. Blown glass. Courtesy of the artist and M+B, Los Angeles. Photo credit: Paul Salveson
Throughout the exhibition, Mahmoud rejects the traditional white display pedestal as a mode of display. Instead, the artist designs specific alternatives including metal hardware that harnesses objects to the wall, a plastic patio chair that presents a set of nearly-three-feet-wide red lips, and hard-edged, plywood steps.
In addition to tactile surfaces, Mahmoud’s sculptural installations offer an exploration of nature and the body. At once sensual, ambiguous, and menacing, they evoke lips, breasts, and buttocks
as much as fruit, flowers, mechanisms, and toys.
Nevine Mahmoud, ‘Toy/Intruder,’ 2020. Hand-blown glass and polyester resin. Courtesy of the artist and Soft Opening, London. Photo credit: Paul Salveson
In a 2018 interview with Art of Choice, Mahmoud stated: “I think it is my way of inscribing a kind of authorship into the works. I am a female artist, I identify that way and have been identified by culture as such. I think women artists are under-represented and historically overshadowed by male artists. So, I want to write the female form, from my perspective, continually into the history of sculpture. Many have done this before me, and I intend to join forces.”
Mahmoud has noted specific influences in this feminist art history, including Louise Bourgeois(French American, 1911–2010), Alina Szapocznikow (Polish, 1926–1973), and Kiki Smith (American, born Germany, 1954), who have also worked with the fragmented female form. Smith’s Daisy Chain (1992) is currently on view at the Wadsworth alongside Harriet Goodhue Hosmer’s (American, 1830–1908) marble sculpture Zenobia in Chains (1859), two floors up from the MATRIX gallery — an opportunity for visitors to explore connections between these and Mahmoud’s works.
About MATRIX
Inaugurated in 1975, MATRIX is the Wadsworth’s groundbreaking contemporary art exhibition series featuring works by artists from around the world. Many MATRIX artists, such as Christo, Sol LeWitt, Gerhard Richter, Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol, and Carrie Mae Weems, are now considered seminal figures in contemporary art.
About the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Founded in 1842 with a vision for infusing art into the American experience, the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art is home to a collection of nearly 50,000 works of art spanning 5,000 years and encompassing European art from antiquity through contemporary as well as American art from the 1600s to today. The Wadsworth Atheneum’s five connected buildings — representing architectural styles including Gothic Revival, modern International Style and 1960s Brutalism — are located at 600 Main Street in Hartford, Connecticut.
Visit the website of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art and see its dedicated page for Nevine Mahmoud / MATRIX 188.
