Aicon Gallery Presents Rasheed Araeen in London, 9/17

Aicon Gallery in London will present Rasheed Araeen's solo exhibition 'Before and After Minimalism, 1959 - 1974'. The exhibition ranges from works he made in Pakistan such as 'My First Sculpture' to key minimalist works such as 'Sculpture No.1', 'First Structure' and 'Second Structure'. The exhibition then traces Araeen's introduction of the kinetic into minimalism, through works such as 'Char Yar' and 'Lovers' and finally, works that started to leave the confines of the studio entirely.

Araeen has had solo shows at institutional spaces such as the Ikon Gallery (1987), the South London Gallery (1994) and the Serpentine Gallery (1996). In 2007 the Tate purchased and displayed works from the late 1960s. In 2011 Araeen will exhibit in 'Modern British Sculpture' at the Royal Academy, curated by Penelope Curtis. It is now fifty years since Araeen produced 'My First Sculpture' and with the current institutional recognition that his work is now receiving it seems a good time to return to the works themselves and re-look at them closely in order to begin to understand the various and overlapping accounts and artistic journeys that can be described as Modernism.

There will be a private view of the show Thursday, September 16 from 6:30 - 9p.m.

Aicon Gallery in London is located at 8 Heddon Street, London W1B 4BU.

Aicon Gallery in New York will present Adeela Suleman's 'After All it's Always Somebody Else...' 

Adeela Suleman's most recent body of work is a sparsely elegant suite of flattened reliefs and tableaux of interrelated elements that suggest a narrative where nature and violence intertwine in a stainless steel medium. At first sight her visual language speaks of pastoral nature: flowers, birds, trees and leaves. Yet Suleman juxtaposes these motifs with symbols of destruction: missiles and suicide jackets. These disparate elements are placed in intriguing relationships to form oddly surreal scenes, referencing the complex nature of violence in contemporary Pakistani society.

Born in Karachi in 1970, Adeela Suleman studied Sculpture at the Indus Valley School of Art. In 2009 her work was presented at the La Triennale, Milan and the Asia Society 'Hanging Fire' exhibition in New York. She has participated in group and solo exhibitions worldwide including the International Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Bologna, Italy 2008. Her work is in major collections such as the Devi Art Foundation and the Nadar Museum in New Delhi. She currently lives and works in Karachi, Pakistan. This will be Adeela Suleman's first solo exhibition in New York.

For more information, visit www.aicongallery.com.

Photo Credit: Rasheed Araeen