Idris Khan: Beyond the Black

A new body of work by the artist, for his third solo presentation with the gallery. This exhibition marks an important departure from Khan's photographic based works and comprises a suite of large black paintings, a monumental site specific wall drawing and a series of works on paper, all of which consider the metaphysics of creativity.

In the exhibition's seven paintings Khan uses a mixture of black pigment, rabbit skin glue and slate dust, to create an absorbent ground which he applies to aluminium panels or directly to the wall and then sands back to produce a smooth, slate-like surface. The paintings are intensely dark with a dense radial constellation of words creating an image that suggests a contained energy emanating from a central point.

Following on from earlier bodies of work in which he referenced the writings of Agnes Martin, Jean-Paul Sartre and early Sufi philosophers, these new works incorporate Khan's own writings, inspired by his reading of Friedrich Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy.