SB13 in Sharjah
10. März - 12. Juni 2017. Kuratorin: Christine Tohmé. Ausstellung, Programme, Projekte in Sharjah mit Arbeiten von 73 Teilnehmern.
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Ram/Sea Lion, 2016
From ‘L’Avalée des avalés’ [The Swallower Swallowed]
CNC routed high density foam, acrylic paint
183 x 76 x 61 cm
Venue: Bait Al Serkal, first floor
Artist and filmmaker Jon Rafman explores the paradoxes of modernity. Simultaneously a celebration and a critique of present-day experience, his work highlights how our technical instruments and other forms of mediation can estrange us from ourselves. At SB13, Rafman presents three sculptures from The Swallower Swallowed series (2016), alongside the video installation of Erysichthon (2015).
His sculptures Dog/Lion, Ram/Sea Lion and Rhino/Bear (2016) depict animals frozen in the middle of an unlikely meal, halfway through swallowing another much larger animal whole. The swallower and the swallowed have no connection in the food chain; their interaction here is both a violent and erotic gesture of consumption—an analogy for our contemporary condition, in which our virtual lives impinge on our physical states of being.
Erysichthon (2015), named after the mythological Greek king cursed with insatiable hunger, echoes a parallel note, opening with a scene of a metal cube being engulfed by magnetic putty. Made up of images and video clips Rafman found online, the work is narrated by a robotic voice, which at points adopts different voices that tell of their individual thoughts, musings and frustrations. Reminiscent of stream of consciousness narratives, the video ties in with Rafman’s sculptures, embodying the desire to devour and be devoured—an exploration of today’s culture of consumption and consumption of culture.
(From the SB13 Guidebook)
See also his work at
Al Hamriyah Studios
* 1981 Montreal, Canada; lives there.
© Photo: Haupt & Binder
10. März - 12. Juni 2017. Kuratorin: Christine Tohmé. Ausstellung, Programme, Projekte in Sharjah mit Arbeiten von 73 Teilnehmern.