Casey Kaplan
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: IGSHAAN ADAMS
23 June 2015
Among the Tiroche DeLeon Collection’s latest discoveries, we are pleased to present the talented South African artist Igshaan Adams, from whom we have recently acquired “Plate 7,” an early work with a very symbolic personal significance.
Coming from Creole origins and classified as “coloured” under Apartheid legislation, Igshaan was exposed to the racial segregation of a regime which considered mixed raced people second class citizens. Born in Cape Town to a Muslim father and a Christian mother, he was raised by his maternal grandparents as a devout Muslim. Later on, his homosexuality has added to the many layers of his fragmented cultural and religious identities shaping his personal history. Adams explains: “I am driven by the need to unearth, unmask and unveil the mysteries hidden within the depths of the self, beyond race, class, religion, sexual orientation and gender. Who am I, beyond my identity?” This question drove the artist to develop an intimate approach to art consisting of a process of deep exploration of his being, loading his works with a special power.
Apparent in many works from his oeuvre is the subversion of formal iconographies and sacred artifacts of Islam as a medium to de-construct those stereotypes instilled as a child and to voice his discontent with society. Textiles represent a recurring theme in Igshaan’s works and Plate 7 exemplifies the fundamental role that the fabric as a medium plays in his artistic practice. Indeed, the artist inherited this passion from his mother, who was machinist and exercised a strong influence in Adams’ upbringing.
Igshaan Adams recently participated in LISTE – the young art fair during Art Fair Basel, with a solo booth at Blank projects. The show was an immediate success receiving major press coverage from Artsy with all works selling to major collections on opening day. Igshaan also received a commission for a new large scale work. It is rumored that one of the works from the Blank booth is destined for a large American museum.
Among his most renown projects are: “In Between” at Stevenson Gallery (2011), “If that I knew” at the Rongwrong gallery in Amsterdam (2013), “Have you seen Him?” (2013) and “Parda” (2015) at blank projects. In 2012 Wanted Magazine selected Adams as one of its 12 Young African Artists, and in 2013 he was awarded the IAAB/Pro-Helvetia residency in Basel, Switzerland. Lately, Adams was selected for the 2014 edition of Sommerakademieim Zentrum Paul Klee, in Bern, Switzerland, and has had a permanent sculpture commissioned for the Wana?s Konst Sculpture Park in Sweden. Adams lives and works in Cape Town.