SARASOTA, FLA.- Alfstad& Contemporary presents the inaugural show of its fifth season, the eponymously-titled, Zimoun, featuring a site-specific installation, as well as two prints created by the internationally acclaimed Swiss artist. The Opening Night reception is November 3rd and the exhibit runs through December 22nd.
Zimoun combines raw, industrial material with mechanical elements, often using multiples of the elements to examine the creation and deterioration of patterns. Exhibited around the world, his sound sculpture and installation art have been called, "mechanized works of playful poetry."
"I am particularly interested in the interplay between a simplicity of materials and mechanical systems and a visual and acoustic complexity evolving out of this systems, once they are set in motion," says Zimoun.
"We are thrilled to open our fifth season - and inaugurate a new artspace in Sarasota - with Zimoun's work," says Sam Alfstad. "Zimoun is cutting edge and so is the renovated Alfstad& Contemporary gallery. Both will surprise and delight art lovers."
"Zimoun's process of creating art from common-place functional components is sneaky smart, brilliantly masterful," says Alfstad. "He calls this exhibition '208 Prepared DC-Motors, Cotton Balls, Cardboard Boxes 20" x 20" x 20" and Two Prints,' and its combination of size and sound is guaranteed to activate viewers' senses in unique and unexpected ways."
Zimoun has been experimenting - next to a wide range of other simple industrial materials - with cardboard for years. His signature squares of brown cardboard, small electrical motors and thin wires combine to create the visual and aural art showcased in the new Alfstad& Contemporary installation.
"Imagine a wall of cardboard boxes, stacked on one side of the gallery, not straight, but with slight variations. Each box has one motor and an equal amount of power," says Zimoun. "In theory, each box should react the same, but it doesn't. Each reacts differently because the motors and the used materials add behavior - each doing its own business. Individuality is growing out of the mass."
The Alfstad& Contemporary Zimoun installation, measures 44-feet by 14-feet and utilizes DC-motors, cotton balls, metal, tape, wire and power sources. The 208 cardboard boxes dominate the left side of the newly revamped gallery. The artist notes that, though not immediately discernible, the installation is constantly changing in the microstructures of its behavior.
In his printmaking, Zimoun displays two new, limited-edition prints created in collaboration with Alfstad& Contemporary's studio. Both are studies of moments extracted from videos of experiments done in the studio.
One print shows five black hoses, stopped in frozen poses. The variations within the movements are caused by compressed air being pumped into the hoses, creating an endless variety of forms. The different forms are captured in 189 single images, stacked in nine rows of photos on the print.
The second print consists of small black paper particles bouncing on a vibrating table, powered by the sounds of a speaker placed underneath. Each frame captures the tiny pieces as they move around the surface and into air. This print also contains 189 single images.
Using simple and functional components, Zimoun builds architectural platforms of sound. His installations use commonplace industrial objects to explore mechanical rhythm and flow in prepared systems. The works articulate a tension between the orderly patterns of Modernism and the chaotic forces of life. With unexpected emotional depth, the acoustic hum of Zimoun's minimalist constructions reverberates in the ears of viewers.
In recent years, Zimoun has gained international recognition, where his art is in several public and private collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts Lugano, Switzerland; The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota; Contemporary Art Museum MAC Santiago de Chile; Museum of Fine Arts, Switzerland; Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul; Villa Datris, L'Isle-Sur-LaSorgue, France; Raja Art Collection, France; Luciano Benetton Collection, Italy; Art Collection Canton Switzerland or Public Art, City of Bern, Switzerland, next to others.
Zimoun lives and works in Bern, Switzerland
