Underlining x-ist's stance that art should be brave, uncensored and always push boundaries Burhan Kum's latest show "Angst versus Angst" will be on display from the 9th of November till the 2nd of December. Keeping in mind his statement "The production of art is the same as the performance or rendering of politics" Kum, in his most recent works examines such controversial topics as blood honor, homosexuality, ritual head covering to the control of chastity.
Kum who at every opportunity underlines the fundamental role of painting as a medium of communication, regards painting as a intermediary between a dysfunctional society. "I have no other choice put to paint against the "modern barbarism" on display in the four corners of the world. In this way I hope to be able to remove myself from the passive collaborative guilt brought on by these crimes against humanity."
The accompanying catalogue of the show contains, Dutch art critic Etienne Boileau's foreword titled "Fear of the Unknown" along with Kum's text titled "Fear" where he breakdown the thought process behind the show, allowing the viewers of the exhibit unfettered access to the works on display.
Boileau, in his foreword has this to say about Kum's show "Angst..." The relationship between the Eastern and Western world plays a crucial role: in a rather realistic, often raw impression, he exposes the common habits of the Islamic world. He criticizes the phenomenon as blood revenge, the controlling of virginity and the duty of wearing a headscarf. In a layered impression he imagines the fear for homosexuality in Islamic countries, and allows us to see how Westerners look upon the Middle East." (...) "Kum's work refers to it both explicitly and implicitly: baggage checks at international airports have everything to do with fear of the unknown. ‘Gated communities', which are rapidly appearing all over the world (even in Afghanistan where they are creating ‘residential areas' with golf courses), have to curb the fear of inhabitants and thus giving them a sense of safety. These worldwide fear-based geopolitical developments, which currently are the reason for limiting our basic rights and in some parts of world people, are even forced to no longer think for themselves. The ones that do are prohibited to express themselves."
"All this is plainly shown by Burhan Kum in his aptly painted canvasses; sometimes faced with reality, sometimes gentle and refined, and again in other works a post modernistic reference to historical facts and examples from classical painting are shrewdly hidden, but always remaining topical."