Sulkarnayn Ismail. Augmented Reality 16+ Automatic translate

Erarta Museum of Modern Art presents the first exhibition in Russia by Malaysian artist Zulkarnayn Ismail, who became famous for surrealistic works created using the technique of photo manipulation.

The contemporary art of Malaysia, developing under the strict regulation of the state, still remains for the Russian audience terra incognita. At first glance, there is nothing specifically Malaysian in the works of Zulkarnayn Ismail. However, the amazing ability of the photo artist to create the most unexpected images, combine the incongruous, probably takes its roots in a heterogeneous, complexly organized national culture.

Erarta Museum will present the so-called "photo manipulations" - bizarre collages in the space of which amazing stories are born from unpredictable combinations. By combining fragments of realistic images in graphic editors, the artist creates illusory worlds, in the dream space of which the body of a zebra turns into a spring, and a team of playful huskies rushes along the waves.

The Augmented Reality exhibition is a special world created by Zulkarnayn Ismail. It is filled with magic, hiding behind ordinary things: a carelessly folded out-of-sleep snow-white blanket turns into a coral reef, around which screeching dreams come true; in the drawer of the table the mountains hardly fit, the tops of which are hidden behind the clouds. The artist draws inspiration from the natural elements: the water in his photographs floods the Renaissance palazzo and museum halls, and the tame flame burns in the waffle cone.

Visitors to the Erarta Museum will see scattered fragments of reality, the “gluing seams” of which, after careful study, are invisible even to the experienced eye, often combined randomly - under the influence of a creative impulse, and not logic. The works of Zulkarnayn Ismail are often called collages, but this definition can hardly be called true. As a rule, a collage emphasizes the heterogeneity of materials used in a single field, while Ismail, on the contrary, seeks to level out “joints”. It is the “seamlessness” and impeccability of the picture that make such a strong impression on the viewer: not expecting to see anything unusual in seemingly realistic photographs, he falls into the trap. The artist’s amazing surrealistic fantasies invade our reality, complementing it with ordinary miracles.

Visitors to the Erarta Museum will be able to verify this from October 11, 2019 to February 16, 2020. Entrance to the “Augmented Reality” exhibition is free for owners of Subscriptions to the Erarta Museum.