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Kour Pour,
Samsara

Kour Pour, The Holy Mountain, 2014, Acrylic on canvas over panel, 96” x 72”

KOUR POUR – SAMSARA
January 30-March 7, 2015
Curated by Nicola Ricciardi
Public opening: Friday, January 30, 2015, 6pm-9pm
Depart Foundation, 9105 W. Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90069

Los Angeles, CA., –Depart Foundation will present Samsara, Kour Pour’s first solo exhibition in Los Angeles, curated by Nicola Ricciardi. The exhibition will coincide with Art Los Angeles Contemporary 2015.

Samsara by Los Angeles-based Kour Pour will include new paintings and related installation works that continue the artist’s recent carpet painting series. In the first iteration of the series, historic examples of carpets were directly appropriated from auction and museum catalogues; in the new works the artist has created original compositions that juxtapose sets of imagery that are stripped from their own temporal context by the use of today’s technologies —Google Images, clip art CD-ROMS Photoshop—and then re-contextualized on canvas through months of painstaking labor—generating a scenario that brings to mind a “networked bazaar of history and futurity.”
Just as the Sanskrit word, Samsara, has slightly different meanings in different belief systems; Pour’s work is purposely open to interpretation depending on the cultural entry point of the viewer. By sourcing material from different locations, traditions and time periods, the large canvasses, with their warp and wefts, act as nets gathering information without an apparent hierarchy. These flat surfaces contain images of hunters and gatherers, religious icons and mystical creatures, merchants, lovers and warriors. Annexing both the past and the future into the present, the paintings on display bend and blend different temporal planes and enhance non-linear narratives, highlighting Pour’s interest in the cyclic life of the material world.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a forthcoming publication, in collaboration with Nero Publishing and featuring an essay by Nicola Ricciardi.

ABOUT KOUR POUR

Kour Pour (b. 1987) is a British born, part-Iranian artist. He graduated from Otis College of Art and Design and lives and works in Los Angeles. Pour’s first solo exhibition was presented at UNT/TLED Gallery, New York in 2014 and he was the youngest artist featured in the 2014 Artists to Watch exhibition in Miami. In October 2014, Pour’s exhibition Ozymandias was presented at Ellis King, Dublin. His works have also been included in group exhibitions at Roberts & Tilton and Steve Turner Gallery in Los Angeles.

ABOUT NICOLA RICCIARDI

Nicola Ricciardi (b. 1985) is an art critic and curator. He received a M.A. from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College (CCS Bard) in New York in 2014 and he currently lives in Milan, Italy. He contributes regularly to several art magazines and he is Editor-in-chief at “Carnet de miart”, the official digital publication of Milan’s International Modern and Contemporary Art Fair. Nicola is curator at Brera Design District, Milan and starting April 2015 he is Director at Stackwood’s, a residency program in Milan dedicated to art and literary criticism whose goal is to promote slower forms of knowledge production and circulation.

DEPART FOUNDATION

Depart Foundation is an emerging arts organization predicated on the discussion, exhibition and production of art and is dedicated to the development and support of contemporary artists whose work and careers are departing from their previous endeavors or predecessors.
Since its founding in 2008, Depart Foundation has served as a catalyst for the Italian art and cultural community, strengthening the dialogue between Italy and the international art world. Like multiple outposts in Europe and U.S., Depart Foundation has actively encouraged artistic production through sponsorship of young and established artists and the provision of spaces and resources conducive to the research, production and exhibition of new work and to the presentation of educational and public programs. Some of the most interesting and dynamic artists of our time, from around the world, have been presented for the first time in Rome by Depart Foundation. They include Cory Arcangel, Joe Bradley, Nate Lowman, Ryan McGinley, Tauba Auerbach, Darren Bader, Louis Eisner, Roe Ethridge, Sam Falls, Mark Flood, Elias Hansen, Brendan Lynch, Oscar Murillo, Sarah Braman, Seth Price, Jon Rafman, Stephen G. Rhodes, Amanda Ross-Ho, Sterling Ruby, Lucien Smith, Valerie Snobeck, Frances Stark.

Depart Foundation is a cultural partner of Art Los Angeles Contemporary.

FOR FURTHER MEDIA INFORMATION, IMAGES AND TO REQUEST A PREVIEW OF THE EXHIBITION, PLEASE CONTACT JESSICA@LYNWINTER.COM