msimons is proud to announce the upcoming solo exhibition by Rotterdam-based artist Nazif Lopulissa, titled Warp and weft. The exhibition continues Lopulissa’s explorations of various techniques and his family history. Warp and weft is Lopulissa’s second solo exhibition at msimons and will be on view at Lijnbaansgracht 318 from April 14 to May 22, 2023.
The title is taken from the terminology of textile production, where warp denotes the series of threads stretched across a loom, while weft is woven over and under the warp to create a fabric. It refers not only to the technique, but also to the underlying theme of the exhibition: the interconnectedness of culture, childhood memories and ancestral stories. Never before has his work explored his Moluccan roots in such a vocal way.
The gallery’s space is dominated by two large woven diptychs. Each diptych comprises black and white archival photographs printed on canvas and treated with bleach, interwoven with monochrome untreated materials.
The first diptych, Invoke memory, cannibalizing myself shows a group of KNIL soldiers, men from the Malaku Islands who fought for The Netherlands during its occupation of Indonesia. The artist has erased the faces of the soldiers in the left photograph using bleach, while on the right canvas the same pattern of bleached out spots is visible, though without a discernible background, creating a kind of echo.
In the other diptych, Deformed by connections, two much clearer images appear through the warping banana fiber. Each image, treated with vertical slashes of bleach, shows similar landscapes; a hut, a tree and scaffolding of some sort. The left photo was taken on Saparua, a Moluccan island where Lopulissa’s grandparents grew up, the other at Kamp Vught, where they were brought under false pretenses by the Dutch government.
On the third, and longest wall of the gallery, three mens suits are hung from the wall. In thick woven wool, and each treated with a single color. Although they look like suits, they miss buttons, zippers, holes and other details. How they’re hung from the wall, has been carefully concealed from their viewer. In doing so, Lopulissa challenges our traditional notions of painting and art-making by presenting his textile work as a three-dimensional object hanging on the wall. The choice of clothing; suits, and the title A Friend of Time, also alludes to growing up, maturing as an artist.
The exhibition features two more works; Literally a life line and Warp and weft, each showcasing the reaches of Lopulissa’s studio practices. On the one hand, the spontaneous Warp and weft, comprised of things found around the studio. On the painting Literally a life line, the outcome carefully planned production that pays homage to the traditional Indonesian IKAT weaving technique.
Overall, Warp and weft captures Lopulissa’s unique artistic style, blending his personal and ancestral stories with his research and experimentation with different techniques. His works offer a fresh perspective on traditional art forms and invite us to rethink our preconceived notions of painting. We are delighted to present this exhibition to our audience, and we invite you to experience the captivating and thought-provoking works of Nazif Lopulissa at msimons.
Nazif Lopulissa (born 1991) lives and works in Rotterdam. Recent solo exhibitions are Sepia Days, Glass Museum Leerdam (2023) and Locomotion, CODA Apeldoorn (2021). In 2022, he won the Wolvecamp Prize. His work is in collections of Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, DELA, Akzo Nobel Art Foundation and KPMG.Len combineert deze met persoonlijke en voorouderlijke verhalen. Warp and weft is Lopulissa’s tweede solotentoonstelling bij msimons en zal van 14 april tot 22 mei 2023 te zien zijn aan de Lijnbaansgracht 318.
