Karam Natour / Blessing in Disguise | Zurich Art Weekend
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Sommer Salon Zurich is pleased to announce the opening of a solo exhibition by Karam Natour, “Blessing in Disguise,“ as part of Zurich Art Weekend. The exhibition will feature digital drawings and videos that explore the fragmentation of identity  — its characteristics, its fluidity, and how it is constructed by culture, gender, and nationality — through the use of humor, irony, and art history.

The opening reception will take place on Friday, March 5, between 11:00-19:00 at the rooftop apartment at Theaterstrasse 18, 8001 Zurich. The exhibition includes drawings portraying the faceless artist, in various states of undress, engaged in fantastical scenes, together with mythological figures, animals, skeletons and bizarre contraptions. The succinct style of the digital drawings emphasizes the allegorical and imaginative nature of the depicted acts.

Natour will also exhibit two video works in which he appears as a protagonist. In “Nothing Personal” (2017), Natour calls the emergency medical service to his studio. Recorded in real time, the limited freedom of movement of the artist is used to address the symbolical systems of religion, nation and linguistics.

In “Repeat After Me” (2018), Natour and his cousins perform as human fountains, referring to Bruce Nauman’s iconic work, “Self-Portrait as a Fountain”. In both works, Natour’s tongue-in-cheek approach tries to expose the distortion and fragility of the power dynamics within society, particularly in relation to language.

Karam Natour (b.1992, Nazereth) is an Arab-Israeli artist who lives and works in Tel Aviv. His works have been exhibited in various museums and venues in Israel and abroad, including the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Kunstmuseum Bochum (Germany), Oberhausen Short Film Festival (Germany), Triumph Gallery (Moscow), Haifa Museum of Art, Umm El Fahem Gallery and Rosenfeld Gallery.

Natour has received various awards including the 2020 Wolf Foundation’s Kiefer Prize for Young Artists and the 2019 Young Artist Award from the Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport. He obtained a B.F.A. & M.F.A. at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem, and is a lecturer at the academy’s Screen-Based Arts department and at the Musrara School of Photography, Jerusalem.

Opening hours during Zurich Art Weekend:
Friday, March 5, 11:00-19:00
Saturday, March 6, 11:00-19:00
Sunday, March 7, 11:00-19:00

Exhibition Dates:
Thursday-Friday, 11:00-17:00 and by appointment.
The exhibition will run through May 7, 2021.