Art First Projects

Rasha Kahil & Liane Lang

13 October - 12 November, 2011

Both Rasha Kahil and Liane Lang's artistic practices deal with the human body as form that is alien in its contextual landscape – their work is sometimes confrontational or unsettling, often beautiful and always compelling.

Each of their works shown in this exhibition is irreverent in its own way – in Kahil's body of work "In Your Home: 2008-2011" she subverts the domestic sanctity of other peoples living spaces as she covertly disrobes and documents her fleeting nudity in a series of unlikely looking living rooms, kitchens and bedrooms. This guerilla appropriation of interiors is captured in a series that is in turn humorous and very serious in its provocation of our understanding of the sacredness of the female nude.

Liane Lang's series "Spectres" utilizes a more reverential environment – the classical cast museum at Heidelberg, Germany – in which to interject. In and around the pure-white casts of Herculean & mythic figures she places finely crafted mannequins, creating intimate and subversive relationships. The presence of Lang's synthetic interlopers redefines the way we experience the classical forms of the casts – suddenly the veil of detachment lent by historical and thematic importance is lifted, and the sinuous and tactile qualities of the sculptures as human forms emerge.

Rasha Kahil (born 1980) is an artist based in London, originally from Beirut, Lebanon. She completed an MA in Communication Art & Design at the Royal College of Art, London, in 2009. Her projects take the form of photography, video and installation. She has exhibited internationally, most notably at the Royal Academy of Arts (GSK Contemporary), at the BFI (British Film Institute) and at the SLICK contemporary art fair in Paris.

Liane Lang is an artist based in London. Born in Germany she studied at NCAD in Dublin and completed a BA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths College followed by a Postgraduate Diploma at the Royal Academy, where she graduated in 2006.