Tariq Alvi - Whitechapel

Solo show at Whitechapel Art Gallery. 2001
Date: 12 January, 2001 until 4 March, 2001
Curator: Andrea Tarsia
Organiser: Whitechapel Art Gallery

Tariq Alvi, an artist living betweeen London and the Netherlands, had his first UK solo exhibition at Whitechapel Art Gallery, 12 January - 4 March 2001. The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue which provided a substantial introduction to the artist’s practice. Profusely illustrated, the catalogue’s Foreword was written by  Whitechapel Art Gallery Director Catherine Lampert and Curator Andrea Tarsia, and featured an essay by Jean Fisher.

From the Foreword: “The rather grand, day-lit spaces of the Whitechapel have posed a challenge to Alvi: how to present work tha has already lived in private spaces, in bed-sits and corridors, above fireplaces and wedged between cracks. Whereas the relaxed, non-conformist mood generated by Whitechapel’s visitors, and the chaos of the High Street, appeals to a generation of artists that operate outside commercial and marketing constraints. We are delighted that Tariq has responded to the challenge of his first solo exhibition in the UK with such energy and enthusiasm. He has engaged the attention and the imagination of all here at the Whitechapel.”

From Fisher’s text: “Alvi’s idiosyncratic manipulation of images, the massing and proliferation of material to near-saturation point, often on the edge of sliding out of control, are acts whose very uncontainability threaten the forces of law and order.”

»  Tariq Alvi - Whitechapel

Catalogue relating to an exhibition, 2001