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News / Y.Z. Kami

Events

Y.Z. Kami, White Dome VI, 2012–13 © Y.Z. Kami

Book Signing

Y.Z. Kami
Works 1985–2018

Tuesday, February 25, 2020, 6–8pm
Gagosian, Paris

Y.Z. Kami will sign copies of his new monograph, Y.Z. Kami: Works 1985–2018. Copublished by Skira and Gagosian, this comprehensive monograph presents more than three hundred of Kami’s artworks in color, from his early figure studies and photographic works to his portraits, Dome paintings, sculpture, and works on paper. The publication features essays by curator and critic Robert Storr, Guardian art critic Laura Cumming, and curator Elena Geuna. To attend the free event RSVP, to kamirsvp@gagosian.com. Space is limited.

Y.Z. Kami, White Dome VI, 2012–13 © Y.Z. Kami

Y.Z. Kami signing a copy of his monograph at the Gagosian Shop, New York, 2019

Book Signing

Y.Z. Kami
Works 1985–2018

Thursday, November 7, 2019, 6:30pm
Libreria Bocca, Milan
www.libreriabocca.com

Y.Z. Kami will sign copies of his new monograph, Y.Z. Kami: Works 1985–2018, at an event hosted by Skira. Copublished by Skira and Gagosian, this comprehensive monograph collects over three hundred of Kami’s works in color along with essays by curator and critic Robert Storr, Guardian art critic Laura Cumming, and curator Elena Geuna. The event is free and open to the public.

Y.Z. Kami signing a copy of his monograph at the Gagosian Shop, New York, 2019

Y.Z. Kami signing a copy of his monograph at the Gagosian Shop, New York, 2019

Talk and Book Signing

Y.Z. Kami
Works 1985–2018

Tuesday, November 5, 2019, 6:30pm
Gagosian, Britannia Street, London

Ziba Ardalan, founder and artistic and executive director of Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art, and Elena Geuna, independent curator, author, and art advisor, will discuss the work of Y.Z. Kami to celebrate the recent release of his monograph, Y.Z. Kami: Works 1985–2018, published by Skira and Gagosian. After the talk the artist will sign copies of the book. To attend the free event, RSVP to kamirsvp@gagosian.com.

Y.Z. Kami signing a copy of his monograph at the Gagosian Shop, New York, 2019

Y.Z. Kami: Works 1985–2018 (Milan: Skira; New York: Gagosian, 2019)

Book Signing

Y.Z. Kami
Works 1985–2018

Wednesday, September 25, 2019, 5:30–7pm
Gagosian Shop, New York

Y.Z. Kami will sign copies of his new monograph, Y.Z. Kami: Works 1985–2018, at the Gagosian Shop in New York. The comprehensive publication explores the breadth of Kami’s work, from his early  figure studies and photographic works to his portraits, Dome paintings, sculpture, and works on paper. The publication includes texts by leading scholars and curators Laura Cumming, Elena Geuna, and Robert Storr. To attend the free event, RSVP to kamirsvp@gagosian.com.

Download the full press release (pdf)

Y.Z. Kami: Works 1985–2018 (Milan: Skira; New York: Gagosian, 2019)

Y.Z. Kami: Works 1985–2018 (Milan: Skira; New York: Gagosian, 2019)

Book Signing

Y.Z. Kami
Works 1985–2018

Thursday, May 9, 2019, 12–3pm
Bar Foscarini, Venice

To celebrate the release of his new monograph and his participation in The Spark Is You: Parasol unit in Venice, Y.Z. Kami will sign copies of the book, titled Y.Z. Kami: Works 1985–2018. Copublished by Skira and Gagosian, this comprehensive monograph collects over three hundred of Kami’s works in color along with essays by curator, critic, and writer Robert Storr, Guardian art critic Laura Cumming, and curator of the Pinault Collection at Palazzo Grassi Elena Geuna. To attend the free event, RSVP to kamivenice@gagosian.com. Space is limited.

Y.Z. Kami: Works 1985–2018 (Milan: Skira; New York: Gagosian, 2019)

Announcements

Photo: Sueraya Shaheen

Honor

Y.Z. Kami
2022 Asia Arts Game Changer Awards

Y.Z. Kami has been selected to receive a 2022 Asia Arts Game Changer Award. The award, presented by Asia Society at a gala on May 19, 2022, honors important figures across the arts who have made a significant impact on society and brings together artists, arts professionals, collectors, and Asia Society trustees and patrons to celebrate excellence in the arts from across Asia and the diaspora. Asia Society is the leading educational organization dedicated to promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among peoples, leaders, and institutions of Asia and the United States in a global context.

Photo: Sueraya Shaheen

Paintings by Y.Z. Kami at Gagosian

Video

Paintings by Y.Z. Kami at Gagosian

Educator and artist Grace Adam and writer and lecturer Joshua White, both from The Art Channel, were granted access to Gagosian’s 2015 Paintings exhibition of recent works by Y.Z. Kami at Britannia Street, London. The pair speak in great depth about each of the works presented.

Museum Exhibitions

Installation view, Y.Z. Kami: Light, Gaze, Presence, Museo di Palazzo Vecchio Museum, Florence, Italy, February 17–September 24, 2023. Artwork © Y.Z. Kami. Photo: Serge Domingie

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Y.Z. Kami
Light, Gaze, Presence

February 17–September 24, 2023
Various venues in Florence, Italy
www.museonovecento.it

Light, Gaze, Presence presents a selection of works by Y.Z. Kami across four locations in Florence: Museo Novecento, Museo di Palazzo Vecchio, Museo degli Innocenti, and Abbazia di San Miniato al Monte. The multipart exhibition explores the pictorial universe of Kami’s paintings while placing them in dialogue with masterworks of the Italian Renaissance.

Installation view, Y.Z. Kami: Light, Gaze, Presence, Museo di Palazzo Vecchio Museum, Florence, Italy, February 17–September 24, 2023. Artwork © Y.Z. Kami. Photo: Serge Domingie

Installation view, Y.Z. Kami: De forma silenciosa/In a Silent Way, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, Spain, June 4, 2022–January 22, 2023. Artwork © Y.Z. Kami. Photo: Santiago Santos

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Y.Z. Kami
De forma silenciosa/In a Silent Way

June 4, 2022–January 22, 2023
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, Spain
musac.es

De forma silenciosa/In a Silent Way is a mid-career survey of more than thirty years of work by Y.Z. Kami. The exhibition features portraits by the artist; images of buildings, both sacred and ordinary; a sculptural installation of loose bricks inscribed with texts; and recent dreamlike abstractions. Steeped in the traditions of the antique art of Egyptian Fayum portraits and ancient Persian poetry, while influenced by the writings of French moral philosopher Emmanuel Levinas, Kami’s works look at bodies in ethereal calm, with a meditative and philosophical assessment of outward and inner being.

Installation view, Y.Z. Kami: De forma silenciosa/In a Silent Way, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, Spain, June 4, 2022–January 22, 2023. Artwork © Y.Z. Kami. Photo: Santiago Santos

Installation view, Burning at the Edges, Longlati Foundation, Shanghai, November 9, 2022–January 15, 2023. Artwork © Y.Z. Kami

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Y.Z. Kami in
Burning at the Edges

November 9, 2022–January 15, 2023
Longlati Foundation, Shanghai
www.longlatifoundation.org

Featuring a number of large-scale works recently acquired by Longlati Foundation, Burning at the Edges explores minority and multi-minority cultures. The exhibition examines how three artists—Y.Z. Kami, Ibrahim Mahama, and Adam Pendleton—transform sacred architecture, globalized commodities, propaganda, and graffiti texts, as well as the meaning of fluid identities and the inherent conflicts within.

Installation view, Burning at the Edges, Longlati Foundation, Shanghai, November 9, 2022–January 15, 2023. Artwork © Y.Z. Kami

Y.Z. Kami, Black Dome, 2015 © Y.Z. Kami

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Y.Z. Kami in
Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet: Contemporary Persians

September 10, 2021–May 8, 2022
Asia Society, New York
asiasociety.org

Drawn from the Mohammed Afkhami Collection, Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet: Contemporary Persians presents works by more than twenty artists from Iran and its diaspora. Revising traditional aesthetics and probing subjects such as gender identity, war, peace, religion, and spirituality, the works, which date from 1998 to the present, are realized in a variety of mediums, from painting and sculpture to photography and video installation. Through open critique or subterfuge, humor, spirituality, and poetry, the artists overcome the restrictions and pressures that have affected Iranians in the past quarter century. This exhibition originated at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto. Work by Y.Z. Kami is included.

Y.Z. Kami, Black Dome, 2015 © Y.Z. Kami

Y.Z. Kami, Chartres III, 2018 © Y.Z. Kami

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Y.Z. Kami in
The Spark Is You: Parasol unit in Venice

May 9–November 23, 2019
Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello, Venice
parasol-unit.org

In celebration of its fifteenth anniversary, London’s Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art presents an exhibition of works by nine contemporary Iranian artists in Venice. The Spark Is You has at its heart the need to develop mutual respect and understanding between different nations and cultures. The exhibiting artists, all of whom look beyond the ordinary, were selected for the affinity with openness, respect, and human interconnectedness presented in their practice. Work by Y.Z. Kami is included.

Y.Z. Kami, Chartres III, 2018 © Y.Z. Kami

Y.Z. Kami, Black Dome, 2015 © Y.Z. Kami

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Y.Z. Kami in
Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet: Contemporary Persians

July 1–September 24, 2017
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
www.mfah.org

Contemporary Iranian artists have used power, humor, mysticism, and poetry to both openly and subversively critique subjects such as gender, politics, war, religion, and spirituality. While some of the works in Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet: Contemporary Persians reflect the sociopolitical tensions of the past twenty-five years, others transcend them to create all-embracing spaces free of strife. This show is traveling from the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto. Work by Y.Z. Kami is included.

Y.Z. Kami, Black Dome, 2015 © Y.Z. Kami

Installation view, Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet: Contemporary Persians, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, February 4–June 4, 2017. Photo: Janet Kimber

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Y.Z. Kami in
Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet: Contemporary Persians

February 4–June 4, 2017
Aga Khan Museum, Toronto
www.agakhanmuseum.org

Contemporary Iranian artists have used power, humor, mysticism, and poetry to both openly and subversively critique subjects such as gender, politics, war, religion, and spirituality. While some of the works in Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet: Contemporary Persians reflect the sociopolitical tensions of the past twenty-five years, others transcend them to create all-embracing spaces free of strife. Work by Y.Z. Kami is included.

Installation view, Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet: Contemporary Persians, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, February 4–June 4, 2017. Photo: Janet Kimber

See all Museum Exhibitions for Y.Z. Kami