Huma Bhabha | MO.CO. (Montpellier Contemporain)
MO.CO. (Montpellier Contemporain) is presenting A fly appeared, and disappeared, the first monographic exhibition in a French institution for Huma Bhabha.
Some fifty works will be featured, including cork and polystyrene sculptures, bronzes, drawings, photogravures, ink on C-prints, and ceramics. Together they present the artist’s unique amalgamation of different cultures and sources. Huma Bhabha brings together different eras, materials, and iconic forms to create works that bring forth anthropomorphic and hybrid presences by constantly adding, layering, and cutting materials.
The figure is ubiquitous in her work, always suggesting an ambiguous otherness, whether distant or near, ancient or unborn. Bhabha draws on an infinite repertoire of references, borrowing from both the academic world and popular culture, from ancient statuary to science fiction films, insisting on a universalism of forms.
The exhibition will feature Leochicospeedy, a series of ten photogravures made with BORCH Editions in 2016. For these works, Huma Bhabha created a series of expressionistic portraits of deities or a race of gods executed in photogravure and etching. Although the works convey an almost nightmarish atmosphere, the underlying photos taken by the artist are of three playing dogs: Leo, Chico, and Speedy. The dogs belonged to the artist’s brother, who passed away in 2015, and to the artist, they represent his legacy. Huma Bhabha uses the image of the dog similarly to the way Joseph Beuys uses the coyote and the hare: as a mediator between humans and nature.
Learn more about Huma Bhabha
