Art Basel 2022: Ebecho Muslimova

Basel, Switzerland, 16 - 19 June 2022 

 

Ebecho Muslimova has gained recognition for the depiction of her alter ego FATEBE, a plump and exuberant personality who subsumes the neuroses and anxieties of her creator. This character has allowed her to explore a diverse range of issues related to the depiction of the body - particularly the female one. Set in fantastical painted landscapes or rendered solo in flowing brushwork, Fatebe explodes the social expectations of the female body through brazen displays of sexuality, vulnerability, and humour. The drawing and painting practice of Muslimova manifest the representation of the artist and her place within our dramatically changing societies. The persona, the comedic and the disquieting are all depicted and exposed with bold curiosity. The character is not only sexually liberated, but also shameless and free to explore the world's circumstances through an unshackled narrative. Within her practice Muslimova protests against preconceived notions of artistic media and norms, mixing graphic qualities traditionally seen as belonging outside the “high” art world with a range of techniques and displays based very much in the history of painting and drawing from the renaissance forward.

In today's reality, FATEBE forces us to reflect on our connection to our own inner selves and bodies, our own relationship to others and our connection to outside influences. At the heart of every piece and immersive installation that Muslimova creates is a reminder of the daily negotiations every viewer has with themselves, as a physical creature moving through the world and a psychic one living inside our own heads.

 

Works by the artist is represented in major museum collections, including the Dallas Museum of Art; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; Institute of Contemporary Art Miami; Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain (MAMCO), Geneva; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.