NICOLAS POL: EPEKTASIS

NICOLAS POL

Born in Paris, Pol spent much of his childhood in Africa before relocating to France. He went on to earn his degree at the prestigious Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts at La Sorbonne. Following two successful solo shows at Alsopp Contemporary in London, Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld presented Pol’s work in three large-scale international exhibitions – The Martus Maw in New York in 2009; The Mother of Pouacrus in London in 2010; and Sick Atavus of the New Blood in 2011 in New York. Pol has participated in numerous group exhibitions in prestigious institutions such as the J-en Rêve Fondation Cartier, the Plus Que Vrai ENSBA Salle des Quais in Paris and the Loic le Gaillard in London.

PRESS RELEASE

Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld, Demet Muftuoğlu Eşeli & Alphan Eşeli proudly present EPEKTASIS, Nicolas Pol’s first solo exhibition in Turkey. On view at the Süha Fazlı Han, a 150 year-old mercantile building in the historic district of Karaköy, Istanbul, the exhibition features a selection of large-scale paintings by the Paris-based artist.

For his debut exhibition in Istanbul, Pol explores the concept of epektasis, the philosophy of personal extension from the ancient Turkish theologian, Gregory of Nyssa, but with his usual impish irreverence, his paintings reveal a twist on the original religious meaning to incorporate the French derivation épectase, an orgasmic death. The result is an intense collection of paintings filled with sensory exploration catapulting its subjects and onlookers into a participatory whirlwind of pleasure, introspection and suffering. Part religious icon painting, part brothel, Pol’s EPEKTASIS yields imagery of high fashioned demons, faux corporations, reductive physics and wanton whores.

Pol puts forth sarcastic and sadistic observations on theology, iconography, and popular culture as he interweaves high and low culture into a bloodied frenzy.In his 2011 essay, writer David Hunt charged Pol with “…acts of mischief-making, derelictions of dialect, foul play and an uncomfortably precise approximation (for some) of the leftovers inside Jeffrey Dahmer’s refrigerator.” Pol continues on this brazen path as he presents the suite of works captured within EPEKTASIS.

Since 2001, Nicolas Pol has participated in numerous international exhibitions. Born in Paris, Pol spent much of his childhood in Africa before relocating to France. He went on to earn his degree at the prestigious Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts at La Sorbonne. Following two successful solo shows at Alsopp Contemporary in London, Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld presented Pol’s work in three large-scale international exhibitions – The Martus Maw in New York in 2009; The Mother of Pouacrus in London in 2010; and Sick Atavus of the New Blood in 2011 in New York. Pol has participated in numerous group exhibitions in prestigious institutions such as the J-en Rêve Fondation Cartier, the Plus Que Vrai ENSBA Salle des Quais in Paris and the Loic le Gaillard in London.

Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld has collaborated with emerging and established artists to produce exhibitions, providing them with an artistically significant and commercially viable platform to promote their artwork in venues around the world. Since 2008, Roitfeld has worked with a diverse array of artists including Richard Hambleton, RETNA, Nicolas Pol, Ouattara Watts, Yi Chen and Richard DuPont.