A solo exhibition by Tarik Kiswanson, See Eye to Eye, ran from October 10 to November 22, 2015 at Les Bains-Douches Centre d’art in Alençon. Fixating on the materiality of the metal surface, the show is comprised of carefully crafted sculptures that combine an aesthetic that is both reflective and slender yet threatening in its hard edges and sharp angles.

There is a sensitivity in the materials relationship to the spatial environment and the proximity to the viewer. The press release brings attention to Kiswanson’s interest in the body as an underlying current to his practice and how it is never a full mass or a material reliant on itself but rather a “structure, in the proper sense of the term, primarily ephemeral and immaterial, where the space in between plays a major dynamic role.”

Hung on the wall and placed on the floor, the oxidized and highly polished surfaces are reduced to bare bones; a skeletal framing stripped of any function related to usefulness. Subtly balanced, Kiswanson plays off of the materials’ ability to vibrate and and cause illusions to the eye, while at the same time placing them in the context of a historical and cultural resonance attached to their author’s dual Scandinavian and Arab roots.**