GILA ABUTALEBI

Gila Abutalebi (*1971 in Ried, Austria) studied Languages, Economics and Acting in Germany, the United States of America, and Spain. She has been active as a visual artist since 2009. She lives and works in Cologne.

Gila Abutalebi has her roots in the north of Iran, not far from the Caspian Sea. The multitalented artist, who is also active in the field of literary art, transforms handwritten letters into painterly abstract signs. She is less interested in a culturally determined tendency towards calligraphy, but is rather much more fascinated with the multidimensionality of language. In addition to handwriting, for which only Latin letters – especially the letter K – are used, predominantly transparent materials play an essential role in her literally multileveled artworks.

‘It is more difficult to say what Abutalebi’s artworks are than to determine what they are not. They are not texts, although they are comprised of letters. They are not completely abstract, although they are reminiscent of abstract structures. They are neither painted not written, since both vanish within the concept of fundamental questionability. They cannot be deciphered, although they refer time and again to familiar elements of language and form. And they appear to belong neither to the Western culture of writing, nor to the oriental culture of calligraphy, but are instead marked by a lyrical dimension, which thwarts – and somehow stabilises – all the world’s many languages and systems of meaning.’ (Jürgen Kisters)

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