Brains II, 2017

paintings, 9 part

Boghiguian paints brains, symbolic of the complexity of thought, sensuality, and emotions. She combines the brain imagery with the receptive parts of the body such as eyes, ears and mouth, our main modes of communication, putting beginnings and ends to life’s narratives. The brain is very integral to the artist’s work, as it is perceived as the labyrinth that must be explored to further understand human nature, its motivations, vices, and reasoning. The artist questions interpersonal relationships and their consequences through this exploration. In her work she denounces oppression, aggression, extremism in both past and present contexts. The artist‘s critical approach is accentuated by her expressive style, at the same time revitalized by her poetic nature.

Anna Boghiguian, Brains II (9 parts), 2017, encaustic, pencil on canvas, 40 x 30 cm each

Anna Boghiguian, Brains II, 2017, encaustic, pencil on canvas, 40 x 30 cm, detail

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Anna Boghiguian

**The Square, the Line and the Ruler, 2020**

**A Short Long History, S.M.A.K., 2020**

**A Tin Drum That Has Forgotten Its Own Rhythm, 2019**

**Promenade dans l'inconscient, Carré d’Art – Musée d’art contemporain Nîmes, 2016**

**Cities by the River – Amazon, 2013–2014**

**Cities by the River – Cairo, 2013–2014**

Biography

Anna Boghiguian was born in Cairo, Egypt, in 1946 and has Armenian roots. She studied political and social science at the American University of Cairo and holds a BFA in fine arts and music from the Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. Since the early 1970s, her art has emerged from various movements around the globe, translating a nomadic experience and gaze into painting and installation, collages and books. As a traveling artist, she tells of how people and ideas, relationships and goods vary and evolve, sometimes bright and fluid, sometimes bound in inequality and oppression. Boghiguian's broad insight into literature and worlds of thought makes her art a profound source of contemplation. In 2015 Boghiguian received the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale and in 2024 she will be awarded the 30th Wolfgang-Hahn-Prize of the Society for Modern Art at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne. Her work has been featured in major solo exhibitions around the world, most recently at the Power Plant, Toronto (2023) Kunsthaus Bregenz in Venice (2022), IVAM, Valencia (2021), SMAK, Ghent (2020), Tate St. Ives (2019), the New Museum (2018) and the Museum der Moderne, Salzburg (2018) and in numerous international group shows including the 22nd Sydney Biennale (2020), Castello di Rivoli, Torino (2019), the Museum of Modern Art, New York City (2017) and the dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel (2012).

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Exhibitions at KOW