This summer, Tate Britain will present Never the Same, a new exhibition by Mohammed Z Rahman. Presented within two timber pavilions inspired by Bengali wedding canopies, Never the Same will premiere a new body of paintings that continue Rahman’s exploration of notions of home and love. The exhibition is the latest instalment in Art Now, Tate Britian’s long-running programme of free contemporary exhibitions showcasing emerging talent and new developments in the British art scene.
Never the Same is staged in two theatrical ‘acts’, conjuring painterly worlds inspired by love letters, songs, poems, recipes, dreams and memories, with a Tate collection work providing an entry point into each. Act One addresses home, play and joy, starting with The Spaghetti House 2024, a painting based on a story the artist created in collaboration with their six-year-old niece. Depicting a large house made of spaghetti, with each window opening onto a different scene, this magical universe expands across four new works. Celebrating a hybrid ingredient that unites cultures through history, a visual recipe shows strands of pasta turn into a skipping rope, a duvet cover and even hair.
The Lovers 2024 will bring visitors into Act Two. The painting depicts six people in a close embrace, interpreted either as laying down or as standing and dancing, with an electric blanket laid over them. Inspired by the eponymous tarot card, it explores the transformative powers of love and connection. Rahman builds on this work to explore love in its many forms, from sorrow to celebration, in paintings made for the exhibition. In one work, a figure weeps on a bed surrounded by the belongings of ex-lovers, while elsewhere, a humble crate is transformed into a box of chocolates, gifted as an act of love.
Mohammed Z Rahman said: ‘I have this hopeful idea of art and the world as brimming with magic conjured by ordinary people. With this show, I want to inspire people to know the power of their own stories, to take children seriously and to be brave in love’.
Since the 1990s, Tate Britain’s Art Now exhibitions have recognised talent at its outset and provided a launch pad for artists who have gone on to become established figures on the international art scene. Over the last 30 years, the series has been an important public platform for the likes of Tacita Dean, Ed Atkins, Fiona Banner, Hurvin Anderson and Doris Salcedo.
Art Now: Mohammed Z Rahman will coincide with the opening of a new series of free displays at Tate Britain. Staged to coincide with the 250th anniversary of US independence Life and Liberty: American Painters and the 'Revolution' in Art, 1770-90 will celebrate a group of American painters living in London and explore the new form of ‘modern’ history painting they pioneered. Living Gardens will reflect on how gardens served as sites of inspiration, experimentation and refuge for artists throughout the 20th century, from Ethel Sands to Derek Jarman. A spotlight display will celebrate the work of Welsh-born artist Nina Hamnett, who painted still lifes and portraits of her avant-garde circle of friends in a distinctive post-impressionist style. Photographer Chris Steele-Perkins’s decade-long project The Pleasure Principle 1980-9, documenting the distinctive customs, traditions and activities that shape English identity, will be presented in the modern and contemporary galleries.
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