Currents: latifa echakhch

Columbus Museum of Art (CMA) is pleased to present the first solo museum exhibition in the U.S. of Moroccan-born artist Latifa Echakhch. The newest exhibition in CMA’s Currents series positions continuing themes presented in CMA’s Schiller Collection within a current cultural context. Using vintage lithographic stones, Echakhch responds specifically to prints in the Schiller Collection. presenting the stones along with icons of the American west, Echakhch provides a poetic and complex view of the eroding cultural divide.

“I’m thrilled to be able to present Latifa’s work to Columbus,” said Associate Curator of Contemporary Art Lisa Dent. “I’ve been an admirer of her work for years. She is an incredibly thoughtful and fearless artist whose work is respected around the world.”

In 2005, CMA acquired the Philip J. and Suzanne Schiller Collection of American Social Commentary Art, 1930–1970, which includes works by Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Rockwell Kent, George Tooker and Paul Cadmus. These works of art are the keystones between two major areas of strength in the Museum’s American collection: George Bellows and the Ashcan School and American Modernism. Lithographic prints in the collection vividly address complex problems and issues in American history. Echakhch takes her visual cues from these prints, all created between 1930-1940, and utilizes them as a springboard for confronting issues that continue to face America today.

Echakhch was born in Morocco in 1974. She has made a number of works incorporating materials such as carbon paper, charcoal, tea glasses, carpets or ink that provide her with a way of reflecting on her heritage. her sculptural work often considers the implications of globalization using everyday objects or cultural symbols that, taken from their normal context, acquire a new meaning. Her work has been seen in numerous solo and group exhibitions at venues such as the Venice Biennale (2011), Tate Modern (London), MACBA (Barcelona), Frac Champagne Ardenne (Reims), GaMEC (Bergamo), the ArtFocus Biennial (Jerusalem), Manifesta 7 (Bolzano, Italy), Kunsthaus (Zurich) and the Swiss Institute (New York).

Currents is a series of exhibitions at the Columbus Museum of Art showcasing works in a variety of media by emerging and established international artists.