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Lot Essay
Curiosity is a creature captured in a moment of wonder. Its wide eyed curious gaze and upright tail are like antennas, absorbing and processing information. On occasional moments of absurdity, it tries to catch its own tail.
Christie's is honoured to offer Curiosity, another exceptional Urban Toy by Nadim Karam. This sculptural toy is one of many in different sizes and mediums that the artist tackled from the early beginning of his artistic journey. Nadim Karam; the architect, artist, and urban designer contemplates about 'Cities' and thinks that they are built on millions of small dreams. Born in Africa, living in Lebanon and
having done his studies in Japan, Nadim Karam is a metropolitan citizen who started creating Urban Toys with the idea to create moments of dreams in cities. There is a confrontation between artists and terrorists in our cities. Both are shaping cities with different moments. He thinks that the creative dream impulse should prevail. His Urban Toys are not intended to be monumental, they are fragmented and scaled to the size and need of the place. He enjoys the stories these Urban Toys suggest to each passerby, to the inner child of adults and to children, where each individual is invited to contribute with their own interpretation their own imaginative story around the sculptures. His toys become little magnets that brings hope to a sad woman, a lonely child or a tired employee.
Why Urban Toys? Contemporary cities are saturated with stereotypes, placid everyday scenes and banal visual messages. The vast movement of globalization has eliminated authentic identities. Rituals that date thousands of years are rapidly erased from the memory of the people. The scenery in all main cities are becoming alike. People suddenly are finding themselves trapped in social systems imposed on them, while having the freedom to choose what suits them or to question what they like. Therefore the artist revealed the need within every city to break free from the existing network and routine, and continue his journey into sculpting these diverse shapes. He wants to agitate this 'controlled' structure by the injection of a new vocabulary in the public realm of cities.
His incubator atelier studio named Hapsitus which he established in 1996 in Beirut, Lebanon. Comes from the combination of two words: 'happening' and 'situation.' His goal is for people to seek both. They can appear as a result of a visible form 'urban setting' or of an invisible order 'urban happening.' Hapsitus became a vehicle for his work, boasting numerous manifestations where he blends architecture, art and design in cities. He has been commissioned to produce large scale works in Dubai, Australia and Japan among other places. Whether it is a random shape of a character, an elephant, a crocodile; a camel or a donkey; they combine to become diffusers of energy, intermingling to create fantasy and triggering instant dreams with smiles. These are elements pushing the viewer to stop, ask and react. The appearance of any new organism in the city keeps the city in constant challenge with itself. Then the citizen becomes the judge. They either accept or reject. In places where there is lots of terror, creative efforts should be put together to enhance, rather than demolish it.
The present work is a unique piece covered with a particular texture. It is the only work with tiny black mother of pearl buttons that the artist has executed. He then applies the buttons meticulously one by one on the hard wooden structure. These mother of pearl buttons capture the light from all corners, giving back energy, warmth and endless light. Even when this work is seen in the dark, it still reflects. It stands with playfulness and has endless possibilities diffusing its magical glow when hit by light.
Christie's is honoured to offer Curiosity, another exceptional Urban Toy by Nadim Karam. This sculptural toy is one of many in different sizes and mediums that the artist tackled from the early beginning of his artistic journey. Nadim Karam; the architect, artist, and urban designer contemplates about 'Cities' and thinks that they are built on millions of small dreams. Born in Africa, living in Lebanon and
having done his studies in Japan, Nadim Karam is a metropolitan citizen who started creating Urban Toys with the idea to create moments of dreams in cities. There is a confrontation between artists and terrorists in our cities. Both are shaping cities with different moments. He thinks that the creative dream impulse should prevail. His Urban Toys are not intended to be monumental, they are fragmented and scaled to the size and need of the place. He enjoys the stories these Urban Toys suggest to each passerby, to the inner child of adults and to children, where each individual is invited to contribute with their own interpretation their own imaginative story around the sculptures. His toys become little magnets that brings hope to a sad woman, a lonely child or a tired employee.
Why Urban Toys? Contemporary cities are saturated with stereotypes, placid everyday scenes and banal visual messages. The vast movement of globalization has eliminated authentic identities. Rituals that date thousands of years are rapidly erased from the memory of the people. The scenery in all main cities are becoming alike. People suddenly are finding themselves trapped in social systems imposed on them, while having the freedom to choose what suits them or to question what they like. Therefore the artist revealed the need within every city to break free from the existing network and routine, and continue his journey into sculpting these diverse shapes. He wants to agitate this 'controlled' structure by the injection of a new vocabulary in the public realm of cities.
His incubator atelier studio named Hapsitus which he established in 1996 in Beirut, Lebanon. Comes from the combination of two words: 'happening' and 'situation.' His goal is for people to seek both. They can appear as a result of a visible form 'urban setting' or of an invisible order 'urban happening.' Hapsitus became a vehicle for his work, boasting numerous manifestations where he blends architecture, art and design in cities. He has been commissioned to produce large scale works in Dubai, Australia and Japan among other places. Whether it is a random shape of a character, an elephant, a crocodile; a camel or a donkey; they combine to become diffusers of energy, intermingling to create fantasy and triggering instant dreams with smiles. These are elements pushing the viewer to stop, ask and react. The appearance of any new organism in the city keeps the city in constant challenge with itself. Then the citizen becomes the judge. They either accept or reject. In places where there is lots of terror, creative efforts should be put together to enhance, rather than demolish it.
The present work is a unique piece covered with a particular texture. It is the only work with tiny black mother of pearl buttons that the artist has executed. He then applies the buttons meticulously one by one on the hard wooden structure. These mother of pearl buttons capture the light from all corners, giving back energy, warmth and endless light. Even when this work is seen in the dark, it still reflects. It stands with playfulness and has endless possibilities diffusing its magical glow when hit by light.