Sislej Xhafa: ‘Asymmetric désir’

Associated media

Rosalind Ormiston reports on a show that takes a hard look at the roots of consumerism

At Blain/Southern gallery until 25 January 2014, Kosovar-born American artist Sislej Xhafa is exhibiting his first solo show in the United Kingdom. The title of the exhibition ‘Asymmetric désir’ refers to a concept of ‘mimetic desire’ proposed by the French historian and social scientist René Girard. ‘Mimetic desire’ implies that what we desire does not result from our own impulses but from those around us, leading to compulsive consumerism triggered by the desires or fantasies of others.

Xhafa’s works includes assemblage, sculptures and painting. Blain/Southern on Hanover Square have kept the gallery's windows on Hanover Street uncovered, allowing the exhibition space to be flooded with light. The first part of the gallery is dominated by Merry Go Round (2013), an assemblage of found objects, and primarily created from a rusted full-size football goal ‘skeleton’. Hanging from the cross bar are a variety of once-possessed objects: a refrigerator, an old portable radio, a girl's dress, a taxidermied cat and a cigarette. It encourages the viewer to ask why the artist chose these objects. Sislej Xhafa explained. 'It engages with culture, society, and desire to change’. The work explores the limitations of material possessions, suggesting that our desires are not a result of our own impulses but are shaped by the people around us. The hanging objects are samples of individual desires.

Xhafa has lived in New York for the past 12 years and the city and its citizens inspire his work. I asked him to tell me about his vast wall-mounted heart-shape work, Landscape L (2013), which is made from mattress springs. Xhafa relates it to his life in New York, where he became an American citizen three years ago. 'My special research is on the social economy. How people live. I live in New York and one of the biggest challenges of modern societies is how can we help poorer people live with dignity. A lot of people struggle to have a roof over their head.' Xhafa considers that this status of home ownership, and more importantly lack of a home as consequential. Landscape L, relates to the iconography of the bare-spring mattress as a symbol of home, love, being, and identity.

Close by in this part of the gallery a sculpture of black marble, at floor level, is shaped like a grave headstone with the addition of a telephone receiver, separate and placed on top. It is called Mother (2013). The desire to stay in touch with the dead goes back to ancient times. In this work the telephone symbolizes our need to connect. Xhafa stated that motivation for this piece was very complex. ‘I used irony to bring it to a different level.' His intention was to use black humour to raise questions about death, and that contact with the dead is unrealizable. With this piece and his other works on display I discovered that it made me think about the reasoning behind his work. It is not easily identifiable at first glance but the pleasure is in discovering the layers of meaning that take his ideas and intent far beyond the gallery and into the streets, shops, homes and lives of people in the city.