Kim Farkas

Zéruì is pleased to inaugurate its new location with Total Internal Reflection, an exhibition by Paris-based artist Kim Farkas, opening 10th October 2024. The new permanent space, nestled in an alley overlooking St.Paul’s cathedral, marks a new chapter in the programme and our determination to advocate artists and practices that enriches the cultural diaspora of London and beyond.

Kim Farkas navigates themes of cultural transmission, preservation, and migration from his unique position as a French-born member of both the Peranakan and Jewish diasporas. The suite of aluminium-mounted photomontages and biomorphic 3D-printed sculptures presented at Zéruì draw on the formal syntaxes of subcultures as varied as car tuning and cosplay, while incorporating a visual vocabulary of ubiquitous foods, dishware, and packaging typically found in Chinatowns around the world. The slick, almost otherworldly, results metaphorically materialise the distortion of signi ers that occurs across geographic and generational gulfs. The alien and the familiar forged into a strange third-thing via global trade routes and the commodi cation of intangible cultural heritages.

On the occasion of Farkas’ rst solo exhibition with the gallery and in the UK, the artist has designed a limited edition of football scarves. The football scarf, a ceremonial garment in its own right, is here emblazoned with diasporic alimentary exports and ritualistic objects, such as joss papers, that likewise animate the artworks on view. The red and green colourway pays homage to the artist’s beloved Red Star, one of France’s oldest football clubs notable for its overtly anti-fascist and inclusive social values, and playfully probes the politics of belonging. The exhibition will be accompanied by a text written by Mélanie Scheiner.

Kim Farkas (b. 1988 in Paris, FR) lives and works in Paris, France. The artist received his BA in Graphic Design from Olivier de Serres, Paris, in 2009, his BFA from Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2012, and his MFA from Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2014. Selected exhibitions include: “Master stock,” Tara Downs, New York, US (2024); MAC VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine, FR (2023); “We’re still here,” All Stars, Lausanne, CH (2023); Paris + par Art Basel | Sites, Paris, FR, presented by Tara Downs (2022); “Comfort Dreams,” Campoli Presti, Paris, FR (2022); ; Tara Downs, New York, US (2021); “Étoile Distante,” FRAC Pays de la Loire, Nantes, FR (2021); Galerie Balice Hertling, Paris, FR (2021); “T01 700d,” Galerie des Filles du Calvaire, Paris, FR (2021); “Your friends and neighbors,” High Art, Paris, FR (2020);; “Tournures,” Doc, Paris, FR (2018); “Les négligences volontaires,” Shanaynay, Paris, FR (2016); and “Plus jamais seul,” Bibliothèque Kandinsky, Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR (2014). Farkas is a recipient of the CNAP Grant, Prix des amis des Beaux-Arts and The Kooples Art Prize and is a founding publisher of Holoholo Books. The artist’s work is included in the permanent collection of Le Centre national des arts plastiques, Paris.