re.riddle

echo, ici: odonchimeg davaadorj

May 1-31, 2021

re.riddle is pleased to present Echo, Ici a solo exhibition by Odonchimeg Davaadorj that will run from May 1-31. This exhibition is the part of re.flect, a program series that spotlights one of the gallery's artists each month. The rotating monthly series will offer in-depth access into the respective processes and practices of our global community of artists. In addition, the artists have partnered with re.riddle to release limited edition, unique works at special prices. These exclusive pieces will only be available during the month of the related exhibition.

Curatorial Statement

The exhibition, Echo, Ici examines the work of Odonchimeg Davaadorj via the concept of an echo. In both Greek mythology and modern scientific phenomena, an echo is associated with the notion of mimicry: a singular noise repeated again and again as sound waves travel from their origin point, through their surrounding physical circumstances and back to the listener. However, an echo’s mimicry is distinct from the mimicry of mimesis or the re-presentation of nature as it really is. Rather, by its own behavior, an echo is not a faithful reiteration of the original, but only - if at all - a fragment of its source. It is a distortion, altered by its proximate topography, an abridged form that is inevitably weakened as it travels away from its origin point. 

Whilst both an echo and mimesis are acts of recreation, an echo’s mutated quality carries with it a mystical effect. In early civilizations, echoes were perceived as other worldly, supernatural phenomena and prompted hearers to consider the possibilities that might exist beyond the physical. A critical part of the phenomenon of an echo is its effect on the observer: vibration, resonance, even wonder and disorientation. 

We suggest, in this exhibition, that the origin point, echo and effect be conceptualized as objects themselves. The manifestation of the origin point is Davaadorj herself: her human experiences, nostalgic reflections and abstract realities, which take shape as the subject matter in her work. As such, her artworks continually refer back to, recall and echo Davaadorj in its repeated symbolism, scenes of remembrance and shadowy dreams.

In her Shipwreck Series (Naufrage and Naufrage II), Davaadorj uses a disembodied heart and facial profile as landforms, fragmented references of her personhood and physicality. Symbol Eaters simultaneously echoes sentiments of her ancestral mother-land and internal disorientation channeled through her identification with the horse (her zodiac sign) that has traveled far from home. Davaadorj’s lightly pigmented watercolors (Blue and Let Me Grow) read as if they are disappearing, resonating like a soft iteration of a fading echo. Similarly, the perforated lines and textured silhouettes in Twins act as two synecdoches, isolated parts to represent whole concepts, almost as if their fuller forms have been lost in the transcribing of the artwork. Together, this body of work asks you to navigate the supernatural to understand the natural. How might you work backwards from an echo to find its origin? Is what’s lost in an echo gained back in richness of interpretation?

Programming

Presented alongside the exhibition will be programming about Odonchimeg Davaadorj's creative process and practice. 

Wednesday, May 12 at 11:30am PST/ 1:30pm CST/ 2:30pm EST/ 8:30pm CEST Paris:

In Conversation: Contemporary Art Curator Christine Starkman speaks with artist Odonchimeg Davaadorj and re.riddle principal Candace Huey.

Christine Starkman is a contemporary art curator interested in the global, transnational, and transcultural histories of modern and contemporary art between Asia, Europe, and Latin America. She has been a researcher and curator at the Art Institute of Chicago, Cleveland Museum of Art, and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. She has a master’s degree in Japanese art and architecture from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and did PhD coursework in art history at Rice University, Houston. Starkman is a Fulbright Scholar for Korea for Spring 2022.

If you missed the program, click below to view:

Artworks

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re.release (ends May 31)

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