Tala Madani: Biscuits accompanies the first North American survey of the Iranian-born artist’s paintings, animations, and drawings. Organized by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), the exhibition brings together fifteen years of the artist’s incisive work, highlighting the often absurd socio-cultural dynamics enacted within Madani’s art and, more broadly, the potent and combustible relationship between art history and global history. The publication is the most comprehensive on Madani’s work to date. Paintings and animations from Madani’s major series dating from 2005 to the present are represented by approximately eighty plates, along with forty images of Madani’s previously unpublished sketchbook drawings, which offer a rare look at the rich process by which the artist develops her ribald menagerie of characters. The catalogue also features a conversation between Madani and Ali Subotnick, guest curator of the exhibition, as well as new essays by Rebecca Lowery, MOCA Assistant Curator; Maggie Nelson, acclaimed Los Angeles-based writer; and Evan Calder Williams, Associate Professor at the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College. These essays range from personal to critical, encompassing contemplations of motherhood and sexual politics, as well as contextualising Madani’s work in art history.224 pages, 23 x 29.5 cm, softcover, MACK (London).
