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"Kissing circles proposes an encounter between two classic Hollywood films: Modern Times by Charlie Chaplin and Casablanca by Curtiz. The circle serves as the link between this ensemble of recent pieces. Mounir Fatmi has been working for several years with this universal shape, which is explored also through a wide range of fields, including influences from art- from Duchamp and his rotoreliefs, to another modernist artist, Sonia Delaunay. The circle is also found in religious symbolism, one strong example being pilgrims walking around the Ka'ba, the most sacred structure in Islamic architecture. More concerned with philosophy than mathematics, the artist is inspired by Descartes geometric theorem, which establishes a relationship between “kissing” or mutually tangent circles. A response to this relationship is found in a poem, The Kissing Precise by Frederick Soddy."

Shoshana Wayne Gallery, March 2012