KORNFELD Galerie Berlin opens its doors to TRUST ISSUES, a powerful group exhibition featuring Saelia Aparicio, Gonzalo Garcia, and Rusudan Khizanishvili, curated by Nina Chkareuli-Mdivani. Running from March 1 to April 17, 2025, this exhibition unpacks complex themes of vulnerability, trust, and power through diverse artistic lenses. The opening night, scheduled for March 1, promises to offer a first glimpse into the urgent and provocative works shaping the discourse.
The curatorial concept draws inspiration from Mark Fisher’s critique of capitalist realism and the secret sadness underpinning our contemporary existence. As trust erodes under the weight of fake news and algorithmic biases, the works presented challenge viewers to question their susceptibility to preprogrammed narratives. Aparicio, Garcia, and Khizanishvili interrogate these tensions through distinct but interconnected visual languages, revealing both the personal and political stakes of trust in the 21st century.
Rusudan Khizanishvili’s oil paintings weave a narrative rooted in political unrest and symbolic resonance. Painted amidst Georgia’s 2024 anti-government protests, her canvases depict theatrical red drapery as a recurring motif. This motif gestures toward the concealment and control exerted by political structures. Drawing on influences from Persian miniatures and mythological guardians, Khizanishvili abstracts human figures into universal archetypes, creating works that are both deeply personal and richly allegorical. Her paintings resonate with a search for harmony amidst social and spiritual chaos, challenging the viewer to confront the invisible mechanisms that shape societies.
Gonzalo Garcia’s oil paintings, by contrast, adopt a confrontational tone, exploring the intersections of trust, power, and violence with brutal candor. Inspired by the transgressive narratives of 1970s Mexican cinema, Garcia crafts unsettling scenes that depict acts of castration and psychological torment. His works refuse to offer comfort, instead demanding active engagement from the viewer. The anonymity of both victim and aggressor invites the audience to fill in the gaps, implicating themselves in the power dynamics on display. Alongside these intense narratives, Garcia includes quieter, more introspective still lifes that reflect on his queer identity and childhood in Mexico City. These works offer a counterbalance, suggesting moments of transformation and resilience within oppressive systems.
Saelia Aparicio brings a multidisciplinary approach to the exhibition, melding sculpture, drawing, and material experimentation. Her anthropomorphic stools and genderfluid figures explore the physical and emotional vulnerabilities of the human body within the context of capitalist realism. Drawing on folklore, feminism, and popular culture, Aparicio’s works are playful yet incisive, offering a critique of rigid societal classifications. By integrating wood, glass, fabric, and clay, she crafts a tactile, layered commentary on the potential for resistance and reinvention. Her vision is one of hope and humor, urging viewers to find fissures within oppressive structures where new possibilities can emerge.
The works on display do not offer easy resolutions. Instead, they provoke dialogue and introspection, urging viewers to grapple with the uncertainties of modern life. Whether through Khizanishvili’s allegorical symbolism, Garcia’s visceral provocations, or Aparicio’s experimental optimism, the exhibition underscores the necessity of art as a space for questioning and reimagining trust. The diversity of formal approaches – from oil painting to sculptural assemblage – highlights the richness of perspectives that can emerge when vulnerability and power are placed under scrutiny.
