Nature Morte is pleased to present an exhibition of new works and an installation by Asim Waqif entitled "Residual Fear." The artist explores the byproducts of organized violence, usually by one nation against another, most often to effect political change. This violence upsets social orders but also leaves its mark on architectural forms and spaces and the fabric of cities. Waqif's practice values both decay and destruction as creative forces, but where previous bodies of works focused on natural and organic processes, the present exhibition explores an architecture of change which is a result of concerted violent actions.

Waqif focuses on particular structures that have been recently altered by violence in Baghdad, Kabul, Raqqa and Aleppo. He applies the rationality of the architect's practice to chaos and wreckage. From vector drawings he extrapolates forms in various materials and found objects, resulting in assemblages that cull inspiration from disaster, structures from horror. Other works start with building sites in New Delhi which have been brutalized by economic and political forces, bringing a more localized violence into the dialogue.

"Waqif is interested in the broad communicative possibilities of art and in opening the door for social, cultural and historical readings outside the direct objecthood of a given artwork. He is attracted to complexity and not so interested in echoing convenient ideas and aesthetics we have already absorbed through centuries of art history. A reluctance to self-identify as an artist both shapes and complicates his practice; pushing institutions and challenging the history, theory and even purpose of art.
Waqif's practice investigates the implicit assumptions we hold about the objects and infrastructures within our built environments. He forces us to recognize the commonplace, the forgotten and the disregarded ruins of consumer culture. He elucidates the expansiveness of objects - transforming them from one person's trash into another's treasure. His work is both a statement and a meditation on how we navigate and make meaning of the material world around us."

Diana Freundl, Associate Curator, Asia Art, Vancouver Art Gallery

His site-specific installation "Salvage" (2017) is on view at Vancouver Art Gallery Offsite until April 15, 2018.