Koplin Del Rio is pleased to debut a new series of work by Sandow Birk, titled American Qur’an. The exhibition is the first installment of an ongoing project and is comprised of thirty gouache and ink on paper paintings, as well as mixed media sculpture.

Over the past decade Birk has traveled extensively through the Islamic world, visiting several of the most populous Muslim nations as well as studying important collections of Islamic artworks. It was these travels, along with political events across the world that inspired his initial interest in Islam and the Qur’an.

Began over four years ago, Birk’s most recent series of work, American Qur’an, is an endeavor to transcribe the entire Qur’an according to Islamic traditions and illuminate the text with scenes from contemporary American life. Contrary to Birk’s past series’, he began this project as a private exploration to better acquaint himself with a document he found fascinating but knew little about. Years into his research an idea for an artistic presentation began to take shape. Because Birk had approached this project with reverent consideration, the resulting body of work does not contain the satirical commentary for which Birk is known. Those who know Birk’s work will recognize his familiar exploration of social issues though text appropriation and signature ‘everyday’ imagery. Calling it a ‘personal Qur’an’, Birk has applied his individual artistic vision to a literal English translation of the ancient religious document. Painted images appear as an underlay to Birk’s handwritten text, in effect providing a context for the words, a contemporary narration as the artist sees it. The resulting works are Birk’s contemplations on how such a revered and little understood (by most Americans) document could be wholly relevant to a typical American’s life. Birk hopes that viewers will be inspired to think in broader terms about the Qur’an, and what it intrinsically means to be Muslim. That it is not a state of ‘otherness’ but instead a shared experience of the world merely through a lens of different cultures.

Sandow Birk received his BFA from Otis Art Institute in 1988.  He has been the recipient of numerous awards, fellowships, and grants, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a J. Paul Getty Fellowship, two NEA grants, the COLA fellowship in Visual Art, and a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship Award.  He has had several one-man museums shows at such institutions as the Katzen Art Center, San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, San Jose Museum of Art, the Laguna Art Museum, the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, and the Heidelberger Kunstverein in Heidelberg, Germany. His work resides in numerous museum collections including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Harvard University Museum, the De Young Museum, The Getty Center, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Jose Museum of Art, the New York Historical Society, and the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art.