Borna Sammak is a mixed-media artist who collects and reconfigures the detritus of urban environments to create hallucinatory installations, videos and wall pieces which comment on the absurdity of contemporary American culture. Citing Robert Rauschenberg as a key influence, Sammak similarly brings together diverse sources, such as samples of graphic t-shirts, or discarded public signage, working these items onto canvas, wooden frames or enamel. Through this process of manipulation, Sammak lays bare the often polarising, bizarre and hypocritical messages channelled through American advertising and politics. Candy sweet puppy t-shirts collide with spring break merchandise, Vietnam veteran badges sit next to cigarette packs—charging seemingly colloquial items with a heightened sensibility. The works lean into the visually arresting register of adverts or political campaigns, using bright, concrete colours to accentuate the drama of the dogmatic narratives. The comic juxtapositions orchestrated by Sammak replicate the insatiable flood of commercial and political threads which seep into daily life— leaving the viewer overwhelmed by these manic manifestations. ...
Sadie Coles HQ is a London-based contemporary art gallery representing around fifty international artists. The gallery opened in 1997, with an inaugural exhibition of new paintings by American painter John Currin presented in parallel with an offsite show by British artist Sarah Lucas, The Law, at St John Street. This pairing established the international breadth of the gallery's programme, which has since expanded over the past two decades. Since its inception, Sadie Coles HQ has operated from a variety of spaces; most recently mounting offsite shows in Los Angeles and Mayfair in 2020 with a significant new video installation by Martine Syms. In September 2013, Sadie Coles HQ opened its largest space at 62 Kingly Street in Soho, as well as a second space at 1 Davies Street in Mayfair designed by 6a Architects in 2015, and a third space at 8 Bury Street in St James’s in April 2021. ...
