Nico Yektai | Cousins

April 23rd – May 23rd, 2016
Opening reception: Saturday April 30th, 6 – 8 pm

Tripoli Gallery is pleased to present Cousins, our debut solo exhibition for local artist Nico Yektai.  Although Nico’s unique furniture has been highlighted at the gallery since 2010, Cousins will mark the first time his sculptural creations inhabit the entire space. On view at 30a Jobs Lane, Southampton, NY, from April 23rd – May 23rd we invite you to a reception for the artist on Saturday, April 30th, from 6 to 8pm.
As a representational painter chooses a subject to then replicate onto canvas, Nico Yektai chooses functional objects, such as furniture, and creates modernistic sculptures that add grace and fluidity to the functionality that some maintain. An essential element in his work is the recognition that furniture like sculptures, can be the subject for limitless personal expression guided by creativity and the quest for originality.

With an early attraction to wood and over 25 years of learning how to maneuver it, Yektai creates families of shapes as he bends, cuts and sands his material with his signature lines and curves. Widening his choice of mediums from wood to cement, and incorporating metals, mirrors and glass, he has become widely known for his ability to transform his materials into moving juxtapositions of line and form; each subject becoming part of a larger family, each medium and object becoming a cousin to the next.

Every sculpture Yektai creates can stand alone – every piece can be appreciated for its aesthetic qualities or for both its aesthetic and functional qualities.  All share a dialogue, regardless of the materials at hand.  Deliberately shifting elements of his artful design into unexpected places, the artist calls attention to each component.  His masterful use of faceting, brings enhanced visual interest to every surface. The result is an energetic invitation characteristic of his work; one that beckons to the viewer to participate; viewer and sculpture can join forces.

Nico Yektai was born in Teheran, Iran in 1969.  He opened the doors to his studio in Sag Harbor, NY in 1995 after earning his MFA from the School for American Craft at the Rochester Institute of Technology.  The rigorous technical training he received complimented his background in Art History, which he studied at Hobart College in Geneva, NY.  Yektai’s work has been exhibited in diverse venues, from museums (the Parrish Art Museum and Guild Hall, on the East End) to design shows (the Architectural Digest Home Design Show and the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, in NYC).