Work titled Fatebe Leaking Vessels by Ebecho Muslimova, 2021
Work titled Fatebe Leaking Vessels by Ebecho Muslimova, 2021

Ebecho Muslimova: Fatebe Digest

David Zwirner is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by New York–based artist Ebecho Muslimova, Fatebe Digest, at the gallery’s London location. 

This will be the artist’s first solo presentation in the United Kingdom.

 
This selection of new work will feature Muslimova’s character Fatebe, a plump and exuberant personality who subsumes the neuroses and anxieties of her creator. Fatebe was first conceived during the artist’s days as an undergraduate at Cooper Union in New York. Muslimova’s surrogate shamelessly manipulates her naked body into unimaginable contortions and is found in slapstick and at times abject situations. Set in fantastical painted landscapes or rendered solo in flowing brushwork, Fatebe explodes the social expectations of the female body through brazen displays of sexuality, vulnerability, and humour. As the artist observes, ‘This performance, this slippage through the challenges I constantly make for [Fatebe], is what interests me and pushes the search for new scenarios.’1

 

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1 Ebecho Muslimova, interview by Rosario Güiraldes, The Drawing Center, New York, spring 2021, accessed online.

Image: Ebecho Muslimova, Fatebe Leaking Vessels, 2021 (detail)

Dates
November 23December 17, 2021
Artist
Ebecho Muslimova
An installation view of an exhibition titled Ebecho Muslimova: Fatebe Digest at David Zwirner, London, in 2021.

Installation view, Ebecho Muslimova: Fatebe Digest, David Zwirner, London, 2021

Installation view, Ebecho Muslimova: Fatebe Digest, David Zwirner, London, 2021

An installation view of an exhibition titled Ebecho Muslimova: Fatebe Digest at David Zwirner, London, in 2021.

Installation view, Ebecho Muslimova: Fatebe Digest, David Zwirner, London, 2021

Installation view, Ebecho Muslimova: Fatebe Digest, David Zwirner, London, 2021

“Many people have distorted impressions of their own bodies and consequent feelings of inferiority.… So when an artist like the gifted drawer Ebecho Muslimova creates funny, wordless cartoons of a lovably goofy, corpulent alter ego called Fatebe, we know what she’s wrestling with.”

—Ken Johnson, The New York Times

A drawing by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Cooked, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Cooked, 2021
Sumi ink on paper
9 x 12 inches (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
Framed: 15 3/4 x 18 3/4 inches (40 x 47.6 cm)
A mixed media artwork by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Between Doors, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Between Doors, 2021
Sumi ink and watercolor on paper
9 x 12 inches (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
Framed: 15 3/4 x 18 3/4 inches (40 x 47.6 cm)
A detail from a drawing by Ebecho Muslimova titled Fatebe Between Doors, dated 2021.
Ebecho Muslimova, Fatebe Between Doors, 2021 (detail)
Ebecho Muslimova, Fatebe Between Doors, 2021 (detail)

Manifesting a graphic trajectory of the personal and the exposed, the comedic and the disquieting, this selection of new work by Ebecho Muslimova features the artist’s character Fatebe, a plump and exuberant personality who subsumes the neuroses and anxieties of her creator.

A drawing by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Regenerate, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Regenerate, 2021
Sumi ink on paper
12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
Framed: 18 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches (47.6 x 40 cm)
A drawing by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Coat Rack, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Coat Rack, 2021
Sumi ink on paper
12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
Framed: 18 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches (47.6 x 40 cm)
An installation view of an exhibition titled Ebecho Muslimova: Fatebe Digest at David Zwirner, London, in 2021.

Installation view, Ebecho Muslimova: Fatebe Digest, David Zwirner, London, 2021

Installation view, Ebecho Muslimova: Fatebe Digest, David Zwirner, London, 2021

A painting by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe BTS Mechane, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe BTS Mechane, 2021
Oil on canvas
84 x 73 inches (213.4 x 185.4 cm)

“Muslimova began drawing the character as a pleasurable escape from the critical discourses and professional anxieties of art school.… With her extravagant abjection and cheerful onanism, Fatebe proved to be a surprisingly expressive form and inexhaustible engine of breakdown and recuperation.”

—Chloe Wyma, Artforum

A painting by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Octopus, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Octopus, 2021
Oil on canvas
72 x 63 inches (182.9 x 160 cm)
Installation view of the exhibition Ebecho Muslimova: Scenes in the Sublevel, at The Drawing Center, New York. February 5 - May 23, 2021.

Installation view, Ebecho Muslimova: Scenes in the Sublevel, The Drawing Center, New York. February 5 - May 23, 2021. Photo: Daniel Terna. Courtesy The Drawing Center.

Installation view, Ebecho Muslimova: Scenes in the Sublevel, The Drawing Center, New York. February 5 - May 23, 2021. Photo: Daniel Terna. Courtesy The Drawing Center.

Installation view from the exhibition Ebecho Muslimova: Scenes in the Sublevel, at The Drawing Center, New York. February 5 - May 23, 2021.

Installation view, Ebecho Muslimova: Scenes in the Sublevel, The Drawing Center, New York. February 5 - May 23, 2021. Photo: Daniel Terna. Courtesy The Drawing Center.

Installation view, Ebecho Muslimova: Scenes in the Sublevel, The Drawing Center, New York. February 5 - May 23, 2021. Photo: Daniel Terna. Courtesy The Drawing Center.

Installation view of the exhibition titled Ebecho Muslimova: Scenes in the Sublevel at The Drawing Center, New York. February 5 - May 23, 2021.

Installation view, Ebecho Muslimova: Scenes in the Sublevel, The Drawing Center, New York. February 5 - May 23, 2021. Photo: Daniel Terna. Courtesy The Drawing Center.

Installation view, Ebecho Muslimova: Scenes in the Sublevel, The Drawing Center, New York. February 5 - May 23, 2021. Photo: Daniel Terna. Courtesy The Drawing Center.

In London, Muslimova has created a site-specific rendering of her surrogate, further expanding Fatebe’s universe to literally occupy the surrounding built environment. Similar site-specific presentations include the 2021 Belgrade Biennale and the 2021 group exhibition Smashing into My Heart at The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago.

Installation view from the 58th October Salon, The Dreamers, Belgrade Biennale, 2021. Photo by Nemanja Knezevic © Cultural Centre of Belgrade

Installation view from the 58th October Salon, The Dreamers, Belgrade Biennale, 2021. Photo: Nemanja Knezevic © Cultural Centre of Belgrade

Installation view from the 58th October Salon, The Dreamers, Belgrade Biennale, 2021. Photo: Nemanja Knezevic © Cultural Centre of Belgrade

An installation view of a work by Ebecho Muslimova, titled FATEBE BIG SQUEEZE AT COBB HALL, dated 2021 at the exhibition titled Smashing Into My Heart, Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, 2021. Photo by Useful Art Services.

Ebecho Muslimova, FATEBE BIG SQUEEZE AT COBB HALL, 2021. Installation view, Smashing Into My Heart, Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, 2021. Photo by Useful Art Services.

 

Ebecho Muslimova, FATEBE BIG SQUEEZE AT COBB HALL, 2021. Installation view, Smashing Into My Heart, Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, 2021. Photo by Useful Art Services.

 
An installation view of a work by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Big Foot, dated 2018
. Courtesy: the artist. Anna Uddenberg, Journey of Self Discovery, 2016. Courtesy: the artist and Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin.

Ebecho Muslimova, Fatebe Big Foot, 2018 . Courtesy: the artist. Anna Uddenberg, Journey of Self Discovery, 2016. Courtesy: the artist and Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin. Photo: Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, Gunnar Meier

Ebecho Muslimova, Fatebe Big Foot, 2018 . Courtesy: the artist. Anna Uddenberg, Journey of Self Discovery, 2016. Courtesy: the artist and Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin. Photo: Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, Gunnar Meier

Installation view from the 32nd Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts, Birth as Criterion, 2017.  Photo by Jaka Babnik. MGLC Archive.

Installation view from the 32nd Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts, Birth as Criterion, 2017. Photo: Jaka Babnik. MGLC Archive.

 

Installation view from the 32nd Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts, Birth as Criterion, 2017. Photo: Jaka Babnik. MGLC Archive.

 
An close-up installation view of an exhibition titled Ebecho Muslimova: Fatebe Digest at David Zwirner, London, in 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova, Fatebe Theater Mural, 2021 (detail)

Ebecho Muslimova, Fatebe Theater Mural, 2021 (detail)

An installation view of an exhibition titled Ebecho Muslimova: Fatebe Digest at David Zwirner, London, in 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova, Fatebe Theater Mural, 2021 (detail)

Ebecho Muslimova, Fatebe Theater Mural, 2021 (detail)

“Throughout the history of figuration the veiled female subject has signified … the impression of something behind the veil—that there is a secret pleasure hidden, a forbidden truth.… In contrast, Fatebe occupies an overabundant, visible, spectacular, and maximal body. In ‘lifting’ this veil, she embodies a pure plentitude of unbridled presence.”

—Marie Heilich, Unrealism: New Figurative Painting

An installation view of an exhibition titled Ebecho Muslimova: Fatebe Digest at David Zwirner, London, in 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova, Fatebe Theater Mural, 2021

Ebecho Muslimova, Fatebe Theater Mural, 2021

Ebecho Muslimova in her studio, 2021. Photo by Emiliano Granado .

Ebecho Muslimova in her studio, 2021. Photo by Emiliano Granado

Ebecho Muslimova in her studio, 2021. Photo by Emiliano Granado

A mixed media artwork by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe USM Sunset, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe USM Sunset, 2021
Sumi ink and watercolor on paper
12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
Framed: 18 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches (47.6 x 40 cm)
A drawing by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Fenced, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Fenced, 2021
Sumi ink on paper
12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
Framed: 18 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches (47.6 x 40 cm)
An installation view of an exhibition titled Ebecho Muslimova: Fatebe Digest at David Zwirner, London, in 2021.

Installation view, Ebecho Muslimova: Fatebe Digest, David Zwirner, London, 2021

Installation view, Ebecho Muslimova: Fatebe Digest, David Zwirner, London, 2021

“Over the past decade much press has been given to a gendered reading of the central element in Muslimova’s work, but the varied executions, placement, and scale are also central to a total project that reflects on the ridiculousness of life and art and the ways in which one manages to physically and emotionally survive.”

—Mitchell Anderson, Flash Art

A detail from a drawing by Ebecho Muslimova titled Fatebe Mood Rattle, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova, Fatebe Mood Rattle, 2021 (detail)

Ebecho Muslimova, Fatebe Mood Rattle, 2021 (detail)

A mixed media artwork by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe A Stone Miracle, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe A Stone Miracle, 2021
Sumi ink and watercolor on paper
12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
Framed: 18 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches (47.6 x 40 cm)
A drawing by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Mood Rattle, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Mood Rattle, 2021
Sumi ink on paper
12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
Framed: 18 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches (47.6 x 40 cm)
A detail from a drawing by Ebecho Muslimova titled Fatebe 60° Anniversario, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova, Fatebe 60° Anniversario, 2021 (detail)

Ebecho Muslimova, Fatebe 60° Anniversario, 2021 (detail)

Referencing Piero Manzoni’s Merda d’artista (Artist’s Shit) (1961), Fatebe 60° Anniversario (2021) shows her commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the creation of the controversial work by the Italian conceptualist—in a celebratory but scatological display.

A mixed media artwork by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe 60° Anniversario, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe 60° Anniversario, 2021
Sumi ink, gouache, and watercolor on paper
9 x 12 inches (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
Framed: 15 3/4 x 18 3/4 inches (40 x 47.6 cm)
A detail from a drawing by Ebecho Muslimova titled Fatebe Burnt, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova, Fatebe Burnt, 2021 (detail)

Ebecho Muslimova, Fatebe Burnt, 2021 (detail)

A mixed media artwork by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Burnt, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Burnt, 2021
Sumi ink, gouache, and watercolor on paper
12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
Framed: 18 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches (47.6 x 40 cm)
A drawing by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Inner Peace, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Inner Peace, 2021
Sumi ink on paper
9 x 12 inches (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
Framed: 15 3/4 x 18 3/4 inches (40 x 47.6 cm)

“The initial impact of the character is her shamelessness, like Adam and Eve before the fall. Fatebe’s abstracted double-circled vagina and starry asshole appear across her oeuvre, not as elements of shock but as elements seen when an active body is on view, sexually or not.” 

—Mitchell Anderson, Flash Art

A detail from a drawing by Ebecho Muslimova titled Fatebe Slot, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova, Fatebe Slot, 2021 (detail)

Ebecho Muslimova, Fatebe Slot, 2021 (detail)

A mixed media artwork by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Slot, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Slot, 2021
Sumi ink and watercolor on paper
9 x 12 inches (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
Framed: 15 3/4 x 18 3/4 inches (40 x 47.6 cm)
A drawing by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Leaking Vessels, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Leaking Vessels, 2021
Sumi ink on paper
9 x 12 inches (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
Framed: 15 3/4 x 18 3/4 inches (40 x 47.6 cm)

“This is what Muslimova does best: she presents a situation where the viewer is hard put to figure out how Fatebe ended up in such circumstances. For all the shame and mortification her alter ego is subjected to, Muslimova never reveals the source (or points a finger), making what could easily be a didactic view into something bizarrely enigmatic.”

—John Yau, Hyperallergic

An installation view of an exhibition titled Ebecho Muslimova: Fatebe Digest at David Zwirner, London, in 2021.

Installation view, Ebecho Muslimova: Fatebe Digest, David Zwirner, London, 2021

Installation view, Ebecho Muslimova: Fatebe Digest, David Zwirner, London, 2021

Inquire about Works by Ebecho Muslimova

Installation view of the exhibition, Ebecho Muslimova : Fatebe Digest, at David Zwirner in London, dated 2021.
Installation view of the exhibition, Ebecho Muslimova : Fatebe Digest, at David Zwirner in London, dated 2021.
Installation view of the exhibition, Ebecho Muslimova : Fatebe Digest, at David Zwirner in London, dated 2021.
Installation view of the exhibition, Ebecho Muslimova : Fatebe Digest, at David Zwirner in London, dated 2021.
Installation view of the exhibition, Ebecho Muslimova : Fatebe Digest, at David Zwirner in London, dated 2021.
Installation view of the exhibition, Ebecho Muslimova : Fatebe Digest, at David Zwirner in London, dated 2021.
Installation view of the exhibition, Ebecho Muslimova : Fatebe Digest, at David Zwirner in London, dated 2021.
Installation view of the exhibition, Ebecho Muslimova : Fatebe Digest, at David Zwirner in London, dated 2021.
Installation view of the exhibition, Ebecho Muslimova : Fatebe Digest, at David Zwirner in London, dated 2021.
Installation view of the exhibition, Ebecho Muslimova : Fatebe Digest, at David Zwirner in London, dated 2021.
Installation view of the exhibition, Ebecho Muslimova : Fatebe Digest, at David Zwirner in London, dated 2021.
Installation view of the exhibition, Ebecho Muslimova : Fatebe Digest, at David Zwirner in London, dated 2021.
A painting by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe BTS Mechane, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe BTS Mechane, 2021
Oil on canvas
84 x 73 inches (213.4 x 185.4 cm)
A painting by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Octopus, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Octopus, 2021
Oil on canvas
72 x 63 inches (182.9 x 160 cm)
A mixed media artwork by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe USM Sunset, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe USM Sunset, 2021
Sumi ink and watercolor on paper
12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
Framed: 18 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches (47.6 x 40 cm)
A mixed media artwork by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe A Stone Miracle, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe A Stone Miracle, 2021
Sumi ink and watercolor on paper
12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
Framed: 18 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches (47.6 x 40 cm)
A drawing by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Mood Rattle, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Mood Rattle, 2021
Sumi ink on paper
12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
Framed: 18 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches (47.6 x 40 cm)
A mixed media artwork by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Between Doors, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Between Doors, 2021
Sumi ink and watercolor on paper
9 x 12 inches (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
Framed: 15 3/4 x 18 3/4 inches (40 x 47.6 cm)
A drawing by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Fenced, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Fenced, 2021
Sumi ink on paper
12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
Framed: 18 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches (47.6 x 40 cm)
A drawing by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Cooked, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Cooked, 2021
Sumi ink on paper
9 x 12 inches (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
Framed: 15 3/4 x 18 3/4 inches (40 x 47.6 cm)
A drawing by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Leaking Vessels, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Leaking Vessels, 2021
Sumi ink on paper
9 x 12 inches (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
Framed: 15 3/4 x 18 3/4 inches (40 x 47.6 cm)
A mixed media artwork by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Burnt, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Burnt, 2021
Sumi ink, gouache, and watercolor on paper
12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
Framed: 18 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches (47.6 x 40 cm)
A mixed media artwork by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Slot, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Slot, 2021
Sumi ink and watercolor on paper
9 x 12 inches (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
Framed: 15 3/4 x 18 3/4 inches (40 x 47.6 cm)
A drawing by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Inner Peace, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Inner Peace, 2021
Sumi ink on paper
9 x 12 inches (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
Framed: 15 3/4 x 18 3/4 inches (40 x 47.6 cm)
A drawing by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Regenerate, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Regenerate, 2021
Sumi ink on paper
12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
Framed: 18 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches (47.6 x 40 cm)
A mixed media artwork by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe 60° Anniversario, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe 60° Anniversario, 2021
Sumi ink, gouache, and watercolor on paper
9 x 12 inches (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
Framed: 15 3/4 x 18 3/4 inches (40 x 47.6 cm)
A drawing by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Coat Rack, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Coat Rack, 2021
Sumi ink on paper
12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
Framed: 18 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches (47.6 x 40 cm)
A mixed media artwork by Ebecho Muslimova, titled Fatebe Previz Tank, dated 2021.

Ebecho Muslimova

Fatebe Previz Tank, 2021
Sumi ink, gouache, and watercolor on paper
9 x 12 inches (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
Framed: 18 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches (47.6 x 40 cm)

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