LONDON.- The new additional space on the lower ground floor of the gallery will present projects and exhibitions that will diversify and broaden the gallery programme.

The first exhibition in this new space will be of works by Indian artist Nasreen Mohamedi, opening on Tuesday 12 October 2010.

Born in Karachi in 1937 and raised in Mumbai (then Bombay), Mohamedi was a key component in India in the decades after independence in 1947; she is now belatedly finding her place within the Modernist canon. Trained in London and widely travelled, Mohamedi is known for her singular body of precise drawings, composed of straight black lines ruled over grey, cell-like grids of graph paper, frequently articulated by intertwining planes and grids. Her output is often compared to Agnes Martin: in particular their shared interest in the tension arising from the meeting of a formal compositional structure with the natural fluctuations of mark that come from drawing with hand.

Nasreen Mohamedi died of Parkinson’s disease in 1990 in Kihim, India. During her lifetime her work was exhibited in the Third Triennial in New Delhi in 1975 and Artists Indiens en France at the Centre National de Arts Plastique in Paris in 1985. Her work has since been exhibited in solo exhibitions at Kunsthalle Basel, Basel (2010); Milton Keynes Gallery, Milton Keynes (2009); Office for Contemporary Art Norway, Oslo (2009); and in exhibitions at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2004), and the Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis (2003). Mohamedi’s work is to be included in a forthcoming exhibition at MOMA, New York. The extended gallery space marks the end to a series of renovations by David Kohn Architects.

Opening the same evening in the ground floor galleries of Modern Art on 12 October will be Bojan Šarčević’s first solo show in London, and first exhibition with the gallery.

Born in Belgrade in 1974, and currently living and working in Berlin, Šarčević will be presenting a new body of work, including a monolithic sculpture carved from a massive, single block of Iranian onyx, and smaller sculptural works made from steel together with a series of accompanying photographs.

Šarčević’s recent solo institutional exhibitions include Eventuellement, Le Grand Café Centre d’art Contemporain, St Nazaire (2010); Involuntary Twitch, de Vleeshal, Middelburg (2010); Only After Dark, Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg (2008); Already Vanishing, MAMBO, Bologna (2008); Kissing the back of your hand sounds like a wounded bird, Bawag Foundation, Vienna (2008); To what extent should an artist understand the implications of his or her findings?, Project Arts Centre, Dublin (2006); and Cover Versions, Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, Amsterdam (2001). Bojan Šarčević’s work was included in the 50th Venice Biennale (2003), the 3rd Berlin Biennial (2004); and Manifesta 2, Luxembourg (1998). His work has been included in museum exhibitions at Tate, St. Ives (2009); Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna (2009); ZKM, Karlsruhe (2008); Kunstmuseum Bonn (2006); Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2005); Centre Cultural Andratx, Mallorca (2005); Tate Modern, London (2004); New Museum, New York (2004); Modern Art Oxford, Oxford (2004); Witte de With, Rotterdam (2004).