Agenda

The exhibition focuses on Albanian socialist realism through painting, poster and drawings, and it offers a selection of artworks produced under the dictatorship that aimed to spread socialism’s main principles among the proletarian.

Curated by Artan Shabani, the exhibition investigates the impact of the communist ideology on Albanian visual arts during the second half of the 20th century. The selected artworks reflect the ideology that played an important role in the works’ dogmatic content. The exhibition offers an opportunity to become familiar with the culture and identity of Albanian people who had been isolated from the rest of the world for a long time, and centers around the daily life, working class, portraits of leadership, representations of the regime and a hopeful approach to upcoming generations.

Courtesy of Pera Museum.

A riot of flowers with jarring colours and harsh angles dominates the forefront, at other times they take a backstage to blue, green, and grey hues, depending on the time of the year or the day the scenes were observed.

Surprisingly, Silent Garden was not inspired during the COVID-19 pandemic when isolation became central to humans, and when people started looking inwards for refuge. The series is the result of a few years’ work, simulating the artist’s life and stemming from his own sense of isolation. “I feel that I’m stranger on so many levels, especially on the political level, like everyone else. I have no say in issues that affect my life and existence on this land, and as time passes, I feel more helpless and isolated.” Frustrated and unable to make a change or blend in, Bashar Alhroub made his garden with its exotic plants the center of his attention not only by attending to it but also by painting the new blossoming flowers, the various plants, and the diverse combination of colors throughout the seasons. Using acrylic and coal on canvas, Bashar produced a set of artworks that has roots in impressionism, reminding us of works by Monet and Rousseau.

We can see similarities between the flowers, exotic in nature, and the alienation that the artist feels as he tries to adapt to his surroundings. Looking at the perspective of the paintings, we see these similarities when the artist places himself on par with the plants in the visual sense. In front of the big canvas, we are overwhelmed with the dominant tall plants and can sense a conversation between them and the artist, as if the plants have turned into his intimate soul mates.

Ultimately, Bashar’s Silent Garden transforms into a healing escape rather than a physical reality. It becomes a sanctuary that provides therapy to the stranger in Bashar’s soul, bringing about the peace and tranquility that he strives for in pursuit of his inner reality away from the outside world.

A secret garden can only be accessed through a secret door, and in this exhibition, Bashar opens the door, letting us into his secret wordless world, revealing the intimate, secluded personal journey of the past few years.

Courtesy of Zawyeh Gallery

Gods of the Frontier by Clara Carvajal, will be on view from September 24 to November 26. The exhibition delves deep into Lebanon’s visual memory through the archives of three important photography collections from that country.

During the first quarter of 2019, Clara Carvajal investigated the photographic archives of three important photography collections in Beirut: the Arab Image Foundation, the archives of the newspaper An-Nahar and the collection of photographer Emile Boulos Divers. The project, rather than focusing on major themes like the war and historical events in Lebanon, attempts to explore the way in which the country’s society has been portrayed since it gained independence from France in the 1940’s, and up to the time when the civil war broke out in 1975.

The photographic images that have been selected contain portraits of individuals and may be examined through a symbolic lens based on the social archetypes they represent at a historical moment within the country’s society. Through these images, Clara Carvajal has created a collection of wood engravings that she uses to delve deeper into her iconography, along with a publication that describes the key parts of the process she has sought to follow. She thus reveals what the images show beyond their own formalism. This publication was created with the cooperation of Teo Millán, in terms of authoring the texts, and Clara Sancho, who created the design and layout.

Each of these images is the object-subject on which an analysis of the imaginary of the country’s collective identity is based. Individuals who take on revealing poses in the photographer’s presence, whose intentionality both consciously and unconsciously bears witness to the world which they inhabit, in the way that they interpret it: the happy girl surrounded by her family, the sensual couple in love strolling by the sea, the male body as a divine icon, the father proud of his child, the savior, the caregiver, and so on.

Courtesy of Casa Árabe.

Carbon 12 is delighted to announce Philip Mueller’s solo exhibition.

In the summer of 2017, the notorious Black Flamingo Sad Boys emerged from dark, woodsy pastures, to abandon the confines of their Alpine environment for the bleached sand and enticing turquoise pools of former prison-island, Santo Stefano. All inhibition was relinquished, and a seemingly endless summer was birthed in the ruminations of Philip Mueller (b.1988, Austria) where the gang established a new haven in the anti-beach resort, Beach Resort Tiberio. Knowing no home nor respite, the gang saw fit to indulge their hedonistic desires at their seemingly newfound paradise – from racing 60’s, 70’s and 80’s cult car classics, to retiring to the languorous way of life the anti-beach resort implores.

As creator of his intricate universe, Philip Mueller conceives a timely conclusion to the resort series in The Last Days of Soft Machine. Enveloped in dense greenery, every corner of the island is alight. Glasses clink sharply against one another, held up high to commemorate the end of Beach Resort Tiberio, wherein Mueller’s new paintings delineate the detrimental culmination of the Black Flamingo Sad Boys’ exhaustive lifestyle of excess, in the event of one last great celebration.

In a culture consumed by the futile pursuit of countless, short-lived pleasures, Mueller derives elements from Russian Decadence to portray overindulgent habits of the resort’s inhabitants. Influences of 19th century Romanticism pervade Mueller’s overarching body of work; from earlier depictions of lush forests and wooden cabins, to cinematic stills of smooth-edged Sardinian rocks surrounded by sweeping planes of blue sky and sea, and derelict architectural spaces of the former prison, bleached white under the heat of the sun.

Across a vast, sweeping panorama of the cacophonous celebration, we are made witness to a party occurring in slow motion and all at once. Mueller shines a harsh light on a drastic undoing of the “soft machine” – the own human body, as alluded to within William Burroughs’ novel – and like atrophy to fragile anatomy, follows its spiralling descent towards ruination. Undulating intervals of contemplation, throbbing chaos, and all that remains in between, are fleshed out within the paintings of Philip Mueller.

Akin to the nature of a nearly incomprehensible fever dream; fast, yet excruciatingly detailed – Mueller employs and accentuates rich, picturesque imagery with a heavily injected use of saturated color, to elucidate the stark contrast between grandiose illusions of opulence and their very transience. Fleeting impressions of beauty in representations of classical sculpture and idyllic sceneries are juxtaposed with acts of violence and vandalism. “Nothing can be holy that is human built,” are words as spoken by the artist.

After a screeching halt comes silence. Tarnished helmets and car debris lie still in the wake of a new era. In the stillness of the aftermath, as the dust begins to settle from the debris of a lotus-eating culture, the inevitable question of what lies beyond appears: What is next in store for the Black Flamingo Sad Boys?

Courtesy of Carbon 12.

In this latest installment of the ongoing series of exhibitions focused on printmaking in the Arab world, Meem Gallery presents over 40 editioned works created by Marwan between 1967 and 1999.

Internationally celebrated as a master painter, Marwan (1934-2016) also engaged in a less well known but equally accomplished printmaking practice throughout his career. Born in Damascus in 1934, the artist permanently moved to Berlin in 1957 where his exposure to Art Informel and the German Neo Expressionist movements led to the development of his highly distinctive style.

Installing a French printing press in his studio, Marwan’s printmaking developed simultaneously with his painting practice. Masterfully harnessing the complex chemistry and technical processes associated with the medium of etching, the artist skillfully incorporated his signature painterly effects into his printed works.

The earliest works in this exhibition demonstrate Marwan’s initial focus on the human body. Monochromatic studies of stylised, contorted figures, including Der Unverdeckte, a set of six etchings made in 1969, undoubtedly demonstrate the influence of the New Figuration movement on the young artist. The 1970s saw Marwan increasingly focus on the head/ face, soon becoming the subject matter that he would become most renowned for, as evidenced in the many works in this exhibition. Revealing rich topographies of spontaneous, raw expression, these works, generally referred to as the artist’s Kopf or ‘face’ landscapes, poignantly manifest the varied experiences of the joys and hardships of life by utilising the rich contours of the human face.

Notable developments in themes, techniques and use of colour can be witnessed in the artist’s work during a year spent in Paris, in 1973. Marwan’s faces started to transform, gaining new depths from the increased emphasis of wrinkles and crevices. Vivid colours accentuate the works, lending a heightened vibrancy to his characterful subjects.

Besides Marwan’s well-known figures and faces, this exhibition also presents several rare examples of his still lifes. Tables laden with fruit and crockery are rendered in the same sketchy, expressionistic manner as his human subjects, similarly transforming the banal subject matter into complex existential studies.

Brought together for the first time, and created in parallel with his paintings, the works in this exhibition not only showcase the prolific scope of Marwan’s little-known printmaking practice, but additionally display his mastery of the notoriously complex process of etching.

Courtesy of Meem Gallery

In tribute to the Lebanese people and with deep compassion, Ayyam Gallery is pleased to present To Beirut…, a charity exhibition featuring, Ammar Abd Rabbo’s latest photographs from August fourth’s tragedy. Together with the artist’s generosity, we are donating 75% of the proceeds to Beit El Baraka’s mission to rebuild and help the vulnerable.

Artist statement

Throughout my career as a photojournalist, I’ve faced difficult and emotional moments. Whether it be shots of torn families, besieged cities, or destroyed homes, it was never my neighborhood. For the first time, the atrocity and destruction took place in a very familiar environment. Of course, I felt compelled to capture what was going on.

In just a few seconds, friends were lost, families were separated, people were wounded, and not to mention the material devastation. We all bear scars from August Fourth. Fortunately, I wasn’t in Lebanon during the blast. I can only empathize with the shock everyone lived through and survived. I made sure to take the next flight into Beirut.

Here is a selection of the scenes and moments I captured; trying to mask the explosion, I avoided shots of the injured and vulnerable. The large scale shots not only show the immensity of the catastrophe but are also abstracting the situation. Creating incredible images straight out of Sci-Fi movies such as ‘Mad Max’ and ‘Planet of the Apes.’ I just wish those were also fiction rather than Beirut’s reality.
I believe photographs remain when people separate, dictators fly away, loved ones leave, images are witnesses. They are a constant reminder of the past, a reality we cannot deny, an issue we have to address.

We cannot hide moments we’ve witnessed.
Dearest Beirut, I wholeheartedly hope for all your wounds to heal, all scars to fade, all houses to be rebuilt, all businesses to revive, and that from this tragedy, only these photographs remain.

To Beirut, with Love…
Ammar Abd Rabbo

Courtesy of Ayyam Gallery

Zawyeh Gallery is pleased to announce the solo exhibition of contemporary young Palestinian artist Ruba Salameh, titled Tensegrity at the gallery new permanent location at Alserkal Avenue in Dubai. Opening on 17 October 2020, the exhibition explores tension between a set of geometrical shapes and hordes of ants taking over the aesthetically pleasing canvas. In this exhibition Salameh breaks the rules or rather breaks free from the authority of the art form. She builds concrete structures of abstract arrangements compromised of geometrical shapes using cold pastel acrylic colours and distributing the shapes carefully and minimally on the canvas. Yet, this monotonous harmony is disrupted suddenly and in a rather unexpected way. Salameh discretely introduces hordes of small chaotic ants crawling about in curiosity, assembling around the shapes as if trying to jointly carry them away. They gather in the corners as if stuck in search for their nest or are scattering around in conflicting paths.

The artworks bring to mind the notion of resilience of an indigenous population in a situation where their own living space diminishes continuously as a result of an incessant expanding domination by colonial powers. Slowly and discretely, the indigenous population motions transform into a form of disruption in a challenge to the supremacy of the dominant power. Taking all health and safety measures, Ziad Anani, Director of Zawyeh Gallery, expects audiences to be able to attend and enjoy this unique art exhibition, a first of its kind at Alserkal Avenue for a young emerging Palestinian artist especially that this is the first exhibition at the new permanent location of the gallery at Alserkal Avenue.

Courtesy of Zawyeh Gallery.

For their forthcoming exhibition, Toys and Trophies: From Zeus’ Pandora to Barbie Doll Lebanese painter, Tagreed Darghouth has produced a fresh body of work that began eight months ago and came to completion during the aftermath of the explosion, in Beirut’s port – her studio, located in Mar Mykel, was completely destroyed. This exhibition, then, comes at a moment of heightened pain and need that flows from Lebanon and cries out through Dargouth’s art. As a gallery that has always worked with and propelled Middle Eastern artists, representing several form Lebanon, the recent trauma that ensued from the explosion has shaken and saddened our community their team. they aim to use their platform to support and show solidarity wherever possible, as such, 10% of proceeds from the sales of works included in this exhibition will be donated to the Lebanese Red Cross.

The selected works aim to probe the socially constructed reality of feminine beauty and its relation to the male gaze in contemporary, neoliberal society. Working with acrylic on canvas the artist continues her unabashed social commentary, reflecting upon what she encounters on the streets of Beirut and beyond in the cybersphere where international mass media and social media platforms continue to shape and reinforce limiting and dominant visions of gender.

Darghouth, who regularly connects far-flung influences from literature, philosophy and music to her personal experiences in the modern world now turns to Greek mythology as her point of departure. Pandora was the fabled first woman to be constructed in ancient Greek society and unleashed with unrivalled physical beauty and immense sexual allure. The artist, probes the fabricated nature and superficiality of Pandora, a woman over whom Aphrodite ‘spilled grace’ and whose destiny was to become “an evil men will love to embrace”. Conflating the classical with the contemporary throughout this body of work; Pandora, Darghouth reasons, is a myth but so too is the Barbie doll. Barbie’s plastic physique has become a modern icon associated with pre-packaged western gender expectations and superficiality.

The selected works see Dargouth’s paintbrush activate and amplify the constructed nature of human fictions and the fetishised status of femininity. Skulls, which have featured regularly in the artist’s output since 2010, are included here refer back to her preoccupation with the notion of ‘Memento mori’ and feel all the more poignant now given the backdrop and context of this exhibition. Dargouth also interrogates the frail and fair frame of the Barbie doll, the unquestioned and iconised beauty of Venus and Aphrodite, glossed lips, the human torso and mannequin dummies which exist to be draped. Through prominent, layered brushstrokes and swift flicks of the wrist the artist engages in her own form of seduction as she pushes the viewer to consider her subjects anew.

On Toys and Trophies: From Zeus’ Pandora to Barbie Doll, Tagreed Darghouth Says: “The thin and fair doll became a cultural icon in America and around the world. Selling over 58 million pieces per year, the plastic silhouette became both women’s ultimate ambition and men’s trophy fantasy. Aided by mass media, product slogans, gender stereotypes, female objectification, plastic surgery and social media photo filters the “Pandora’s box” of capitalism released, with the Barbie Doll, its unattainable standards of beauty and perfection. Those standards have since become central to women’s identity and men’s status. In other words it “spilled grace” over a doll’s head to become the toy all little girls want to have, the body all women desire to achieve, and the fantasy all men love to embrace.”

Courtesy of Tabari Artspace.

Fann A Porter Amman and artmejo are pleased to present Spaces, a collective exhibition featuring the works of artists Laila Taweel, Lina Khaled, Sama Shahrouri, Tawfiq Dawi, and Zeina Salameh, on view from 20 October to 20 November at Manara Arts & Culture, Amman.

The realm of spatial existence carries possibilities of multiple conceptual realities. Of these, our select young artists each focused on a singular ecosystem to examine thoroughly. Separated by geography, personal values and mediums, the full body of presented work examines various realities of Space.

The coming collection highlights various forms of art, from photography to sculpture and installation art. The young artists seem to be dwelling in thought over a brief encounter with a lifechanging event or the memories it rippled.

Personal, Actual, Open, Safe and Mental spaces are studied in the coming works. On their own, each collection by the artists showcases a single conceptual reality, but together they formulate a whole greater than the sum of its part.

Courtesy of Fann A Porter.

In the wake of the terrible explosion that extensively harmed the city centre and harbour area of Beirut, Lebanon, Opera Gallery wishes to give back and participate to the reconstruction of this beloved city.

Notwithstanding the severe damage sustained by the gallery space, Opera Gallery Beirut takes a stand as active contributor to rebuilding the city. Convinced that appreciating art and beauty is a matter of Love, Opera Gallery wants to give love back.

All proceedings of this show will be donated to four prominent Lebanese NGOs: Arc-en-Ciel, Caritas, Beb w Shebbek and Offre Joie.

Courtesy of Opera Gallery Beirut.

This season Christie’s presents a charity sale, We Are All Beirut dedicated to relieving the arts community following the devastating explosion this August. Offering a unique selection across art, design and jewelry sourced from our international and Middle Eastern teams, the auction and related programming seeks to unite the regional arts community through this noble cause.

Sale proceeds will benefit Arab Fund Arts & Culture (AFAC) a trusted NGO, to directly assist the arts community in Beirut with additional proceeds given to the Red Cross from a section of the sale which was sourced by a trusted partnership with a Beirut based arts entity.

AFAC will be pooling the resources towards redistributing financial support across all artistic fields, specifically targeting the arts scene in Beirut. Institutions such as the Sursock Museum and local galleries that suffered extensive damage will receive these proceeds, both in terms of repairing structural damages and via rehabilitation programmes that AFAC launched after the explosion.

As part of this charitable initiative, Christie’s is collaborating with strong Beirut based design and production companies. A dedicated e-catalogue will be designed by MFB Studio along with a dedicated video produced by Boo Productions to highlight key cultural figures’ generous support of this initiative.

Courtesy of Christie’s.

Christie’s is delighted to present masterpieces of unsurpassed quality by John Frederick Lewis, Gustav Bauernfeind and Jean-Léon Gérôme in the upcoming dedicated sale of Orientalist Art.

Lewis’ 1872 depiction of Cairo’s Bezestein Bazaar of El Khan Khalil is an exciting composition, filled with life and energy, and a true reflection of the bazaar through the eyes of arguably the greatest British Orientalist artist. The impressive scale of the painting has not compromised the artist’s intense dedication to detail, bringing an unrivalled verisimilitude to the painting. On 9 April 1889 Gustave Bauernfeind’s diary describes how he had a chance encounter with the warden of the mosque on his exploration of the city of Damascus, which would form the basis of this very detailed and rare glimpse into the sacred Sinan Pasha Mosque. The painting is characterised by the artist’s very accomplished use of colour and light, which transports the spectator and shares a view into a place and culture unknown to many in its time. Jean-Léon Gérôme’s intensely powerful Un Chef Bachi-Bouzouk, painted when the artist was at the height of his powers, depicts a chieftain of a group the artist prized as a subject for their unabashed masculinity and the individuality and colourfulness of their costumes.

Christie’s Orientalist Art auction encompasses a wide variety of works which form an artistic dialogue between cultures. A variety of mediums – from paintings and works-on-paper to sculpture– show a tremendous variety of creative output inspired by the travels of Western artists to the Middle East. Highlights also include works by famed artists such as Carl Haag, Frederick Arthur Bridgman and Rudolf Ernst. They each draw on their experiences to offer unique insights into daily life in the Middle East in the 19th Century.

A preview of the sale will be on view from Sunday, 25th October to Wednesday, 28th October.

Courtesy of Christie’s.