Warehouse421 showcases two exhibitions: The Cup and The Saucer by artist Hashel Al Lakmi and curator Munira Al Sayegh, and The Stonebreakers, by curator Murtaza Vali.
The Cup and The Saucer is the first major solo exhibtion for Hashel Al Lamki, curated by Munira Al Sayegh, the exhibition explores the breadth of the notions of unity, separation, and individualism and seeks to discuss the metaphoric and momentary divorce that takes place when a cup parts from its saucer; and, how within that moment, and that movement of estrangement, a single item breaks into two. A once whole object becomes two separate individuals.
The contemporary pieces work with a wide range of mediums, from a striking variety of paintings including one that measures 10 meters by 2.75 meters in size and an installation made-up of 52 paintings as one body of work; to sculptures, video works and a sound piece. Each colorful and vibrant work complements its neighbor to form a playful compendium, inviting the viewer to explore the collective vs the individual.
The Stonebreakers, curator Murtaza Vali, focuses on ship-breaking yards in three South Asian countries: Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India. Artists Hira Nabi, Ranjit Kandalgaokar, and Shumon Ahmed converge through the mixed use of archival, photographic, acoustic, and filmic elements to create a surreal vision of these maritime landscapes, drawing inspiration from the historical and continued importance of the port cities of the Arabian Gulf.
The exhibition takes its enigmatic title from a famous mid-nineteenth-century painting by the French Realist Gustave Courbet, showing two male peasants breaking rocks. Courbet’s unflinching portrayals of the rural poor, which captured the impoverished conditions in which they lived and worked, inaugurated an important humanist tradition of social realist art.
Ranjit Kandalgaonkar, Basic Design, 21.0 x 29.7cm
The Cup and The Saucerll run until May 17, and The Stonebreakers runs until April 26.