Tony Khawam
Pink Dancers
2021

About the Item

An interior view from a modern Miami condo with exterior flattened shapes, reflected glass façade creates a fractured abstracted surface overlooking South Beach. Inspired by the fauve art movement painted in a Florida vivid color and lush green with the Ultramarine blue and flesh tone for the dancers, painting on the wall is a tribute to Matisse, the father of fauve art with his mastery forms, color, and loose style. The creation of a new lexicon of contemporary social commentary, intentionally borrowing and sharing images that were local to my art learning experience as a way of breaking apart conventional notions of ownership as it relates to American culture. Khawam's Prosperity series, I wanted to flip the narrative upside-down opposite of the 'Chaos' series by examining prosperity through a lens of bird-eye views of the intracoastal waterway with homes and roads alone Ocean Drive in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, and Palm Beach. The aerial views are recorded by a Drone and painted freehand on canvases to capture the essence of Florida's architecture and lifestyle with the American dream in-mind. The perpendicular urban views gave me the freedom to work on a painting from all four sides, no matter how I turn the painting to reveal almost the same visual result. The focus is on the waterfront luxury homes, swimming pools, boats, yachts, and cars to form a network of geometric semi-abstracted shapes. I wanted to make paintings that were a celebration and that revealed something and obscured something at the same time, I have so many conflicting ideas, and a series is a great way to jump in and out of something. Also, they are a battle with the idea of mortality and hope to capture life through South Florida's lush greens, sky and ocean blues. I wanted to forget the Pandemic in my studio and be a child again like walking after school into a sweet shop full of colors of fruit and flowers and painted shapes accentuated by ultramarine blue shadows especially of Palm trees that define the South Florida's landscape, and that once I started it was just a process of bringing them all into the world how I imagined them. Certificate of authenticity will be sent with the painting.

Creator:

Tony Khawam (1959, American)

Creation Year:

2021

Dimensions:

Height: 32 in (81.28 cm)Width: 40 in (101.6 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)

Medium:

Acrylic

Movement & Style:

Pop Art

Period:

2010-

Condition:

Gallery Location:

West Palm Beach, FL

Reference Number:

1stDibs: LU1970213226702

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Tony Khawam born in Aleppo, lives and works in South Florida, USA. Khawam received a BFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York, NY (1985) and a Master in Commercial Art from Montclair State University, NJ (1987). He is deeply rooted in his Middle Eastern heritage and the American experience through histories, current events, and the surrounding urban landscape with influences of post-war German and American art. His heritage paintings are formed by ideas about today’s socio-cultural issues such as social disruption, displacement, and immigration, intertwined with the American culture. Khawam has been exhibited nationally in galleries and museums and a recipient of recent awards including the “Artist Support Cultural Grant” Broward County Cultural Division, FL (2021/22); the “American Rescue Cultural Grant” National Endowment for the Arts through Florida Division of Arts & Culture (2021); “Individual Artist Award, Specific Cultural Project”, Florida Division of Cultural Affairs (2021); the “Creative Investment Program Award” Broward County Cultural Division, FL (2020). He is a panelist for Grant programs and public art appointed by the Broward County Cultural Division, Fort Lauderdale, FL, and a participant in numerous workshops including “Artists at the Community Development Table” Americans For the Arts (2019); and the “Artist as an Entrepreneur Institute” Broward County Division of Culture, Fort Lauderdale, FL (2019). Khawam’s work is included in numerous museums, private and public collections throughout the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East. He has given “Artist talk” and participated as a panelist at several art institutions. Khawam has been interviewed by and published in Sky News Arabia, Boca Raton Magazine; Miami Shoutout Magazine; WLRN Public Media, Miami PBS-NPR; Palm Beach Illustrated; Aventura Magazine; Lifestyle Media Group; News Break Michigan (9/2020); Brooklyn reporter News (10/2019); Artrepreneur Media (9/2019); Voyage Miami Magazine (1/2018); NJ Savy Living magazine, NJ (5/2000); The New York Times, NY (7/1998), to name few.