Antonio Asis

Vibrations bandes rouges et bleues

2010

Since the 1940s, the Egyptian painter Hamed Abdalla is not only a visionary pioneer of modern art for the global south and Arab countries; he is also one of the first of his generation to envision painting as political art and activism. The current display focuses on a specific time of defeat and disillusion for a whole generation of Arab artists and intellectuals, in the aftermath of the “Six Days War” led by Israel and their allies (a war title which a lot of Arab activists consider propagandist, preferring to call it “The Defeat of 1967” or simply the “June 1967 War”). This persistent ideological wound became the symbol of failed dreams for the “Arab Nation” or Arab states alliances – including the short but emblematic Egyptian-Syrian achievement of the United Arab Republic. Another major failure, to which Abdalla will respond through the paintings on display here, is the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat program of “opening up” (Infitah) the Egyptian economy and give way to political compromise with the US and Israel – Abdalla assimilating this period to a vast state of Coma for all Arab people and territories. In a collective statement by a group of Egyptian artists exiled in Paris (including Abdalla), published in the Egyptian local journal Al-Dustur, on 5 December 1977, one can read: “This disaster is far greater than the defeat of June 1967. Rather, it approaches the scale of the disaster that took place in 1948 (…) To destroy the Arab people’s noble three decades-long struggle against imperialism and Zionism (…) Sadat is exploiting the stifling economic crisis that Egypt is currently facing (…) We must resist this betrayal of our nation or be crushed under the wheels of global imperialism for generations to come.” The works presented here reflect Abdalla’s transformation of the Hurrufiyyah aesthetics, to achieve his own way of “Arab Letterism”. It claims for a deeply experimental, non-decorative, politically committed and non-commercial use of the Arabic letter...

Painting by Ghazi Baker, Abstract art.

Painting by Ghazi Baker, Abstract art.

Painting by Ghazi Baker, Abstract art.

A multidisciplinary artist and experimental musician with synaesthesia, Jake-Andrew's practice is centred around the way the mind can perceive audio stimulus as colour, texture, shape and movement. Exploring sensory perception, Jake-Andrew documents the emotional and physical response to the relationships that exist between colour and sound, and how they can reflect the minutiae and melancholia of the human condition through gestural abstraction and introspective layering; exploring the progression of his physical practice for the digital renaissance by introducing pixel manipulation to digital gesture and occasionally physical attributes through coding. Jake-Andrew's work exists as an expressive, physical performance that allows him to create projected installation environments and immersive experiences; either on screen or in situ. Which affects the relationship that all of us have with colour and sound. Undertaken projects with Glenfiddich, Braun Audio...

Técnica mixta sobre lienzo

A multidisciplinary artist and experimental musician with synaesthesia, Jake-Andrew's practice is centred around the way the mind can perceive audio stimulus as colour, texture, shape and movement. Exploring sensory perception, Jake-Andrew documents the emotional and physical response to the relationships that exist between colour and sound, and how they can reflect the minutiae and melancholia of the human condition through gestural abstraction and introspective layering; exploring the progression of his physical practice for the digital renaissance by introducing pixel manipulation to digital gesture and occasionally physical attributes through coding. Jake-Andrew's work exists as an expressive, physical performance that allows him to create projected installation environments and immersive experiences; either on screen or in situ. Which affects the relationship that all of us have with colour and sound. Undertaken projects with Glenfiddich, Braun Audio...

Drawing inspiration from an immersive and impressionistic interpretation of nature, Canadian artist Vé Boisvert paints textural original artworks that capture the fleeting effects of...