Isolation life: 5 online art shows worth checking out
As the lockdown period continues, our digital lives are increasingly enriched with more and more exhibitions becoming available online. Here is a round-up of a few offerings worth visiting.
Let's Get Lost (Let Them Send Out Alarms) by Firouz FarmanFarmaian. Curated by Janet Rady
Screenshot from the PDF catalogue of Let’s Get Lost (Let Them Send Out Alarms) by Firouz FarmanFarmaian
Let's Get Lost (Let Them Send Out Alarms) was produced under the ongoing international lockdown and reflects on the idea of confinement, brought into the heart of the artist's own practice.
The title of the exhibition ‘‘Let's Get Lost (Let Them Send Out Alarms)” is taken from a Chet Baker track that expresses the idea of the internal voyage, where true creative freedom lies. His symbolic compositions, which convey movement and rhythm are rooted in ancient Persia but speak directly to these modern times.
In a statement, the artist said: “I here worked around a monochromatic palette reusing recuperated furniture fabric, transforming my post-tribal lost forms into new forms - in order to express sentiment of confinement. The feeling of the outside from the inside. The freedom of inner vitality so present in all Persian poetry."
The show is available on many platforms: Artsy | JRFA website | Nouvelle Vague Artspaces | Kunstmatrix VR Exhibition | Instagram
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Art On Paper, a group exhibition from Gallery One, Ramallah.
The Oil Beach Villager, 2000. Water colour and acrylic on paper, 43 × 58 cm. Image courtesy of Gallery One
This online exhibition curated by Gallery One, from Ramallah in Palestine features artworks by Abed Abdi, Benji Boyadgian, Hosni Radwan, Zohdy Qadry, Juliana Seraphim and Saleh Abu Shindi. United by the medium of paper, the show includes this watercolour landscape by Zohdy Qadry who spent much time studying in Russia and includes themes of nostaligia in his work. Other highlights include a stunning piece from 1971 by Juliana Seraphim, whose mystical and surreal compositions reveal a fascination with imagined dream-scapes and can transport viewers to another realm.
View the full exhibition on Artsy, here
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Intimaa: Belonging. NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Art Gallery, Project Space
The NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Art Gallery is offering an virtual experience of its last Project Space exhibition, Intimaa: Belonging with an online tour by Tala Nasser. The video showcases the breadth of the show, curated by Nasser Abdullah and gives an insight into the commissioned artworks as well as four poems, written in response to the art. An example of this is Saeed Al Madani’s installation about the growth of natural truffles in response to thunderstorms and Hassan Al Najjar, who wrote a poem about how external forces can shape our identity. The show is the sixth in a series of annual exhibitions organized by UAE Unlimited and is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development.
Watch the full video on Vimeo
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Artscoops Auction: Modern & Contemporary Art of the Middle East
Willy Aractingi, Les Cactus (1975). Oil on canvas. 70 x 80 cm. Signed. Image courtesy of Artscoops
Artscoops is a digital marketplace for art from the MENA region, with a focus on modern pieces particularly from Lebanon. They host regular auctions, and for this one, 10% of the buyer’s premium will be donated to the Lebanese Red Cross to help those affected by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This image is one of the star lots. Continuously inspired by fables and folklore as well as the natural world, Willy Aractinigi was born in New York in 1930, raised in Cairo and settled in Beirut. He uses bold colour and pigment, in this particular work, the cactus is symbolic of resistance and patience.
Check out the full catalogue and all lots on the Artscoops website
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Contemporary Heritage by Hazem Harb at Tabari Artspace
Hazem Harb, The Silk Line of identity, 2020. Layers of collage of archival Fine Art C-P photography on MDF wood. Diptych. Courtesy of Tabari Artspace.
This major new solo show by Hazem Harb since 2015 brings together a new body of work within which he observes the notion of heritage as unfixed and fluid. A Palestinian from Gaza, who lives between Rome and Dubai, he is a first-hand witness of the layered nature of heritage and colonial discourse and his work consistently investigates the Palestinian people and their collective and subjective narratives. This show includes new collage pieces and also a collection of works from 2018.
View the virtual reality tour here, a link can also be found on the Tabari Artspace site