Sadik Alfraji
dal 13/3/2013 al 26/4/2013
Segnalato da
13/3/2013
Sadik Alfraji
Ayyam Gallery, London
I Do Not Feel That I Am Free. The viewer can easily recognise the shape of a human figure taking shape from bold swathes of black. Despite the impression of a uniform application of colour from a distance, upon closer inspection delicate layers of Indian ink and charcoal become apparent.
‘I do not paint out of luxury, and do not seek beauty; I paint as an attempt to
reason with the world and myself.’
Sadik Alfraji
Ayyam Gallery is pleased to announce the solo exhibition, I Do Not Feel That I
Am Free, by Iraqi artist Sadik Alfraji from 14 March - 27 April 2013. The second
exhibition at the newly inaugurated Ayyam Gallery London, this show marks the
first time Alfraji has exhibited in the United Kingdom and will feature new works
including paintings, drawings and the video installation Godot to Come Yesterday
(2013).
Alfraji describes his work as “dealing with the problem of existence”. He confronts
the viewer with solitary figures depicted in profile and set against stark
backgrounds. These simple forms possess a quiet sadness and sense of
isolation; through them, he is able to undergo a cathartic process and address
his own displacement from his native Iraq.
Alfraji admits that the changing face of his homeland has informed his practice
and continues to do so. Since the American invasion in 2003, both his and global
perceptions and beliefs have changed irreparably. This was a conflict that for
much of the world was experienced through a television screen with many of the
people directly involved becoming anonymous shadows, reduced to a series of
statistics of casualties and conflict.
At the core of his work, Alfraji is intrigued by the idea that as humans we are
endlessly waiting for something meaningless and futile. This is perhaps most
evident in the video Godot to Come Yesterday, which sees two textured grey
figures moving and interacting against a black void-like backdrop in a
reconstructed vision of Samuel Beckett’s famous absurdist play, Waiting for
Godot (1952). In Beckett’s play, two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait in
vain for the arrival of a third character named Godot, attempting to distract
themselves through various activities and conversations.
In Alfraji’s compositions, the viewer can easily recognise the shape of a human
figure taking shape from bold swathes of black. Despite the impression of a
uniform application of colour from a distance, upon closer inspection delicate
layers of Indian ink and charcoal become apparent.
The layering gives the
figures an intensity and denseness, making them all the more distinct from their
often completely white backdrops. When speaking of his monochrome palette,
Afraji refers to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave; that perhaps we are all watching the
world as shadows, and as a result our perception of what is real has been limited
– and never more so than during a bloody war.
The simplified forms in his works are often punctuated with strikingly detailed
elements – a hand lined by the years, or a pensive eye gazing out at the viewer.
These details lift Alfraji’s characters out of the two-dimensional realm and
breathe life into them, transforming them from an anonymous shadow into a
being seeking a human connection.
Born 1960 in Baghdad, Sadik Alfraji lives and works in Amersfoort, The
Netherlands. His work is housed in numerous private and public collections
including The National Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad; The Art Center,
Baghdad; Royal Association of Fine Arts Amman; Shoman Foundation Amman;
French Cultural Center, Amman; Novosibirsk State Art Museum, Russia; and the
Cluj-Napoca Art Museum, Romania. Solo shows include Ayyam Gallery DIFC,
Dubai (2011); Ayyam Gallery Damascus (2011); Stads Gallery, Amersfoort,
Netherlands (2010); Station Museum, Houston (2008-9); Stedelijk Museum, Den
Bosch (2007-8). Selected group exhibitions include Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
(2012); Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art, Qatar (2010-11); CBKU & Centeaal
Museum, New Salon, Utrecht (2008).
About Ayyam Gallery
Founded by collectors and cousins Khaled and Hisham Samawi in Damascus in
2006, Ayyam Gallery sought to nurture Syria’s burgeoning and dynamic
contemporary art scene through landmark non-profit initiatives such as the
Shabab Ayyam Project, an incubator for emerging artists. Expansion into Beirut
and Dubai enabled Ayyam Gallery to broaden its scope from the promotion of
work by Syrian artists to those from the wider Middle East region. In doing so,
Ayyam Gallery has established itself as one of the foremost exponents of Middle
Eastern contemporary art to the international community.
Today, Ayyam Gallery is recognised as a leading cultural voice in the region,
representing a roster of Arab and Iranian artists with an international profile and
museum presence, such as Nadim Karam, Safwan Dahoul, Samia Halaby, Sadik
Alfraji, Afshin Pirhashemi and Khaled Takreti.
A number of non-commercial
exhibitions, as well as the launch of Ayyam Publishing, Ayyam Editions, and The
Young Collectors Auction, have further succeeded in showcasing the work of
Middle Eastern artists with the aim of educating a wider audience about the art of
this significant region. Ayyam Gallery Damascus currently functions as a studio
and creative haven for artists who remain in the war-torn city. In January 2013,
Ayyam Gallery launched a new space in London, with a second to open in
Jeddah in late-February.
Press Information
Toby Kidd and Amy Sutcliffe at Pelham Communications
Tel: +44 (0) 208 969 3959
E: toby@pelhamcommunications.com or amys@pelhamcommunications.com
Preview: 14 March 2013, 6-8pm
Ayyam Gallery
143 New Bond Street, London
Hours: Monday to Saturday
10 am to 6 pm
Free Admission