17/3/2013
Two exhibitions
Art Sawa, Dubai
Most importantly in Anachar Basbous work is driven by his fascination with and the relationships between his sculptures and sunlight. Zena Assi: "Regardless of any analysis, judgment or speculation concerning the Arab Uprising; regardless of all the tens of thousands of pages written on the matter, debating it, endorsing or doubting it, the common man's reality remains intact.
Anachar Basbous
The universe & me
Anachar Basbous as a child preferred playing with magnetic boards to the regular modeling clay. In adulthood that preference for building-up rather than carving stayed with him. Nowhere is that clearer than in his latest body of work. Seemingly moving parts, almost floating in space create the illusion of constantly changing and dancing shapes. "I like to start from simple, pure shapes; a square, a rectangle, a disc or a lens…" he says “the shape is the beginning of my inspiration”. Most importantly his work is driven by his fascination with and the relationships between his sculptures and sunlight. His works pierce space upwards, like big astral machines in a perpetual dialogue with the sun, his sculptural works becoming pure reflection, the dialogue between nature and architecture, gravity and magnetism, the macrocosm and the microcosm, the body and the spirit, between man and the Cosmos.
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Zena Assi
Bug soldiers
Regardless of any analysis, judgment or speculation concerning the Arab Uprising; regardless of all the tens of thousands of pages written on the matter, debating it, endorsing or doubting it, the common man’s reality remains intact; the common man unwarned, unprepared, sometimes unwilling is being dragged from his regular daily job or routine and shoved into an unrehearsed, unimaginable condition … transformed into a soldier, a sniper, a killer and a victim, without any prior formulation, military training or psychological aptitude to face the horrific violence of such turbulences.
We, the outside borders' world, simply hear the news about the injured, the raped and the killed day after day... until somehow we get accustomed to the numbers of the victims, who in turn and over time are transformed inside the mind of the masses into mere numbers, their individual lives lose its usual value, they die in the hundreds, then the thousands … they take less and less space in the world media. As time passes, and with this phenomenon of no tangible reaction from the world watching from a distance, no real interference to stop the bloodshed, the human nature gets accustomed to the unfairness, the brutality, the misery and the violence ... and these men turned soldiers, start growing on their backs a fragile insect wing. A metamorphosis occurs, a slow mutation takes place and they become insignificant bug soldiers, with their numbers as their only strength.
Are we witnessing Kafka's Metamorphosis, or Golding’s Lord of the Flies? Are we observing the frightening parody of man’s return to the state of darkness from which it took him thousands of years to emerge, or is it only a transitory moment of disintegration under the pressure of raw nature?
Art Sawa realises its mission through hosting a series of innovative exhibitions, educational programs and publications reflecting current issues and practices. Offering 12,000 sq ft of state-of-the-art space, Art Sawa fosters interaction between art and the public across a wide range of media. Art Sawa is dedicated to promoting world-class contemporary art to a global and regional audience.
Opening: 18-Mar-2013 07:00 PM
Art Sawa
Al Quoz and DIFC, The Gate Village Dubai