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Ayyam Gallery is pleased to present Nothing is Certain, Everything is Melting, and that’s Okay, a solo exhibition featuring Athier’s latest body of work.

Please join us in the presence of the artist at the opening reception on 20 January from 7 - 9 pm.

About the show

In a departure from the geometric forms and bold colours that have become a trademark of the British Iraqi painter, this current series created in and of his studio in an industrial suburb of Paris, explore the changing state between order and disorder: attempting to capture compositions that balance and eventually melt harmoniously in their state of transition. This shift can be seen as Athier’s expression of surrender towards uncertainty. 

Nothing is Certain, Everything is Melting, and that’s Okay, explores space through carefully curated compositions in which Athier places geometric blocks, marble slabs and other forms in a milieu he’s partially designed and partially imagined. There is no hierarchy of form. These objects exist in a world that has no mass or gravity, a world that is light in restrictions. 

 All these objects seem to melt into the unknown, portraying a sense of dreamlike uncertainty. And that’s okay.

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Works preview 

Ayyam Gallery is pleased to present Liaisons, a solo exhibition featuring Kais Salman's works. The selection spotlights an important body of work from 2012 to his most recent canvases.

About the exhibition

Continuously challenging notions of beauty, Kais is known for his bold and expressionist exploration of the human subject, society, and the collective. The artist critiques humanity's vanity, materialism, dependencies, and social norms through various compositions.

Kais' disfigured, nearly nude anti-heroes and heroines are placed vulnerable facing the viewers' gaze; the characters are left objectified and questioned. The selection of works chosen for this exhibition highlights relationships or the lack thereof between the characters. Kais illustrates a type of disconnect between the characters, implicitly recreating society's cliques, rivalries, and complex liaisons.

In some paintings, the characters' poses, stances, and costumes create a hierarchy. While some of the avatars are grouped and paired, others are left alone and alienated from any connection. The figures each take independent roles, playing a part in the collective consciousness. The artist's new work, on the other hand, differs in composition, creating a different narrative, one of unison and blurred lines, the figures overlap with space.

These associations link in the ideas of greed, and most importantly, ideological extremism embedded in contemporary communities. Kais's usual expressionism is paired with realism, and beacons of symbolism spread across the paintings.

About the Artist 

Embarking on a different path than that of his contemporaries and predecessors, Kais Salman's work has been described as monochromatic, abstract expressionism. The artist uses satire to subvert the normalisation of greed, narcissism, and ideological extremism that is rapidly defining our era. As one of Syria's foremost expressionist painters, Salman has contributed to a decades-long artistic tradition that continues to serve as a powerful outlet for social commentary. A consummate formalist, he is recognised as one of the Arab world's most accomplished painters.

Since the early 2000s, Salman has sought to reflect the psychological violence that occurs when excess becomes rationalised and accepted by societies. Seeking to confront and exorcise sociocultural manifestations of depravity, Salman unearths a world of ugliness and abjection through intentionally hyperbolised imagery accentuated by punches of colour and aestheticised forms. Political corruption, terrorism, consumerism, cosmetic surgery, religious fanaticism, imperialism, and the voyeurism of the digital age have all served as topics of Salman's carnivalesque compositions.

Born in Tartous, Syria in 1976, Salman lives and works in Beirut. He received a Bachelor of Art from the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Damascus in 2002, where he trained with leading painters such as Safwan Dahoul. Salman's paintings are housed in collections throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. Salman has been featured in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, among other international publications, and was listed for the second time in Arabian Business 100 Most Powerful Arabs Under 40 in 2016.

Solo and group exhibitions for the artist include the Ayyam Gallery Beirut (2018, 2015, 2014, 2012); Ayyam Gallery Al Quoz, Dubai (2017, 2014, 2011, 2010); Alexandria Biennale (2014); Ayyam Gallery DIFC, Dubai (2014, 2010); Damascus Museum of Modern Art (2009); The Park Avenue Armory, New York (2008); and Carthage Festival for Coast Mediterranean Sea Artists, Tunisia (2005).(2012).

About Ayyam Gallery

Founded in 2006, Ayyam Gallery is a leading arts organization that manages the careers of diverse established and emerging artists. Blue-chip art space in Dubai, a series of collaborative projects in the United States, Europe, Africa, and Asia, and a multinational non-profit arts program have furthered the gallery's mandate of expanding the parameters of international art. With its widely respected multilingual publishing division and a custodianship program that manages the estates of pioneering artists, Ayyam Gallery has also contributed to recent efforts that document underrepresented facets of global art history.

Exhibition Facts

Exhibitions Dates: 21 November 2020 - 5 January 2021
Regular Hours: Sun - Thur : 10 am - 6 pm
Opening day: Saturday 21 November 2020

Ayyam Gallery is pleased to announce its participating in Abu Dhabi Art's virtual 2020 edition.  The Trajectory, is a collective representation featuring works by Rula Halawani, Sadik Kwaish Alfraji, Safwan Dahoul, and Sama Alshaibi.

About the booth

The works chosen for this edition of Abu Dhabi Art express identity's continuity through strong ties with the past. Sama and Rula integrate old photographs and photographic techniques in their new projects, which hone on identity, and displacement.

In 'For You Mother', Rula uses archival photographs of Palestinian families and collages them on landscape photographs she's taken; meanwhile, in 'Carry Over', Sama critiques the way orientalist photographers depicted the Middle Eastern woman by mimicking their patterns and techniques.

Safwan and Sadik, on the other hand, have worked through identity's longevity their whole careers through their own narrative and protagonists.

About the artists

Embarking on a different path than that of his contemporaries and predecessors, Kais Salman's work has Sadik Kwaish Alfraji explores what he describes as 'the problem of existence' through drawings, paintings, video animations, art books, graphic art, and installations. The shadowy protagonist who often appears in Alfraji's multimedia works represents a black void, a filter that allows him to explore the intricacies of life. By rendering his solitary character as a charcoal-coloured silhouette and minimising the formal properties of his compositions, Alfraji captures the expressed movements and subtle inflections of the body in psychologically laden environments. The artist often records his own narrative in black and white scenes of this recurring figure, particularly the loss, fragmentation, and lapses in time that underline exile.

Situated within natural environments, Sama Alshaibi's multimedia work explores spaces of conflict and the power struggles that arise in the aftermath of war and exile. Alshaibi is particularly interested in how such clashes occur between citizens and the state, creating vexing crises that impact the physical and psychic realms of the individual as resources and land, mobility, political agency, and self-affirmation are compromised. Through performance, video, photography, and installation, Alshaibi positions her own body as an allegorical site that makes the byproducts of war visible.

With a career spanning over three decades, Safwan Dahoul is now a household name both regionally and internationally. As one of the foremost painters in the Arab world, the artist has repeatedly demonstrated how contemporary modes of figuration can describe the psychic terrain of a region that is in constant flux. Throughout his career, Dahoul has managed to include varying artistic styles while still keeping to his core identity and style. Dahoul is mostly known for his beautiful melancholic and monochromatic works that present influences from the Cubist style of Picasso ranging to Assyrian and Pharaonic art.

As a native of occupied East Jerusalem, Rula Halawani began her artistic career by registering the difficulties of living under a protracted political conflict. Halawani's early works capture the many aspects of this reality, from the tedious moments of attempting to perform daily tasks under the restrictions of military occupation to the cyclical onset of violent siege that transforms Palestinian neighbourhoods, towns, and cities into overnight war zones.

About Ayyam Gallery

Founded in 2006, Ayyam Gallery is a leading arts organization that manages the careers of diverse established and emerging artists. Blue-chip art space in Dubai, a series of collaborative projects in the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia, and a multinational non-profit arts program have furthered the gallery's mandate of expanding the parameters of international art. With its widely respected multilingual publishing division and a custodianship program that manages the estates of pioneering artists, Ayyam Gallery has also contributed to recent efforts that document underrepresented facets of global art history.

In tribute to the Lebanese people and with deep compassion, Ayyam Gallery is pleased to present To Beirut..., a charity exhibition featuring, Ammar Abd Rabbo's latest photographs from August fourth's tragedy. Together with the artist's generosity, we are donating 75% of the proceeds to Beit El Baraka's mission to rebuild and help the vulnerable.

Artist statement

Throughout my career as a photojournalist, I've faced difficult and emotional moments. Whether it be shots of torn families, besieged cities, or destroyed homes, it was never my neighborhood. For the first time, the atrocity and destruction took place in a very familiar environment. Of course, I felt compelled to capture what was going on.

In just a few seconds, friends were lost, families were separated, people were wounded, and not to mention the material devastation. We all bear scars from August Fourth. Fortunately, I wasn't in Lebanon during the blast. I can only empathize with the shock everyone lived through and survived. I made sure to take the next flight into Beirut.

Here is a selection of the scenes and moments I captured; trying to mask the explosion, I avoided shots of the injured and vulnerable. The large scale shots not only show the immensity of the catastrophe but are also abstracting the situation. Creating incredible images straight out of Sci-Fi movies such as 'Mad Max' and 'Planet of the Apes.' I just wish those were also fiction rather than Beirut's reality.

I believe photographs remain when people separate, dictators fly away, loved ones leave, images are witnesses. They are a constant reminder of the past, a reality we cannot deny, an issue we have to address. We cannot hide moments we've witnessed.

Dearest Beirut, I wholeheartedly hope for all your wounds to heal, all scars to fade, all houses to be rebuilt, all businesses to revive, and that from this tragedy, only these photographs remain.

To Beirut, with Love...
Ammar Abd Rabbo

About the Artist 

As one of the Arab world's prominent photojournalists, Ammar Abd Rabbo's work has been  published  in
leading  and  widely circulated  publications,  from Time Magazine to Paris Match, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, and Asharq Al Awsat, where he signed more than eighty magazine covers. Spanning over thirty years, Abd Rabbo's portfolio includes war coverage in Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, and Syria; portraits of heads of states; world-renowned celebrities such as Michael Jackson; and high profile events such as the Cannes Film Festival and Paris Fashion Week.

Born in Damascus in 1966, Abd Rabbo lived in Libya and Lebanon before moving to France in 1978 after the intensification of the Lebanese Civil War. Before joining Sipa press agency in 1992, he studied political science at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques. He later left Sipa to create 'Balkis' photo agency, which is now syndicated by Abaca Press.

Abd Rabbo's first artistic solo exhibition, 'Coming Soon' was held in Ayyam Gallery, Beirut in early 2012. More recently, his artistic work covers censorship, body freedom, nudity, women empowerment and more.

In 2018, the French government named him "Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres", in recognition of his work, including coverage of the conflicts in Syria and Iraq.

His works are housed in the Barjeel Foundation, Sharjah; Daniel Barenboim Collection, Berlin; Salsali Private Museum; and The Samawi Collection, Dubai. Abd Rabbo has recently participated in solo exhibitions at the Beiteddine Palace, Lebanon (2019) ; Institut Fran?ais du Liban, Beirut (2019); and collective exhibitions such as: Phillips Auction House, London, (2019) ; d'une mediterranee, l'autre, Marseille (2016); Bansky's Dismaland, Weston-super-mare, England (2015); Imago Mundi at Benetton Foundation, Venice Biennale (2015); BOX Freiraum gallery, Berlin (2015); Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris (2014); The Milan Triennale (2014); MAXXI Museum, Rome (2013). His work has been highlighted in solo shows at Katara Cultural Village, Doha (2016); Ayyam  Gallery Beirut  (2015;  2012);   Europia  gallery,  Paris (2014);  and Ayyam Gallery DIFC, Dubai (2012).

About Ayyam Gallery

Founded in 2006, Ayyam Gallery is a leading arts organization that manages the careers of diverse established and emerging artists. Blue-chip art space in Dubai, a series of collaborative projects in the United States, Europe, Africa, and Asia, and a multinational non-profit arts program have furthered the gallery's mandate of expanding the parameters of international art. With its widely respected multilingual publishing division and a custodianship program that manages the estates of pioneering artists, Ayyam Gallery has also contributed to recent efforts that document underrepresented facets of global art history.

Exhibition Facts

Exhibitions Dates: 14 October  - 1 November 2020
Regular Hours: Sun - Thur : 10 am - 6 pm

 

Due to the postponement of Art Dubai 2020, Ayyam Gallery is pleased to exhibit the commissioned works that were destined for the fair alongside the scheduled exhibition at the gallery by Rula Halawani.

Please join us for the opening reception of Rula Halawani's For You Mother and Safwan Dahoul's The Awakening on March 23rd from 7 - 9 pm.

About Dahoul's latest works

Since the late 1980s, Dahoul's Dream series has explored the physical and psychological effects of alienation, solitude, and longing that punctuate the human experience at various stages in life. Partly autobiographical, this seminal body of work uses the formal properties of painting to recreate the subconscious sense of enclosure that surfaces during times of crisis, whether in the event of mourning, estrangement, or political conflict.

In his last body of work, with the aptly titled exhibition Still Dreaming Dahoul questions "Are we still dreaming?". Moving away from the romanticism of dreams and the shelter they offer while still expressing himself through a subconscious voice, Safwan has awoken, and so has his protagonist, placing his voice in what seems to be a more lifelike environment metaphorically. Reality and its inconsistency are mirrored in the canvas through sharper lines and, most importantly, folds and ripples, illustrating life's obstacles.

The artist is posing questions through disfiguration, and distortion, stressing hardship and troubles while leaving some space for hope and answers. As the artist explains it, his paintings are his life's chronicles. The artist's loss of stability is explored in this new series. Explicitly, and unintentionally the artist found himself tackling the story of the displaced through crumbled images; with his ripples, the artist is exploring uncertainty through the imperfect reflection of contemporary humanity.

Exhibition Facts

Exhibitions Dates: 23 March  - 30 June 2020
Opening Reception: 23 March 7 - 9 pm

Press Kit

Please contact the below email for question and further inquires.

maya@ayyamgallery.com

Ayyam Gallery is pleased to present Liaisons, a solo exhibition featuring Kais Salman's works. The selection spotlights an important body of work from 2012 to his most recent canvases.

About the exhibition

Continuously challenging notions of beauty, Kais is known for his bold and expressionist exploration of the human subject, society, and the collective. The artist critiques humanity's vanity, materialism, dependencies, and social norms through various compositions.

Kais' disfigured, nearly nude anti-heroes and heroines are placed vulnerable facing the viewers' gaze; the characters are left objectified and questioned. The selection of works chosen for this exhibition highlights relationships or the lack thereof between the characters. Kais illustrates a type of disconnect between the characters, implicitly recreating society's cliques, rivalries, and complex liaisons.

In some paintings, the characters' poses, stances, and costumes create a hierarchy. While some of the avatars are grouped and paired, others are left alone and alienated from any connection. The figures each take independent roles, playing a part in the collective consciousness. The artist's new work, on the other hand, differs in composition, creating a different narrative, one of unison and blurred lines, the figures overlap with space.

These associations link in the ideas of greed, and most importantly, ideological extremism embedded in contemporary communities. Kais's usual expressionism is paired with realism, and beacons of symbolism spread across the paintings.

About the Artist 

Embarking on a different path than that of his contemporaries and predecessors, Kais Salman's work has been described as monochromatic, abstract expressionism. The artist uses satire to subvert the normalisation of greed, narcissism, and ideological extremism that is rapidly defining our era. As one of Syria's foremost expressionist painters, Salman has contributed to a decades-long artistic tradition that continues to serve as a powerful outlet for social commentary. A consummate formalist, he is recognised as one of the Arab world's most accomplished painters.

Since the early 2000s, Salman has sought to reflect the psychological violence that occurs when excess becomes rationalised and accepted by societies. Seeking to confront and exorcise sociocultural manifestations of depravity, Salman unearths a world of ugliness and abjection through intentionally hyperbolised imagery accentuated by punches of colour and aestheticised forms. Political corruption, terrorism, consumerism, cosmetic surgery, religious fanaticism, imperialism, and the voyeurism of the digital age have all served as topics of Salman's carnivalesque compositions.

Born in Tartous, Syria in 1976, Salman lives and works in Beirut. He received a Bachelor of Art from the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Damascus in 2002, where he trained with leading painters such as Safwan Dahoul. Salman's paintings are housed in collections throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. Salman has been featured in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, among other international publications, and was listed for the second time in Arabian Business 100 Most Powerful Arabs Under 40 in 2016.

Solo and group exhibitions for the artist include the Ayyam Gallery Beirut (2018, 2015, 2014, 2012); Ayyam Gallery Al Quoz, Dubai (2017, 2014, 2011, 2010); Alexandria Biennale (2014); Ayyam Gallery DIFC, Dubai (2014, 2010); Damascus Museum of Modern Art (2009); The Park Avenue Armory, New York (2008); and Carthage Festival for Coast Mediterranean Sea Artists, Tunisia (2005).(2012).

About Ayyam Gallery

Founded in 2006, Ayyam Gallery is a leading arts organization that manages the careers of diverse established and emerging artists. Blue-chip art space in Dubai, a series of collaborative projects in the United States, Europe, Africa, and Asia, and a multinational non-profit arts program have furthered the gallery's mandate of expanding the parameters of international art. With its widely respected multilingual publishing division and a custodianship program that manages the estates of pioneering artists, Ayyam Gallery has also contributed to recent efforts that document underrepresented facets of global art history.

Exhibition Facts

Exhibitions Dates: 21 November 2020 - 5 January 2021
Regular Hours: Sun - Thur : 10 am - 6 pm
Opening day: Saturday 21 November 2020

Ayyam Gallery is pleased to present 'Echoes and Perceptions', a Summer Collective with works by Abdul Karim Majdal  Al Beik, Afshin Pirhashemi, Athier Mousawi, Faisal Samra, Farzad Kohan, Kais Salman, Sadik Alfraji, Safwan Dahoul, and Sama Alshaibi.

About the exhibition

"The troublesome parts of our work, the parts that are most baffling and frustrating, are in fact the growing edges". Stephen Nachmanovitch words about art in all of its forms can also be attributed to life's troubled times being relevant to one's growth or decline. Artists express their hardships in their individual ways, in times of transition, uncertainty, and despair, the varied expressions and creations create echoes which vary upon the subjectivity and perception of the recipient.

Through narrative and language, the artists' protagonists and commentaries draw on boredom and life's obstacles, some seem trapped within the edges of their medium while others hold on to beacons of hope such as Sadik. Although the exhibition tackles emotions which are currently heightened with the global uncertainties we all face, the works mirror a set of different and often personal circumstances the artists have and continue to live through.

The ideas of loneliness, claustrophobia, and paranoia seem to have immersed themselves in routine life. Relating to Safwan Dahoul's trapped figure, it''s experiencing the same fate at different scales, resonating with trivial repetition, spatial perception, and the theoretical aspect of distancing oneself for perspective.

Paranoia is explored further through the perplexing impact of media and social networks in our lives. Supposedly media and social platforms bring people together and keep the masses informed, yet often they are associated with pressure and lead the users towards ignorance and isolation. Athier's 'explosions' exemplify information's constant broadcast and the influx of fake news. Taking these channels' disruption further are Faisal Samra's works, which illustrate one's trauma when receiving abundant amounts of news. The intensity and mass-distribution of these facts alters thoughts, actions, and opinions.

Through societal commentaries, Kais's works evoke ideas of individualism. His work depicts how circumstances awaken various reactions within us, though individuals are illustrated together the relationship does not read. Collectivism on the other hand  is referred to by the Afshin and Abdul Karim Majdal Al Beik who use universal symbols that highlight unity.

Finally Farzad Kohan's piece echoing the latin 'Memento Mori', reminding us of the inevitable death. The feeling of standstill which is illustrated in Sama's images is just an illusion, the path is drawn and this shall pass.

About Ayyam Gallery

Founded in 2006, Ayyam Gallery is a leading arts organization that manages the careers of diverse established and emerging artists. Blue-chip art space in Dubai, a series of collaborative projects in the United States, Europe, Africa, and Asia, and a multinational non-profit arts program have furthered the gallery's mandate of expanding the parameters of international art. With its widely respected multilingual publishing division and a custodianship program that manages the estates of pioneering artists, Ayyam Gallery has also contributed to recent efforts that document underrepresented facets of global art history.

Exhibition Facts

Exhibitions Dates: 19 July  - 30 September 2020
Regular Hours: Sun - Thur : 10 am - 6 pm

 

Please contact the below email for question and further inquires.

maya@ayyamgallery.com