We can’t recall ever having seen the Salwa Zeidan Gallery quite so busy. But then, latest exhibition Truth is something rather special; a month- long show bringing together three of the Middle East’s most talked-about artists. And while the room buzzes noisily, Salwa Zeidan the gallerist is every bit as animated as Salwa Zeidan the gallery; rushing between guests, posing for photos and still finding time to nab the odd canapé.
Having spent 10 minutes circling the room like a Dictaphone-toting ninja, we grabbed a moment with her in front of ‘Garden Your Mind’, a mixed media canvas by Iraqi-Dutch artist Nedim Kufi. ‘He’s known as an innovator,’ Salwa explains in her thick Lebanese accent, looking up and flashing a quick smile as yet more guests file through the doorway. ‘He experiments a lot with different materials, to make sure the work will live.’ The piece looks a little like the result of a meeting between a rose bush and a blender, and as we paw the glossy, richly textured canvas (the artist not only approves of viewers touching his work but actively encourages it) it occurs to us that that’s probably exactly what it is.
But for Baghdad-born Kufi – whose work has been exhibited in London’s Tate Modern – experiments don’t stop with woodchip and petals. Salwa walks us through the room to a piece labelled ‘Soap & Soul’; a bold red diptych sporting raised Arabic script made from – you guessed it – soap. We’ve seen a lot of innovative objects stuck to the city’s walls in our time, but art with an aroma is a first.
Next, Salwa draws our attention to the adjoining wall, which is home to a black canvas with the Arabic word for ‘well’ jutting out of it in carved crystal. ‘This is one of his latest works,’ Salwa tells us. ‘I asked him what he meant by ‘well’ and he explained that a well represents depth; the unknown and infinity.’ The technique is used again in ‘Haqq’ (Arabic for truth), a piece that dominates the gallery’s largest room and resembles a window that’s been shattered in the dead of night.
And with that, Salwa slips back into the crowd to mingle. But not before introducing us to Kourosh Salehi, an Iranian artist who was raised in Britain, and who is the second of the show’s stars.
Though his work is technically the least accomplished (for us, too much of what he does relies on painting on top of digitally produced images), it’s easily the most accessible, addressing the upheaval involved in holding a split nationality in straightforward, unambiguous terms.
‘This is the one closest to me,’ he says in a British accent not far from our own, gesturing towards a square canvas named ‘Jack II’. ‘It features the Iranian flag, [the green, white and red of the female figure’s face], which is then wrapped in the British flag. Those of us who’ve been uprooted from place to place are constantly trying to re-root ourselves and make connections. Those paradoxes often play on your mind, and become part of your work. It’s a therapeutic, natural process.’
Finally, we corner Fatema Al Mazroui, a collage specialist and the show’s Emirati contingent. The first thing to note is how much her work has changed since we first spoke to her last September. Where once were earthy colours overlaid with magazine cut outs, now sit swatches of fabric and blocks of bright, vivid colour. Does this foray into vibrancy reflect a change in her life, we wonder?
‘Yes – I’ve never done this type of work before. In my last six pieces I’ve started to use more colour.’ She pauses to think, adjusting her shayla. ‘This is me saying something loudly.’
Nowhere is this added volume more obvious than in ‘Um Kulthom’, a tribute to the iconic Egyptian singer. ‘I used calligraphy to write some lines from her most famous song, one that changed her history’, she says. ‘Some of the different colours also relate to different parts of her life.’
While before her work had an air of anxious experimentation, this latest collection is a clear sign that the artist has found her confidence. And, a few pop-arty experiments with images of Sheikh Zayed aside, she’s certainly putting it to good use.
So while there’s plenty at Truth that you’ll have seen before, there are enough fresh ideas on show for us to name it one of the better exhibitions so far in 2011. And now that the rush has died down, you’ve no excuse not to drop in and check it out.
Truth runs until June 17 at Salwa Zeidan Gallery, Khaleej Al Arabi Street. Entry is free. Call 02 666 9656 for more information.
