‘The works go together like people in the same room,’ says artist Bo Tasle D’haviland. Indeed, there is a randomness about the Salwa Zeidan Gallery’s latest exhibition, Accrochages. The clue is perhaps in the title. ‘Accrochages’ translates as a kind of ‘clash’ or ‘skirmish’, and that’s just what this exhibition is.
Salwa Zeidan’s aim was to exhibit figurative and abstract artists hailing from both the East and the West in one show. The result is a kind of pic ‘n’ mix of gallery regulars; a sort of stunted conversation whistled and grunted across the gallery walls, but one that is at the same time both puzzling and fascinating.
Bo Tasle D’haviland is one of the artists featured. We interrupt the French painter mid-brushstroke, but he is happy to talk. Recently, after a frustrated Googling session, Bo took it upon himself to spend three months living with a tribe in Kenya, attempting to fill the e-space void with a series of pieces inspired by satellite imagery. His latest work follows on from this project’s theme of emptiness, reinterpreting devotional images in a traditional, secular European style. ‘My work is not in contradiction, but there is not a real dialogue,’ the artist admits.
But Iranian photographer Koriun Sarkissian is an artist who finds correlation in the chaos. He revels in the difference and, like Bo, his own work aims to capture the unique. ‘Each time, I try to find a unique place, or I change the angle or the lighting effects,’ he explains. His silver prints, in particular, transform the Middle East into a foggy, romantic, moody canvas. In Fisherman’s Dream, he turns Abu Dhabi into a strange, ghostly, Turner-esque landscape. Like Bo, Sarkissian sets about transforming one world into something else.
In fairness, you would have to look pretty hard to find any real similarities in Accrochages – after all, the point is that they clash. These paintings largely go together because they are put together, ‘like people in a room’. Strangers? Maybe. But then isn’t that when you meet the most interesting people. ‘The idea is that the viewer is given a chance to discover the different techniques used by contemporary creators from various parts of the world,’ explains Salwa Zeidan. Certainly the result is a fascinating blend of styles and characters. A party well worth gate crashing.
Accrochages, Salwa Zeidan Gallery (02 666 9656). Until June 9.
