Fann À Porter is pleased to present the works of Arda Aslanian, Mohammad Al Hawajri, Khaled Jarada, Ahmad Kasha, Rabee Kiwan, Majd Kurdieh, Mayar Obeido for the sixth edition of Art Cairo at the Grand Egyptian Museum. The booth creates an intricate dialogue between the works of each artist as they explore material investigations, themes of humanity, societal behavior, displacement, and hopefulness.
Ahmad Kasha’s (b. 1997, Syria) expressively abstract works mark an integral shift from expressionism. While his older works are embedded with a raw and vivid display of emotion, spark a visceral experience in the viewer, his recent series form compositions that are brimmed with symbolic gestures and references to art history, philosophy, and mythology.
Rabee Kiwan’s (b.1984, Syria) works continue the artist’s exploration of the myriad emotions a human face express. In the present work titled Friends, Kiwan’s inherent technique is ever-present, where the artist masterfully presents the fusion of external influences and internal memory, giving life to the vases and plates through his material application. The faces and bodies are captured in fleeting moments of raw emotion, and encapsulate the essence of existence, inviting introspection into existential quandaries while evoking an array of sentiments.
Majd Kurdieh (b. 1985, Syria) continues his Fasaeen narrative in his new works from the Butterflies series. The artist’s whimsical approach to the ever-present political situations in the Middle East offers a strong moral and positive reinforcement that the artist projects into the world. Incorporating poetry, references to art history as well as our collective history, and strong story-telling techniques, Kurdieh’s characters continue to narrate tales that could apply to any viewer, leaving room for personal interpretation.
Khaled Jarada’s(b. 1996, Palestine) works are compositions captured in medias res. His figures appear imbalanced, anxious, and out of place. The in-betweenness in these works is not only temporal. Rather, they are also spatial. Jarada started his exploration into the discomfort of in-betweenness as he himself became out of place in exile. The artist refutes rigid hierarchies by elevating these devalued and mundane moments, places, objects, and figures to become worthy of display, appreciation, and idealization.
Arda Aslanian (b. 1981, Jordan) uses her meticulous works to explore the intricacies between visibility and concealment, using drapery as a metaphor for the complexities of human experience. This series of works delves into the delicate boundaries that define our personal narratives that are often left untold. While some works focus on the figure through its absence, depicting only the layers of clothing that emphasize these boundaries, others present drapes in their purest form, as hidden phantoms or backdrops, evoking thresholds that both separate and connect the inner self to the outer world, veiling the mystery.
Mayar Obeido’s (b. 1995, Syria) new works continue to explore change, what has shifted is the object in focus. While his earlier works center on the natural process of change in an organic object - the apple - his new works explore movement within the table itself. New objects and futuristic architectural motifs begin to appear through the collage technique used. This investigation of man-made vs organic, machine vs nature marks a shift for the artist’s practice as his works take on new forms and motifs.
Mohammad Al Hawajri’s (b. 1976, Palestine) works explore themes of war, exile, and resistance. A founding member of the Eltiqa Group, a collective formed for the confluence of contemporary art, Hawajri uses different configurations of graphics, photography, and color to depict his poignant messages. Cacti occupy a significant position in the Palestinian geography and thus Hawajri’s works. The existence of cactus refers to the existence of a Palestinian village. Though often used to divide spaces and agricultural lands, the cactus has become a symbol of resistance and patience.
