PULSE New York 3 - 6 May, 2012 Booth B6 Adeel uz Zafar I Nadia Kaabi-Linke I Driss Ouadahi Shahpour Pouyan I Sama Alshaibi
ADEEL UZ ZAFAR Pakistani artist Adeel uz Zafar’s work is both terrifying and amusing. His toys wrapped in banda ges evoke childhood anxiety, turning comforting objects into monstrous figures. uz Zafar uses a unique technique that combines the art of the miniature and a massive scale for his black vinyl surface engravings. There is something sinister about the object because it is hidden from view and is bandaged. His toys reflect the innocence of childhood and a primeval need for security during adolescence. These works point to a loss of innocence and to the disintegration of the socio-political framework in Pakistan and to the pain that results. Adeel uz Zafar was born in Karachi, Pakistan in 1975. He completed his BFA from National College of Arts (NCA) Lahore, graduating in 1998. After college, he returned to Karachi to join Karachi School of Arts as an instructor and also started to work as a children’s book illustrator. In 2008 he joined Indus Valley School of Art. uz Zafar has taken part in a number of group exhibitions in Pakistan and in 2010 he exhibited at Fost Gallery in Singapore and at Slick Art Fair, Paris Dear , 2012 Adeel uz Zafar Dear , 2012 engraved drawing on vinyl 152.4 x 121.9 cm, 60 x 48 in USD $8,000
KONG, The Tragic Anti-hero , 2012 “Kong is a very lonely creature, absolutely solitary. It must be one of the loneli est existences you could ever possibly imagine. Every day, he has to battle for his survival against very formidable dinosaurs on the island, and it’s not easy for him” (Peter Jackson- Director of King Kong 2005). For this work, uz Zafar chose one of the world's most famous movie icons, King Kong. The artist used a small soft toy that can be held in the palm of one’s hand and then render ed it in an enormous scale to highlight its monstrous aspect. The fictional giant gorilla terrorizes others and never empathizes with another living creature. He is a rampaging monster, yet he is also a very solitary character, a tragic anti-hero. For uz Zafar, this variation in perception has a very clear parallel to today’s world. Adeel uz Zafar , Kong- The Tragic Anti-hero, 2012 Engraved drawing on vinyl, 152.4 x 182.9 cm, 60 x 72 in USD $10,000
NADIA KAABI-LINKE The art of Nadia Kaabi-Linke is related to places and their histories; it is as time-specific as it is site-specific. The installations and objects, as well as her pictorial works, are anchored in constellations of cultural and historical, social and political contexts and refer to a certain place or to coincidental events. Kaabi-Linke performs a kind of archaeology of contemporary life which exposes the survivals of the past. Kaabi-Linke was born in born in Tunis in 1978 to a Russian mother from Kiev and a Tunisian father. She studied in the Academy of Fine Arts in Tunis, and later in Paris where she received a PhD at the Sorbonne University of Paris in 2008. Kaabi-Linke has exhibited in solo exhibitions in Tunis, Berlin and Dubai and has participated in a variety of group exhibitions. In 2011 she was one of the recipients of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize. Her works are part of the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Abraaj Capital, Dubai, Kamel Lazaar Foundation, Tunis and the Ministère de la Culture et de la Sauvegarde du Patrimoine, Tunis. In 2011 she was the Artist in residence at The Delfina Foundation, London. She lives and works in both Tunis and Berlin. These Goddamned Boys All Stealing , 2008 In her forays in Berlin Nadia Kaabi-Linke came across the wall of an empty basement in an apartment building that had the image of a penis scratched out on it. Upon further research she discovered that a bar for homosexuals was located precisely at this site during the Weimar period. In Christopher Isherwood's memoir Christopher and His Kind (1977), the author describes the activities of this bar, called Cosy Corner , where he experienced his coming out and discovered his sexuality. In this work Kaabi-Linke transfers this image into a new arrangement: a plethora of penises. The work recalls the rise of Nazism, which forced the patrons of the bar to leave Berlin. The original scratching of the penis has since disappeared; an irrevocable burying of the past, but which, like many traces of history, has been preserved by Kaabi-Linke in her art. Below the painting lies Isherwood's memoir opened at the page that references Cosy Corner. Nadia Kaabi-Linke These Goddamned Boys All Stealing , 2008 Paper imprinted with ink, wax and pigments on canvas; shelf and book 150 x 150 cm, 59 x 59 in, Total dimensions variable USD $14,500
DRISS OUADAHI Driss Ouadahi takes as his subject matter the built environment of urban alienation - sterile modernist public housing developments, wire netting and underground passageways. Ouadahi paints works of paradoxical beauty using this stark urbanism as his springboard. His large formal Urban landscapes are montages of spaces and places he knows, with human-scale details often omitted. His labyrinthine layering of planes creates space and perspective that is both familiar and confusing. The accuracy of Ouadahi's execution belies the fragility of the structures he paints. Ouadahi's Fences recall the wire-netting common in the metropolitan suburbs of France and Algeria. They delimit zones into which entrance is not permitted and demarcate privileged zones. Ouadahi's Underpasses are the most illusionistic and are based on actual subways in Germany. Born in Casablanca, Morocco, of Algerian parents in 1959, Driss Ouadahi grew up in Algeria. He studied at the Ecole Superieure des Beaux Arts d'Alger before enrolling and subsequently graduating from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, the city where he now lives and works. Ouadahi has exhibited in solo exhibitions in New York, San Francisco, Düsseldorf, Marseille (Istres), Paris and Dubai. He has also taken part in a number of group exhibitions, most recently in Le Retour, 3ème Festival International d'Art Contemporain d'Alger; Magreb: Dos Orillas, Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid; Future of a Promise at Venice Biennale 54; Cairo Biennial 12, Egypt and CU Art Museum, University of Colorado in Boulder. His works are found in the Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar; the Kamel Lazaar Foundation, Tunis and the Nadour Collection, Germany. Underground Path, 2010 Driss Ouadahi Underground Path , 2010 Oil on canvas 190 x 240 cm, 75 x 94.5 in USD $20,000
Pleasant Place, 2011 Driss Ouadahi Pleasant Place , 2011 Oil on canvas 140 x 160 cm, 55 x 63 in USD $14,000 Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, 2011 Driss Ouadahi Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow , 2011 Oil on canvas 130 x 150 cm, 51 x 59 in USD $13,000
SHAHPOUR POUYAN Shahpour Pouyan's work is a commentary about power, domination and possession through the force of culture. Pouyan’s interest lies in singling out particular o bjects whose images captivate him, and by painting them he releases the feeling of anguish that they inspire. Shahpour Pouyan was born in 1979 in Isfahan, Iran and is currently studying for a Masters of Fine Art at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. He has a Masters in Fine Art (Painting) from Tehran University of Art and a Bachelor of Fine Art (Painting) from the University of Science and Culture. Pouyan is the recipient of the Tehran Contemporary Museum of Art's grant of residence at the Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris, France and has exhibited in various solo exhibitions in Tehran and Dubai and in group shows in Paris, New York, Beirut, Canada and Serbia. Hooves In his Hooves series Pouyan is looking back to the mysticism of the pre-Islamic Near East. The severed hooves symbolize the Golden Bull, that most sacred of beasts for the ancient cultures of Sumer, Babylon and Iran, which survives to this day in Hinduism. They also bear overtones of sacrifice and ritual slaughter, while their attenuated forms allude to the traditional Persian symbols of male strength and potency, emphasizing the superego of male aggression throughout the centuries. Each one is crowned with a comical helmet, decorated in traditional Persian patterns with the delicacy of a miniaturist. Shahpour Pouyan, The Hoof , 2012 Shahpour Pouyan, The Hoof , 2012 Open acrylic and gold leaf on canvas Open acrylic on canvas 200 x 115 cm, 78 x 45 in 200 x 115 cm, 78 x 45 in USD $10,000 USD $10,000
Unknown Objects, 2012 Shahpour Pouyan, Unknown Objects , 2012 Mixed media on paper 18 x 11 cm, 7 x 4 in each USD $ 600 each
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