search
Wael Shawky
Al Araba Al Madfuna II, 2013
Black-and-white video projection with sound
Film still
Co-produced by the Wiener Festwochen and Sharjah Art Foundation
Sharjah Art Foundation Collection
SAF Art Spaces, Sharjah Heritage Area
Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF) presents three solo exhibitions of works by Wael Shawky, Rasheed Araeen and Susan Hefuna.
The openings of the exhibitions titled Wael Shawky: Horsemen Adore Perfumes and other stories, Susan Hefuna: Another Place and Rasheed Araeen: Before and After Minimalism will take place, in the presence of HE Sheikha Hoor Al-Qasimi, President and Director of Sharjah Art Foundation on 13 March, 2014. The opening of Susan Hefuna’s exhibition will take place at Bait Al Serkal, Sharjah Arts Area at 6pm, and will be followed by the openings of Wael Shawky and Rasheed Araeen’s exhibitions at 7pm in SAF Art Spaces, Al Mureijah, Sharjah Heritage Area.
Wael Shawky: Horsemen Adore Perfumes and other stories includes videos, installations, sculptures and drawings, highlighting Shawky’s interest in how history is rewritten, documented and interpreted. His multilayered works explore the effects of globalisation on society today, and force viewers to navigate the territory of truth, myth and stereotype.
Religion and the tradition of storytelling – both oral and written – play a central role in Shawky’s aesthetic. His work often captures settings and social practices that present unexpected moments of irony: significant texts are translated into different languages, age and authority become inverted, and the separation between religious and social rituals is blurred.
Featured in this exhibition will be Shawky’s new work Al Araba Al Madfuna II that premiered at London’s Serpentine Gallery last November. Co-produced by the Wiener Festwoen and Sharjah Art Foundation the film re-tells the parables Horsemen Adore Perfume and The Offering by Egyptian novelist Mohamed Mustagab. As in his earlier film Al Araba Al Madfuna shown during Sharjah Biennial 11, the artist uses children dressed as adults to enact the tales while mouthing words spoken by adult voices. Wael Shawky explains: 'Mustagab is interested in narrating tales mainly from villages from upper Egypt. He mixes religion and life to create stories that seem believable, but you know are mythical. His language establishes a link between metaphysics and physics'.
Rasheed Araeen: Before and After Minimalism presents sculptures, paintings and drawings created during the more-than 50-year career of this influential Pakistani-born British artist. This first major exhibition of the artist’s work in the MENASA includes early paintings and drawings, documentation of participatory and performance works, seminal sculptures from the 1960’s and a new sculpture specially commissioned for Sharjah titled Sharjah Blues.
The exhibition traces his evolution as a painter in Karachi to his shift towards Minimalism in London and ultimately to his international recognition and achievements as a post-Minimalist sculptor. With no formal training in sculpture, it was his work as a civil engineer and an early encounter with the sculptures of Anthony Caro that influenced the formal language and use of simple or industrial materials characteristic of Araeen’s best-known works.
Rasheed Araeen: Before and After Minimalism has been supported by the British Council.
Installed in a converted traditional Emirati home, Susan Hefuna: Another Place brings together a large selection of work by the German-Egyptian artist Susan Hefuna, which will all be shown together for the first time. Sculpture, drawing, photography and videos, created from the 1980s to the present day, reveal the artist’s focus on structure in her practice, both directly and indirectly, through these different mediums. The intimate setting of Bait Al Serkal underscores the tension between public and private that is central to Hefuna’s practice and offers a framework for understanding the links between the works the artist has created over the course of her career.
In the grid patterns of her mashrabiya works, the lines of her drawings, or the lattice-like structure of her palm-wood towers placed in the courtyard of Bait Al Serkal, Hefuna traces the intersections between identity, social politics and place. This exhibition includes drawings from Tokyo, Istanbul, New York and a new series titled Sharjah Ceilings created specifically for this exhibition.
Susan Hefuna explains: 'I'm excited to see over 200 of my works created between 1984 and 2014 showcased in this exhibition together for the very first time. Bait Al Serkal - which contains more than 45 rooms, corridors, a large courtyard, windows and doors - is the perfect location for my works, as the atmosphere of the building reminds me of a breathing human being with memories, present and past, unconsciousness, hidden corners and surprises. The visitor enters the building and discovers works along the way, walking in a labyrinth like setting. The spirit of the works is unveiled through the dynamic changes in light and shadows. Patterns emerge from the shadows between the inside and outside space, I discovered similarities to the structures of my drawings. Inspired by Bait Al Serkal I did a series of ink drawings titled Sharjah Ceilings, in 2013 and Sharjah Afaz Drawings in 2014 which is a site-specific installation made from palm wood in the courtyard of Bait Al Serkal. All works in this exhibition are interconnected in a way. The dialogue between the house, the works, and the viewers is a unique and amazing experience.'
Susan Hefuna: Another Place has been made possible by the generous sponsorship of Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry and with the support of Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen e.V. Stuttgart (IfA)