This autumn, Sharjah Art Foundation has lined up a rich fare for art lovers in the region with historical shows, retrospectives and solo shows of globally renowned artists.
Shaikha Hoor Al Qasimi, director, Sharjah Art Foundation, told Weekend Review: “The robust programme of exhibitions this autumn reflects the foundation’s mission to explore art histories and work with both prominent as well as lesser known artists from the region and from around the world.
“Internationally renowned artists such as Arnulf Rainer and Yayoi Kusama will be featured in their first solo exhibitions in the Middle East, while important regional artists such as Kamal Youssef, Amir Nour and Kamala Ishaq will receive their first ever retrospectives. Also showing for the first time in the Middle East are artists Enrico David and Robert Breer.
“Two of our exhibitions this season have developed from conferences held in 2015, which allows us to explore in depth particular themes and moments in history. Firstly, we are presenting in Cairo a major touring exhibition that looks at the growth of Surrealism in Egypt and its historic influences, and later this autumn an exhibition in Sharjah will examine the Modern Art Movement in Sudan and the politics surrounding it.”
St George and the Dragon by Kamal Youssef, 1952
Inaugural shows
On September 17, the first two shows of the autumn programme — “Kamal Youssef: Egyptian Surrealists’ Time Capsule” and “Towards Overpaintings” by Austrian artist Arnulf Rainer — were unveiled at the Sharjah Art Museum and Bait Al Serkal respectively, both located at the Arts Area.
Through its retrospective shows, Sharjah Art Foundation brings to light an important chapter of the 20th century’s modernist art practice.
The great Egyptian Surrealist Kamal Youssef’s retrospective highlights the important influences non-Western artists have exerted on global modernist art practice, and on the very fabric of the societies they adopted as their new homes.
Dr Salah M. Hassan, Goldwin Smith professor and director, Institute for Comparative Modernities, Cornell University, is curating some of these shows. “What the Sharjah Art Foundation is doing is simply cutting edge art history in the making,” he says.
The Foundation’s approach to showcasing Arab art promotes the idea that modernity and its expressions as “plural and fully global, rather than relegating modernist artistic and literary expressions outside the West (including surrealist expression in Egypt) as belated and secondary to the Western modern”, he says.
Kamal Youssef: Egyptian Surrealists’ Time Capsule
This month-long retrospective presents Egyptian-American artist Kamal Youssef in collaboration with Sharjah Museums Department. The show is co-curated by Al Qasimi and Hassan.
Born in Egypt in 1923, Youssef continues to be productive, engaged in art for more than 70 years with a distinctive style of painting and sculpture.
“What this retrospective exhibition gives us is a rare glimpse into the art and life of the living legend Youssef, one of the most accomplished Egyptian Surrealists and a founding member of the ‘Contemporary Art Group’ which flourished in Egypt from the mid-1940s to the late 1950s. With a life that spanned most of the 20th century, Youssef moved from Cairo to Paris in the early 1950s, before settling in the United States in 1956, where he now resides in rural Pennsylvania,” Hassan says.
“Youssef has lived through many turbulent political events and witnessed the most exciting artistic developments of modernism and postmodernism. His life is thus a ‘time capsule’ as well as a ‘witness’ to a rich artistic legacy over three continents. However, as is the case generally with non-Western artists [Arab or African] based in the West, his achievements have not received the critical recognition they deserve, and they have remained sidelined in art historical texts on 20th century Western art.”
The show at the Sharjah Art Museum is an excellent opportunity for art lovers to acquaint themselves intimately with the life and work of a surrealist master whose prolific and thought-provoking work “transcends borders and addresses all of humanity”.
The curious fact about the artist is that for more than 20 years he worked in the US as an engineer before retiring in Dayton. But he says he never allowed his art to suffer, because “engineering was easy for me”.
“Kamal Youssef: Egyptian Surrealists’ Time Capsule” will run at Sharjah Art Museum, Arts Area, until November 17.
Arnulf Rainer: Towards Overpaintings
This retrospective exhibition highlights early works by self-taught Austrian artist Arnulf Rainer, born in Baden, Austria, where he lives and works.
Rainer’s career has been marked by a continual search for new approaches to painting. “In particular, he was interested in the physicality of painting and the desire to break free from the conventions of traditional techniques. For the artist, this involved experimentation in the act of painting, privileging the generative process of physical interaction with the medium over a predetermined finished product,” writes curator Al Qasimi in her introduction. “The influence of Freud and psychoanalysis played an important role in Rainer’s longstanding fascination with and interest in mental health, finding inspiration in Surrealist automatism and gestural painting.”
The show at Bait Al Serkal features about 100 works dating from the 1970s, including a selection of his works from the “Blind Paintings” and “Overpainting” series, early sculptures, videos as well as archival documentation that are being shown for the first time.
“Arnulf Rainer: Towards Overpaintings” will run at Bait Al Serkal, Arts Area, until November 17.
Five other shows on the way
The following are the other shows that Sharjah Art Foundation is organising for the rest of the season, including a major historical show in Cairo from September 28, and the rest of the shows in Sharjah right up to January 2017.
When Arts Become Liberty: The Egyptian Surrealists (1938-1965)
September 28 to November 28
Palace of Arts, Cairo
This exhibition documents a pivotal chapter of Modernism in Egypt that spans from the late 1930s to the early 1960s, and highlights the multifaceted aspects of modernity and its global interconnectedness in the 20th century. Focusing on the evolution of the Egyptian Surrealist group and their relationship with their Western and international counterparts, this exhibition documents a pivotal chapter of modernism in Egypt. This is the first major exhibition to examine this important period and the artists and art groups that were active at the time.
Kamala Ishaq
November 12, 2016 to January 16, 2017.
SAF Art Spaces, Building J
This solo exhibition presents works by Sudanese artist Kamala Ibrahim Ishaq. Ishaq is one of the leading influential artists and pioneering modernist painters in Sudan. The exhibition will show a variety of paintings including early works by the artist, and new works commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation and is curated by Shaikha Hoor Al Qasimi and Dr Salah M. Hassan. The show is happening alongside “The Khartoum School: the Making of the Modern Art Movement in Sudan”.
Amir Nour: Brevity is the Soul of Wit
November 12, 2016 to January 9, 2017
Bait Al Serkal, Arts Area
This retrospective exhibition, which covers the last 30 years of the American-based Sudanese artist Amir Nour, presents drawings, photographs, sculptures and new commissions drawn from images of the domes, arches, calabashes and sand hills of his native Sudan. Nour’s works combine traditional African imagery with the visual vocabulary and materials of Western minimalism. The exhibition is curated by Shaikha Hoor Al Qasimi and Dr Salah M. Hassan.
Yayoi Kusama: Dot Obsessions
October 1, 2016 to January 9, 2017
SAF Art Spaces, Building I
Yayoi Kusama’s exhibition includes a comprehensive selection of early works from the 1950s, as well as site-specific reproductions and interactive installations. Particularly known for her use of polka dots and nets, Kusama has produced work in a range of media, including painting, drawing, sculpture, film and installations. The show is curated by Shaikha Hoor Al Qasimi.
Robert Breer: Time Flies
October 1, 2016 to January 9, 2017
Flying Saucer, Sharjah
The retrospective exhibition of Robert Breer will survey some of his earlier works in painting and experiments in animation as well as his later kinetic sculptures and large-scale works. One of the founders of the American avant-garde, Breer was an experimental filmmaker, painter and sculptor with a practice that spans over more 25 years. The exhibition is curated by Shaikha Hoor Al Qasimi
Enrico David: Fault Works
October 1, 2016 to January 9, 2017
SAF Art Spaces, Building F
Exhibiting for the first time in the region, Enrico David’s solo exhibition will showcase his metal sculptures, and large-scale tapestries that employ artisanal craft technique. David’s diverse practice collides at the intersections of sculpture and textiles, drawing, painting and installation. Born in Italy and based in London, David was shortlisted for the 2009 Turner Prize.
N.P. Krishna Kumar is a freelance writer based in Dubai.
