Raas Baladi M'aa Asal Eswed literally means 'Belly Dancing with Black Honey'. A pun on popular Arabic expressions, very colloquial Egyptian-Arabic in fact, the exhibition, as much as the unique painting technique, challenges first impressions and calls on the viewer to question what he/she sees, hears, and reads.
Intended as a sarcastic take on much of what is revolving around us and on which we hardly have any control, the 15 paintings use a technical process that Taman has began and researched across a period of close to twenty years. Characterised by layers of colour materials which Taman forms and uses by hand, the unconventional process of Tamanism involves many petroleum derivatives and oil oxides and ultimately creates unique works based on unusual and singular chemical reactions.
