Cocoon by Ayyam Gallery

WALID EL MASRI

Cocoon

Walid el masri

Ayyam Gallery London 5 June - 2 August 2014

Painter Walid El Masriâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s practice revolves around the repeated examination of a single material subject as he explores variations in depth and space through abstracted compositions. In the past, the artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s subject of choice was a chair, the stillness of which provided an anchoring pictorial element amidst the riotous brushwork of a non-descript setting. Like Morandi's vases or Cezanne's apples, El Masri's depictions are less about the objects themselves and more about the possibility of transformation that is derived from paying close attention to the object over time. In a recent body of work the artist observes movement and vibration as encapsulated in the life cycle of a butterfly cocoon, the dramatic transition of which stands as a symbolic representation of Syria in its current state. Of Lebanese background, El Masri was born in Syria in 1979. Prior to completing a Bachelor of Art at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus in 2005, he studied the art of mosaic and trained with renowned expressionist painter Marwan Kasab Bashi at the Summer Academy of Darat Al-Funun, Amman, Jordan. Selected solo exhibitions include Europia Gallery Paris, France (2014); Ayyam Gallery Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (2013); Ayyam Gallery Beirut, Lebanon (2013); Ayyam Gallery DIFC, Dubai, UAE (2012); Ayyam Gallery Al Quoz, Dubai, UAE (2009); Art Beijing Contemporary Art Fair, China (2009); Art Hong Kong Art Fair, China (2009) and Ayyam Gallery Damascus, Syria (2008).

Walid El Masri’s Cocoon: Emergent Horrors, a Holding Space for Hope By Zarmina Rafi

Walid El Masri has exhibited with Ayyam Gallery since 2007. Between 2007 and 2013 most of the artist’s creative output has been linked to the relentless examination of a single object on canvas: a chair. Fast-forward to the year 2014, and in the artist’s latest offerings the viewer is confronted with mysterious cocoon forms appearing as if suspended from a “Tree of Life,” each cream and yellow coloured cocoon secure in its individual pod. Collectively, the cocoons appear as cascading constellations paired with a somber palette dominated by charcoal, beige, and brown. Accompanying the cocoons are strategic bursts of bright ovals in vermillion, royal blue, and green. The Tree of Life is a motif found in various ancient myths as well as in religious stories from Iran and indigenous North American cultures that symbolises immortality and rebirth, additionally the tree is said to hold the seeds of life. In naturalist Charles Darwin’s seminal work, The Origins of Species further reference is made to such a tree in which “buds give rise by growth to fresh buds,” and evolution is described as a “tangled bank.” In El Masri’s Cocoon works, the bursts of colour resting against thick textural barks may be understood as the outcome of a rift that signals transformation and dynamism. At the same time the compositions are carefully considered and invoke both a distillation of process, and a sense of loss upon immediate impact. El Masri’s work requires attention on part of the viewing audience, perhaps as much as he himself has poured into the synergising of various components from his life, experience, and artistic training into the works. Especially relevant to the artist’s process would be inspirations from the early period of his life spent in Jaramana in Southern Syria, where among orchards, trees, and houses made of stone he developed an interest in the ongoing quality of change as observed in nature.

A general statement, such that El Masri’s recent works are examples of a maturation of the artist’s style and subject matter, may not suffice in this case. Instead, what can be evinced from El Masri’s work from 2013 to 2014 is that rather than aiming solely for the rigour of repetition and the desire to capture the “condensation of a greater reality,”1 the artist now makes reference to the recent war in Syria. The war, which began with the uprising of 2011, continues to this day, having displaced up to two million people and totaling a death count of over one hundred and fifty thousand. Commenting on the reported chemical attacks of the war, El Masri created the untitled (2013) painting that depicts an emaciated figure with a bar placed over the figure’s mouth as its central image. This image, a more direct representation of the ongoing crisis and conflict in Syria is accompanied by the black and yellow, international trefoil sign used to depict radioactive substances. In a recent interview2, El Masri explains he has not abandoned the Chair series that is an ongoing project, however, the recent change in subject matter may be attributed to the urgent need to process and comment on the dire socio-political situation in his native country. With this decision El Masri also continues the expressionist tradition of preceding Syrian artists such as painter Nazir Nabaa, his professor from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus who evocatively responded to war in the work, “Napalm” (1967), evoking American soldiers’ use of toxic Napalm on Vietnamese civilians, as well as referring to the Arab-Israeli war brewing closer to home.3 The cocoon in El Masri’s paintings may be likened to a corpse in burial shroud, the body taped on both ends, a harsh and ongoing reality rendered in pictorial form. At the same time, as part of El Masri’s cosmology the cocoon is not entirely hopeless for it is the chrysalis waiting in an emergent state, that one day may blossom into a butterfly. This is precisely why the artist paints cocoon forms dotted, or often accentuated with a smattering of joyful colour. This action also confirms that while abstracted forms may be the preferred aesthetic choice for the artist, what he really paints are his emotions, and may be applied to El Masri’s anxiety about the ongoing violence in Syria.4

In Al-Thawra, journalist Ali Alraee notes of El Masri’s practice, “space is more deliberate in El Masri’s paintings than the elements themselves.” In Cocoon, the dialogue of spatial elements between each other, as well as the brushwork is reminiscent of Nizar Sabour’s City Remains series from the mid 1990s in which triangular forms are found in the bottom half of the paintings, with the top half left unoccupied, and the more religiously inclined, Contemporary Icon series in which circular forms are stacked and contained within vertically elongated forms. Sabour’s project had been one of abstraction, working mainly with religious iconography by hinting at object and icon through brushwork in which pictorial elements bleed into each other often without a clear demarcation between elements themselves. El Masri’s technique in Cocoon is similar in its preference for subtlety rather than overt expression. The subject of death is never approached head on, and the subject itself is as if concealed in a cocoon, revealing itself to the audience slowly.

Takieddine, Zena. “Intensity and Innovation.” Walid El Masri. Ayyam Gallery: Dubai, 2008. 1

Interview with the artist conducted by the author via email on April 1, 2014.

Farhat, Maymanah. “On Nazir Nabaa.” Samawai Collection Vol. 1: Curated Selections of Arab Art: Dubai, 2011. 3

“A Mosaic of Chairs: Profile of Syrian Painter, Walid El Masri.” Nadia Muhanna’s Blog, January 1, 2009. 4

Vibrant bursts of colour, especially in yellow have been prevalent in El Masri’s works as early as 2007, these pools of medium, existing as narrative aside, create a dynamic within the elements contained in the painting, and also suggest a window into another story, another possibility by introducing a deflection to the central focus so as to remind us that there is always more to be seen and considered. This is the reason El Masri’s chairs often appear to transcend the boundaries of the canvas, leading us to consider what else can be part of the picture that viewers come to experience within gallery walls, or that which exists but has not been mentioned in the confines of news media on Syria. These actions confirm El Masri’s belief that we are always, and only, part of a larger whole, the idea perhaps borrowed from the joining of tessera used to create wholes in the art of mosaic making, which the artist was trained in early in his career as a teenager in Jaramana.

Cocoon 2014 Mixed media on canvas 130 x 97 cm

Cocoon 2014 Mixed media on canvas 155 x 200 cm

Ayyam Gallery Founded in Damascus in 2006, Ayyam Gallery is recognised as a leading cultural voice in the region, representing a roster of Middle Eastern artists with an international profile and museum presence. Spaces in Beirut, Dubai, Jeddah, and London have further succeeded in showcasing the work of Middle Eastern artists with the aim of educating a wider audience about the art of this significant region.

Ayyam Gallery, London 143 New Bond Street, 1st Floor, W1S 2TP London, United Kingdom T: +44 207 409 3568, F: +44 207 409 3162 london@ayyamgallery.com www.ayyamgallery.com