Works above all Asad Faulwell
Sama Alshaibi
Shahpour Pouyan Exhibition View, 2011
Art 13 London, 1 – 3 March, 2013 Olympia Grand Hall Booth LF14
Another great thing about Art 13 is the international nature of the art fair and particularly 129 galleries from 30 countries ! So for our second showcase we have Lawrie Shabibi from Dubai UAE.
Lawrie Shabibi will be presenting works by Shahpour Pouyan, Asad Faulwell and a collaborative work of Sama Alshaibi and Dena Adeeb, all curated around the theme of war as a timeless and cyclical nature of violence. Through their work the artists draw on the past weaving history and cultural influence into their work to explore contemporary notions of power, war and death. Shahpour Pouyan draws from the culture and traditions of his country- Iran, whereas Faulwell, in his series Les Femme D’Alger, uses iconic images and motifs of Algerian women freedom fighters. Sama Alshaibi and Dena Adeeb reflect on their lived experiences and personal bodily memory of war in Iraq through their series Baghdadi Mem/Wars.
The booth will revolve around one of Pouyan’s ‘Projectiles’ which will be suspended in the centre of the booth. Made from intricately decorated armour and antique-style military helmets, these suspended monuments are strong symbols of dominance and power, yet at the same time are light, refined and have an air of luxury. On the surrounding wall space will be Asad Faulwell’s series Les Femme D’Alger. Inspired by the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962), Faulwell features repeated motifs of the women who fought alongside the men to save their country. The repetition of the images and the quasi-religious imagery he employs give these works the air of devotional shrines. On the adjacent wall will be Sama Alshaibi and Dena Adeeb’s body of work. Entitled Still/Chaos and consisting of nine photographs, the work depicts two female protagonists (performed by the artists themselves) trapped in a collapsing white padded room resembling an insane asylum. In an increasingly enclosing space, the figures are propelled into one another with an intensifying interaction that crafts the dual faces of survival, rebellion and resignation.
Lawrie Shabibi Al Serkal Avenue Unit 21 Al Quoz P.O. Box 123901 www.lawrieshabibi.com
Artist Biographies
Shahpour Pouyan was born in 1979 in Isfahan, Iran. He is currently studying for a Masters of Fine Art at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Pouyan 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. He was a recipient of the Tehran Contemporary Museum of Art’s grant of residence at International Cite Des Artes, Paris, France and has exhibited in various solo and group exhibitions in Tehran, Dubai, Paris, New York, Beirut, Canada and Serbia.
Asad Faulwell was born in 1982 in Caldwell, Idaho. He is currently based in Los Angeles and received his BA from UCSB in 2005 and his MFA from Claremont Graduate University in 2008. While at CGU he was the recipient of a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant. Since graduating he has taken part in Solo Exhibitions in Los Angeles, Claremont and New York as well as group exhibitions in Zurich, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Dubai and London. He is featured in numerous prominent private collections as well as the collection of the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art. His work has been written about in ArtForum, The New York Times and LA Weekly among others
