Art Sawa showcases the Second solo exhibition in the UAE of the talented Lebanese artist Zena Assi and titled Mass Movement.
The core of Freud's "crowd behaviour" theory is that people who are in a crowd act differently from those who are thinking individually. The minds of the group would merge to form a way of thinking and one becomes less aware of the true nature of one's actions.
This exhibition is an attempt to portray the psychology of the crowd, whether it is called heritage, civilization, social organization, universality, globalization, urbanism, fashion, mainstream,
The habitat and the society are both subjects to an accumulation factor, forming together a certain mass that has its own thought and behaviour, requirements and regulations.
The direction, distance, sequence, pace, order and rhythm can be visually translated... In these spaces there is compression and a taut of energy, a behaviour pattern that overcomes thee single-valued, the expected and prevalent that prevails over the exceptional and genuine.
It is a collective effort and energy to be simply and passively common.
Assi is born in 1974, Tripoli, Lebanon and since lives and works in Beirut, Lebanon. Assi's sharply defined portraits of still impression elongated and often melancholic figures of young men and women call for attention alongside her cluttered cityscapes that are crammed with wires, television antennas and buildings stacked precariously on top of one another. Her canvasses are filled with interwoven lines set against bold fields of colour abstractions. Lines of varied width and texture swirl rhythmically beyond the picture plane thus echoing the sense of a dynamic energy.
Zena Assi never makes preparatory sketches and instead begins by priming her canvases directly. The base layer is created using mixed media followed by adding different textures and materials; tissue paper, cloth, broken brushes to name a few. The result is contrasting layers of thick impasto. The artist often finishes off with a layer of oil colours which give her canvasses their peculiar, vigorous luminosity.
"To fall short of perfection is not a failure but a process of erasure. It is the trace left by the ineluctable diminution that accompanies the realization of the drawing."
E. Schiele, painter "Those moments of heady exaltation which all creators experience and whose shorter or longer duration is the only thing that distinguishes the artist from the dreamer."
G. Richter, painter
"I used to hate it. Now I love it, this chaos we have here."
Zena Assi
Amel B. Makkawi, Founder of ART Sawa: says Mass Movement is a valuable contribution and interesting concept to the artistic agenda and the exhibition presents an excellent platform for this talented emerging artist.
ART Sawa, which translates into Art Together, is a venue that facilitates and fosters interaction, dialogue and inspiration through art, between artists and the public across the Middle East. The gallery is considered one of the most significant galleries in the region as it offers a distinctive art platform for artists from the Middle East, North Africa and neighbouring countries.
Says Makkawi: "In setting up Art Sawa, it was my vision to create a space where people could freely interact and discuss the issues raised through art, and I am extremely excited to host this Zena 's exhibition.
