This year Galerie Janine Rubeiz is bringing to Art Dubai 2013 two major installations by young Lebanese artists Ali Cherri and Marya Kazoun.
Beirut-born visual artist and designer Ali Cherri’s Le Pyromane installation uses hundreds of matches to spell out: “je ne suis pas pyromane” (I am not a pyromaniac). Ali Cherri’s installation was created in response to reports of self-immolation due to political upheavals. In the installation after the matches are placed setting the type, the matches are then lit, thus burning the letters spelling out “I am not a pyromaniac”. “The installation 'Le Pyromane' (the arsonist) states what this act is not the result of: an obsessive desire to set fire to things.' says Ali Cherri.
Ali
THE SLEEP OF REASON PRODUCES MONSTERS
Installation by Ali CHERRI
DEATH FROM THE SKIES
From Iraq to Gaza to Yemen to Afghanistan to the United States, the sky has become a place of threat. The dependence on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles —also called drones— for aerial bombardments, mass destruction and assassinations, began in 2002 and has been increasing at an incredible rate since. The drone’s promise of precision killing and perfect safety for operators is seductive. But these remotely piloted “killer robots” roaming the skies, observing and “surgically” eliminating subjects are disturbing. Drone attacks are nasty, vengeful, pointed, cold, and calculated.
THE BIRDS WITHOUT BIRDS
Taxidermy wings hold the uncanny duality of being dead yet alive: they are objects of fascination, calling to mind the terrifying presence of attacking birds. But the absence of the body of the bird is an incarnation of the fact that, on a symbolic level, something “has not worked out;” something is missing.
It’s a haunting flock of birds, spectral vultures, hanging in the air, waiting to prey on the enemy. That enemy is not always imaginary; the enemy is always out there, always somewhere, endlessly waiting.
The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, Ali Cherri, 2013 - Brass, metal, taxidermy wings - Various sizes
co-produced by Galerie Imane Farès (Paris) and Galerie Janine Rubeiz (Beirut)
ART DUBAI - Galerie Janine Rubeiz - Booth J8
Marya Kazoun’s “Self-Portrait” is an installation/performance in progress made of fabric, beads, thread and glass of variable dimension. Her works are conceived out of need to convey a strong emotional and visual impact. Black and mirrored elements creep out of the wall. Perhaps roots, spiders, dragons or scorpions…Although abstract, her pieces are acutely personal and based on contrasting qualities. They often allude to fear, menace, beauty, seduction and eroticism. This is achieved through her references to tacit collective perceptions of the dark. Her works can be unsettling and disorienting to the viewer. The sewing aspect of her work is her attempt to keep things unified as a kind of psychological repair.