Ayyam Gallery DIFC is pleased to present 'The Seat of Perception', a solo exhibition of new works by Lebanese artist Walid El-Masri, from 3 December until 10 January 2013.
The paintings of Lebanese artist Walid El-Masri relentlessly examine a single material subject matter – a chair – treating it as a point of departure for greater investigations into the fundamental components of painting and perception, and as a vehicle for experiments in palette and composition. With a vanishing point that lies beyond the canvas’s edge, El-Masri’s chairs are depicted from obscure angles and rendered with rough contours, whilst the lower portions of his compositions are void. For the artist, this emptiness is a space in which one can forget everything.
Toying with depth and space, El-Masri’s work seeks to reconfigure compositional properties in order to explore the myriad variations that result from a repeated action. These variations in portrayal infuse the inanimate chair with a hypnotic power.
Born in 1979 in Syria, Walid El-Masri lives and works in Paris. A graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus, his solo exhibitions include: Ayyam Gallery DIFC, Dubai (2012); Ayyam Gallery Al Quoz, Dubai (2009); Ayyam Gallery Damascus (2008).
