Ayyam Gallery Dubai (11 & 12 Alserkal Avenue) is pleased to announce Illuminated Space and Documentary Drawings of the Kafr Qasem Massacre, the concurrent solo shows of New York-based artist Samia Halaby. These side-by-side exhibitions present Halaby’s latest abstract paintings alongside a series of drawings from a long-standing project that led to her most recent publication Drawing the Kafr Qasem Massacre (Amsterdam: Schilt Publishing, 2017).
Following a 2014 critically acclaimed retrospective at Ayyam Gallery Dubai (11 Alserkal Avenue) - which travelled to the Beirut Exhibition Center in 2015 - Halaby produced a new series of paintings with several directives in mind. Illuminated Space highlights the artist’s latest experiments in abstraction, which unfolded over the course of two years.
The initial works of the series reflect her interest in biomorphic forms, abstract shapes inspired by the contours of living organisms. In paintings like Flowers (2015), for example, Halaby focuses on the soft edges of plant life by incorporating shading, and arrives at varying degrees of luminosity with contrasting hues.
