Athier: After Denudation

6 April - 27 May 2017

Ayyam Gallery Beirut is pleased to present After Denudation, the solo exhibition of painter Athier Mousawi. 

 

Curated by Dr. Bahaa Abudaya, a scholar of modern and contemporary Arab art, After Denudation highlights new paintings by the artist that take microscopic images of sand as a starting point for a reconsideration of spatial identity and the natural and man-made phenomena that shape it. Continuing his exploration of abstraction as a means of recording reality, specifically shifts in space and time, Athier also places an emphasis on form in his latest body of work, using the physical characteristics and structure of the canvas as visual devices.  

 

Fascinated by the rapid growth and development that have transformed the Gulf, Athier takes the urban development of desert terrains as the basis for a detailed investigation of the intricate workings of nature, particularly its inbuilt system of generation, erosion, and replenishment. The artist’s latest series contrasts the natural processes that occur in the formation of these environments with the ongoing expansion of cities.