[ad_1]
Published:
Photo: Helene Toresdotter
Hassan Sharif: I Am The Single Work Artist, installation image Malmö Konsthall 2020.
Hassan Sharif was inspired by the large souk areas of his home country, the United Arab Emirates.
Now his abstract art is on display at Malmö Art Gallery.
– The art gallery should be able to function as an international perspective, says Mats Stjernstedt, director of the Malmö art gallery.
During the weekend, the exhibition “I am the one-piece artist” opens with the art of artist Hassan Sharif at the Malmö Art Gallery. Hassan Sharif describes himself as a pioneer in Middle Eastern experimental art.
Mats Stjernstedt, director of Malmö Art Gallery, says that the exhibition follows a development that he wanted to see in the art gallery.
– The art gallery should be able to function as an international perspective, you are in Malmö but what you see is in another part of the world. At the same time, there is a kind of movement opposed to that idea, and that is that Malmö itself is an international city: there are many different cultures here, in Malmö more than 180 languages are spoken. Being and working in Malmö, and being local, means to some extent being international, says Mats Stjernstedt to Aftonbladet.
– When I look back at the history of the art gallery, it can be said that ambition with an international activity has always existed, and that the international artists who have been invited represent an exciting mix together with the local. At the same time, Middle Eastern artists are underrepresented, says Mats Stjernstedt.
Photo: Johan Nilsson / TT
Mats Stjernstedt, director of Malmö Art Gallery, presents one of the works at a press screening of the exhibition.
Two years ago, Malmö Art Gallery exhibited art by Hassan Sharif. Then Mats Stjernstedt opened the artist’s eyes and had the idea of doing a full exhibition.
– Hassan Sharif was a pioneer in experimental contemporary art in the Gulf region. Many young Arabic-speaking artists see him as a forerunner, but at the same time, his art has started to make its way to Europe recently.
– An important reason for the exhibition is, of course, his unique art that was developed throughout his life in the United Arab Emirates. He was radical for his time and tradition, he was an opponent and broke the general beliefs about art and the tradition of art.
Thanks to Hassan Sharif, contemporary art developed in the United Arab Emirates, says Mats Stjernstedt.
– Hassan Sharif believed in violation of current norms that art should exist for the general public and not just for experts and collectors. This meant, among other things, that in the mid-1980s he showed and worked with art in the public sphere of Sharjah and Dubai.
Mats Stjernstedt describes Hassan Sharif’s art as abstract.
– He had advanced thoughts on repetition and how he worked with different materials and how these materials change during the time his country changed. Here the situation when the UAE goes from being a place where there is not much to becoming an extremely exploited place in a global economy, it is a huge development that reflects his work.
When the United Arab Emirates was first formed, he published cartoons in the Dubai daily Akhbar Dubai; in these cartoons he commented on and criticized the commercialism, bureaucracy, and western influence that entered the country and fundamentally changed the place.
Then he stopped with the cartoons and moved on to the sculptures.
– It is an interesting project that extends from the mid-80s until his death in 2016. He considers it a type of urban archeology, evoked by a daily life in his art where there was no limit between life and the work of art that he manufactured .
Marketplaces used as a material bank
– He often worked in a public space, for example in the market neighborhoods near which his studio was located. For him, the market meant inspiration, a bank of materials and an exhibition space. He bought the seemingly useless mass-produced objects and let them become part of his art.
In the mid-1980s, Hassan Sharif held exhibitions in a public space because he wanted to minimize the boundary between a viewer and the artwork and the artist.
– Malmö Art Gallery is open to everyone and is an institution that in all the years has had free admission as a priority, it does not mean that everyone enters automatically through the door.
Mats Stjernstedt says they believe the exhibition has the opportunity to communicate widely.
– It feels important to communicate this exposure to the Arabic-speaking population of Malmö. I wonder how often other cultural backgrounds and experiences are highlighted in public spaces, what is Malmö Art Gallery anyway? This is something we need to pay attention to and work on.
The exhibition will be open until January 10 of next year.
Buy a deal, save up to 90%
Published:
