A Group Exhibition SIMPLY WORDS? opens at AB GALLERY Lucerne

Words and their meaning are thought to be culturally specific. Being signifiers they refer to something that may or may not exist in the real world –depending on the nature of the signified– and on the specific language as well as the certain context and person deciphering its meaning. Is language understandable for certain groups only, comprehensible for a few? Or is there still a universal character to the word?

The four artists that have been invited to the group show SIMPLY WORDS? are scrutinizing this question in very different ways. Coming from various cultural backgrounds they all survey the effectiveness of words, creating aesthetic material forms out of a textual layer.

All of the artists, Claudia Meyer, the Swiss artist traveling between Lucerne and Paris, Manal Al Dowayan, a photographer from Saudi-Arabia, Farideh Lashai, an Iranian painter and Simeen Farhat, an artist with a US-Pakistan background, address the manifestation of the written word as it appears in different stages of transformation, expressing itself in many different media.

Simeen Farhat’s work speaks about light, production, craft until it becomes clear what the curved pieces are: they are letters. After a very long process, the artist uses the letters to create aesthetically coherent yet expanding objects. The letters are diwan from poems and writings by well-known poets as Rumi, Saadi, Ghalin or Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Transforming their poetic dynamics into aesthetic manifestations the artist’s aim is to transfer visual energy to the viewer.

Image above: Simeen Farhat / Smoldering, 2011, white urethane cast resin, 95 x 98 x 29 cm. Image Courtesy of AB GALLERY

In her large-size paintings, Farideh Lashai combines the meticulousness of a constantly recurring mantra and heavy paint. The small detailed writing can be only seen at a second glance – at first the words seems to be a grey whole. Like the juxtaposition of heaviness and lightness occurring in works of great poets, the use of the written word is a sign for her lyric influence. Inspired by Orhan Pamuk’s „My Name Is Red“, Farideh Lashai depicts the story oft he tree, which addresses he inherent nature of art in her practice: „I don’t want to be a tree; I want to be its meaning.“

Farideh Lashai / Untitled, 2009, mixed media on canvas, Diptychon (2 x 200x160cm). Image Courtesy of AB GALLERY

Manal Al Dowayan is a young artist from Saudi Arabia, dealing with mostly two societal topics that affect her – the city as a place for virtual communication and its inhabitants and the role of the women in a traditional society. Her self-portraits show a sensivity towards herself and the ways women have to choose; ways between work, tradition and passion. The aim to try to position her identity is also evident in Manal Al Dowayan's light installations in which she asks for a break to allow herself to get clear about her own path.

Manal Al Dowayan / Suspended Together, 2011 , Neon with matt black paint, 100 x 100 cm / Image Courtesy of AB GALLERY

Claudia Meyer works with fragments of words that are taken from her own texts. She creates layers of sentences, letters, puts them together upside down and, the other way around so that the meaning loses its obvious appearance. The artist addresses the decline of individual handwriting due to the rise of electronic media and decreasing use of the paper as a medium. By creating large formatted works of words, texture, light and energy she reactivates the handwritten word and reclaims individuality.

For more information please visit: AB Gallery