Shaikha Al Mazrou: Red Stack, 2022

Lawrie Shabibi presents Red Stack, 2022 by Shaikha Al Mazrou (b. 1988, UAE) at Frieze Sculpture 2022 in Regent's Park, London. The public art exhibition runs alongside Frieze London and Frieze Masters and will be on view until 13 November 2022.

Shaikha Al Mazrou's sculptures are expressions of materiality—articulations of tension and the interplay between form and content. Central to her practice is her irreverent use of material and its apparent contradictions, using durable materials that are made to resemble something soft, pliable or ephemeral.

Fascinated by notions of physical space, Al Mazrou’s sculptures and installations materialise as simple gestures that emphasise the representation of tension, weight and space whilst borrowing formally from minimalism and intellectually from conceptual art, colour theory and geometric abstraction.

Red Stack develops the forms and language of Al Mazrou’s inflated and folded steel sculptures, which resemble helium balloons or giant displays of origami.

Shaikha Al Mazrou, Red Stack, 2022, Steel Armature with painted fibreglass resin coat, Courtesy of the artist and Lawrie Shabibi, Photo by Thierry Bal

Shaikha Al Mazrou

Shaikha Al Mazrou was born in the UAE in 1988 and received her MFA in 2014 from the Chelsea College of Fine Art, University of the Arts London. Before that, she studied at the College of Fine Arts and Design, University of Sharjah. She is currently a visiting assistant professor at New York University, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

In 2021, Al Mazrou presented The Plinth (2021) - a large-scale public sculpture commissioned under the Expo 2020 Dubai Public Art Programme and intended to remain on-site as part of the future city of District 2020. Recent and upcoming solo exhibitions include Red Stack, Frieze Sculpture with Lawrie Shabibi, London, 2022; Rearranging the Riddle, Maraya Art Centre Sharjah, Sharjah, 2020; Expansion/Extension, Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai, 2019; Solo Projects, Abu Dhabi Art with Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai, 2018.

Shaikha Al Mazrou has participated in a number of group exhibitions including: Art Dubai with Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai, 2022; Portrait Of A Nation II: Beyond Narratives, organised by ADMAF, Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi, 2022; Desert X AlUla, Al Ula, Saudi Arabia, 2022; Paulo Cunha e Silva Art Prize Finalist Exhibition, Galeria Municipal do Porto, Porto, Portugal, 2020; Upsurge: Waves, Colour And Illusion, Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai, 2020; MATERIALIZE, Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai, 2019; Artissima, Dialogue section, with Lawrie Shabibi, Torino, 2018; From Barcelona to Abu Dhabi: Works from the MACBA Art Collection in Dialogue with the Emirates, organised by ADMAF, Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi, 2018; Beyond: Emerging Artists, Abu Dhabi Art, 2017; Art of Nature, Abu Dhabi Festival, Umm Al Emarat Park, Abu Dhabi, 2017; Homage Without An Homage, curated by Cristiana De Marchi, Art Dubai, Julius Baer Lounge, Dubai, 2017; Faculty Show, Al Rewaq Gallery, College of Fine Art, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, 2017; Abu Dhabi Art, with Lawrie Shabibi, Abu Dhabi, 2016; Past Forward: Contemporary Art from the Emirates, Bolivar Art Gallery, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA, 2016.

Shaikha Al Mazrou is a finalist in the Paulo Cunha e Silva Art Prize (2020). In 2018 Al Mazrou was awarded the first Artist's Garden commission by the Jameel Arts Center for her public piece Green house: Interior yet Exterior, Manmade yet Natural (2018). She has also been commissioned by Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (ADMAF), Abu Dhabi Art & Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority and The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC).