Best of 2013 10 Amazing Solo and Retrospective Exhibitions in 2013

Monir Farmanfarmaian 2004-2013

Mapping a chronological trajectory through the different series of works that Monir completed over the past nine years, the exhibition followed the evolution of her signature style aineh-kari mirror mosaics and her investigation into divine cosmology. The principal theme in her art practice of correlating mysticism with numerology, Islamic geometry and architecture remained a quintessential feature within this exhibit.

Monir Farmanfarmaian / Lightning for Nedam 2009, Opening Crowds 10 / Photo Courtesy of the Artist and The Third Line

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‘The Mystic Black Body’, Photographs by Maïmouna Guerresi

A veteran of the Italian art scene, Guerresi was known in the 1980s for the conceptual feminist work that she exhibited internationally, including at the Venice Biennale and Documenta. An encounter with the Senegalese Murid community in 1991, however, profoundly transformed her art and life: she married a member, had a daughter and was immersed in the mystical tradition of West African Islam. As the “The Mystic Black Body” exhibit attests, the experience continues to nourish and inform her art to this day.

Installation view / © Maïmouna Guerresi, Courtesy of the Photo & Contemporary Gallery, Turin

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Beyond Beauty

The exhibition featured pieces from Essaydi's latest collection. Currently based in the USA, Essaydi returns to her Moroccan girlhood through her work, looking back on it as an adult woman caught somewhere between past and present, and as an artist, exploring the language in which to "speak" from this uncertain space. She employs photography intersected with an array of artistic media and practices extending from installation to calligraphy and henna painting in her attempt to challenge Orientalist readings of Arab female identity. In this sense, Beyond Beauty documents how the artist constructs beauty through the assumption of tradition and the past and how she reaches through the windows of history, gender, architecture and culture.

Lalla Essaydi / Harem #2, 2009. Chromogenic print mounted to aluminium with a UV protective laminate. 76.2 x 101.6 cm. Print number 5 of an edition of 15 / Courtesy Kashya Hildebrand and Edwynn Houk Gallery

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Mouneer Al Shaarani’s Solo Exhibition

Mouneer Al- Shaarani is a renowned calligrapher, designer and writer, living and working in Cairo, Egypt. Born in Syria, he graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus (1977). He studied under the great Syrian calligrapher, Badawi Al Dirany.

Mouneer Al Shaarani / Names of Allah, 2012, Gouache on Paper, 150x150 cm / Courtesy of ARTSPACE Dubai

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‘Passages//Toroq’ by Sherin Guirguis

For Passages//Toroq, Sherin presented works in two parallel series that address concerns of identity formation, highlighted predominantly in the wake of the Arab Springs. The title of the exhibition refered to both the literary and historical passages that are quoted in the work as well as the social passageways, or toroq, forged by the revolution. Crucial to its people, the revolution defies the political, social and cultural standards that have been imposed by and grown out of colonization. Sherin referenced historical developments in Egypt in order to have a clearer insight to the present.

Sherin Guirguis / Untitled (Bab Huda), 2013, Mixed media on hand cut paper, 274.32x182.88 cm / Courtesy of The Third Line and the Artist

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‘Down the rabbit hole’ by Amina Benbouchta

With this series of photographies Amina Benbouchta obtains an excess of reality, as if her paintings had managed to make cost its excesses. It is in these elegant sets, in these familiar landscapes, where any woman can be recognized, wherever they live and whatever their condition. All those women who in some moment have been or they have felt to be an object without face, impersonal, invisible in a domestic jail of gold.

Amina Benbouchta / Rabbit Hole 01, 2012. Fine Art Baryté Print, 50x40 cm. Unique / Courtesy of the Artist and Sabrina Amrani Art Gallery

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A Solo Exhibition by Iranian Artist Reza Derkashani

Renowned for his vibrant, richly-textured canvases, Derakshani draws inspiration from his Iranian heritage, while simultaneously exploring modern-day conceptual and philosophical preoccupations. Marrying a vivid colour palette with esoteric mediums such as tar and sand, Derakshani held his first solo exhibition at the age of nineteen and has since, gone on to captivate critics, collectors and art-lovers worldwide with his unique creations.

Salsali Private Museum showing Derakshani Reza, Installation view / Courtesy of SPM

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‘No. 10’ by Rana Begum

Rana Begum's third solo show, No.10, was exhibiting metal sculptures coated with vibrant colours that push the relationship between colour, form and three-dimensional space. Taking inspiration from urban order and disorder, Begum created surfaces and planes that are luscious and seductive. To engage with these works the viewer must walk around them, embracing the materiality and making the viewing of the work a visceral and physical experience.

Rana Begum / No.418, 2013, Paint on mirror finish steel, 65x40x21 cm / Courtesy of the Artist and The Third Line

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I saw two crows building a nest under his hat

"My work portrays mere feeling of Hope and Peace in the paradigm of hubbub, drones and uncertainty. We are living in a time when our internal and international sovereignty is on the verge of demolition. Over the years we have compromised and made peace with those who feared us and we have become so numb that we continue to build and live under gazillion scared shadows." (Imrana Tanveer)

Imrana Tanveer / Black Cat, White Cat, paper and thread, 3x4 feet, 2013 / Courtesy of the Artist

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Summa - Bosniaca

The exhibition 'Summa - Bosniaca', composed of Emric's recent paintings, prints and drawings, summarizes the characteristic shapes of the Bosnian landscape and cultural monuments, that merges into 'the vision of Bosnia', the idea often explored by established Bosnian artists such as Mersad Berber, Dzevad Hozo i Safet Zec.

Sead Emric / Summa - Bosniaca / Courtesy of the Artist

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