EXHIBITION AT THE GALLERY ISABELLE VAN DEN EYNDE (March 18 – May 6, 2019) Hassan Sharif: Blue

Untitled, 2016, Bucket, tissue paper, glue and oil paint, 30 x 33 x 28 cm / Courtesy of Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde

Spanning multiple bodies of work—paintings, Objects, Boxes, Experiments and even Semi-System-like pieces—Blue reveals how Sharif’s almost irreverent engagement with colour exemplifies his entire philosophy of art making. A tireless experimenter who pushed the limits of his own exploration, Sharif deployed a double-barrelled strategy with colour—both subverting and elevating it. Shifting, morphing, sabotaged or framed for the viewer to ponder, colour is a “red thread” weaving across four decades of work. By considering Sharif’s practice through the specific prism of colour, Blue prompts us to re-examine the complexity of Sharif’s vision, providing a closer look at some of the impulses and contradictions that shaped it.

While colour is leveraged to both rigorous and random ends—the precision of individually painted squares in the series Squares (2013) and the wild inventiveness of Cadmium Red Hue (2010)—it clearly constitutes a site of invention for Sharif. Colours are complicit with the artist’s will to play. He revels in tricking our vision, stripping colours of their meaning, or endowing them with the status of material.

Hassan Sharif, Shoes, 2016. Shoes, slippers, glue, paper, cotton rope and cardboard, 235 x 230 x 35 cm / Courtesy of Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde

Hassan Sharif, Cushion, 2015. Cushion, concrete wrapped in aluminium, ribbon, cotton rope, wire and acrylic, 62 x 67 x 10 cm / Courtesy of Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde

Hassan Sharif, Blue, 2016. Set of 3, Tissue, glue and oil paint, 28 x 21 x 5 cm each, 28 x 72 x 5 cm overall / Courtesy of Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde

Hassan Sharif, Magenta No. 1, 2014, Jute, papier-mâché, cotton string and acrylic paint, 216 x 118 x 7 cm / Courtesy of Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde

Hassan Sharif (1951-2016)

Hassan Sharif made a vital contribution to conceptual art and experimental practice in the Middle East through 40 years of performance, installation, drawing, painting and assemblage. Sharif graduated from The Byam Shaw School of Art (now part of Central Saint Martins) in 1984 and returned to the UAE shortly after.

In addition to his own practice, he also encouraged and supported several generations of artists in the Emirates. Sharif was a founding member of the Emirates Fine Arts Society (founded in 1980) and the Art Atelier in the Youth Theatre and Arts in Dubai. In 2007, he was one of the four artists to establish The Flying House, a Dubai institution for promoting contemporary Emirati artists. His works are held in the collections of the Sharjah Art Foundation; mamco, Geneva, Centre Pompidou, Paris; Tate, London; Guggenheim New York and Abu Dhabi; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha; Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah and M+ Museum, Hong Kong, among others. In 2017, a major retrospective of his works, entitled Hassan Sharif: I am the Single Work Artist, curated by Hoor Al Qasimi was held at Sharjah Art Foundation. This retrospective will travel to the Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art in Autumn 2019 and to KW Institute for Contemporary Art in February 2020.