ANIMA GALLERY, DOHA, QATAR (Oct 8 – Dec 27, 2018) Memory Lapse by the Lebanese Artist Nadim Karam

Nadim Karam, Photo by Najib El Khash / Courtesy of Anima Gallery and the artist

The exhibition 'Memory Lapse', currently on view at Anima Gallery in Doha, features a series of paintings and sculptures that express the power of the connectivity within us, the importance of stories and the will to confront situations much larger than ourselves.

For the Memory Lapse exhibition Nadim Karam found himself in a whirlwind of thoughts. Standing perpetually in the present he is carried through time, and lost in it. He is continuously physically immersed in the present moment, but in his thoughts, the past and future co-exist with that moment. The sculpture 'Memory Lapse' presents an ambiguous space where things lose definition and absurdity comes into play; where Memory and Void stand face to face; both anchored by the void, the generator of all possibilities, and connected by a temporal umbilical cord. The future paradoxically reflects the past, and between them the moment stands still.

Nadim Karam, Trou de Mémoire, 2017, Polished stainless steel. H 201.6 cm x W 146.6 cm x D 21.33 cm (each sculpture) + base (70 x156 x 1.2 cm ). Edition 2/3 / Courtesy of Anima Gallery and the artist

Nadim Karam, Trou de Mémoire, 2017, Polished stainless steel. detail / Courtesy of Anima Gallery and the artist

Nadim Karam, Walking Memory, 2017. Polished stainless steel. H 70 cm x W 57 cm x D 9.6 cm. Edition 4/8 / Courtesy of Anima Gallery and the artist

While painting this series, Karam felt he was "in the eye of a sandstorm, tracing threads of stories and their unfolding imagery through an abstract and constantly shifting airborne landscape." This exhibition, in his own words, "began with Memory Lapse, diverged into Stretching Thoughts, and finished with a Sandstorm. They all form a continuum of expression in my work.”

Paintings and sculptures Stretching Thoughts are about the human mind and the limitless possibilities that thoughts can generate. The artist explains his thought process, "While the body is anchored in the roots of the place, with its context and pressures from political, social, religious and other influences, thoughts reach beyond borders and oceans, trying to grasp of the boundaries of our universe. The series of paintings and sculptures express the power of the connectivity that we carry within us, the importance of stories and the will to confront situations much larger than ourselves.”

Nadim Karam, Cosmic Sandstorm, 2018. Mixed media on canvas. H 140 X W 140 cm / Courtesy of Anima Gallery and the artist

Nadim Karam, Latent Sandstorm, 2018. Mixed media on canvas. H 140 X W 140 cm / Courtesy of Anima Gallery and the artist

Nadim Karam, Sandstorm Dissolution, 2018. Mixed media on canvas. H 140 X W 140 cm / Courtesy of Anima Gallery and the artist

Nadim Karam, Sandstorm Stillness, 2018. Mixed media on canvas. H 140 X W 140 cm / Courtesy of Anima Gallery and the artist

Nadim Karam, Sandstorm Substance, 2018. Mixed media on canvas. H 90 X W 90 cm / Courtesy of Anima Gallery and the artist

Nadim Karam, Sandstorm Surge, 2018. Mixed media on canvas, H 140 X W 140 cm / Courtesy of Anima Gallery and the artist

Nadim Karam, Sandstorm Suspended, 2018. Mixed media on canvas. H 140 X W 140 cm / Courtesy of Anima Gallery and the artist

The exhibition is on view at Anima Gallery until December 27, 2018.