Sabrina Amrani Gallery attends for the first time an art fair in London, participating in the section London First of Art14 London, presenting art from South Asian artists along with works by Arab Mediterranean artists. From the minimal handmade drawings by Waqas Khan (Pakistan) to the high end special effects videos by Larissa Sansour (Palestine), through the elegant painting on glass by Nicène Kossentini (Tunisia) and the ongoing series of memorial plaques with absurd open ended statements by UBIK (India).

Art14 is the second edition of London's new art fair held in the iconic Olympia Grand. The fair presents over 180 leading modern and contemporary galleries with a significant presence from Asia, Middle East and South America as well as Europe and US.

The gallery from Madrid takes part of Art14 London, the second edition of London's new art fair with 180 galleries from around the globe.

image The booth of Sabrina Amrani Gallery at Art14 in London / Courtesy of Sabrina Amrani Gallery

Sabrina Amrani’s booth hosts in Art14 the special universe of Jameel Prize 3 shortlisted artist Waqas Khan, currently on show at the Victoria and Albert Museum until 21 April. The Pakistani artist gives a twist to the traditional miniaturist technique of South Asia. He uses a single instrument to draw his works: a Rotring accurate marker 0.1, to create freehand, point by point compositions seemingly abstract but that actually make the viewer travel through the creative process of the pakistani artist, a sort of dreamlike trance that requires maximum concentration from Waqas during days, weeks or months. Khan’s works are created from conceptual ideas taken from the cultures, traditions and myths of South Asia, but also from the muslim, sufi and hindu identities. He works small scale miniature in big scale format.

image Waqas Khan. Untitled II, 2014. Archival ink on wasli paper. 76x50 cm. Unique / Courtesy of Sabrina Amrani Gallery

image Waqas Khan. Untitled I, 2014. Archival ink on wasli paper / Courtesy of Sabrina Amrani Gallery

The exhibition continues with a series of works by Tunisian artist Nicène Kossentini titled 'Shakl', which in Arabic means both 'motion' and 'shape'. A series of glass panels on which the diacritics—written with ink—of ancient texts of Arabic philosophy are projected onto an empty white canvas. The letters are not copied. Their absence clear the text of its body and its senses. Graphic signs drawn on the glass panels and their shadows floating behind, over the white canvas, can be perceived as muted movements where rhythm is repeated until madness without finding the meeting point and the meaning.

image The booth of Sabrina Amrani Gallery at Art14 in London / Courtesy of Sabrina Amrani Gallery

Larissa Sansour takes us to the complexity of the Palestinian reality through cinematographic and pop culture language. Sabrina Amrani presents two of the most charismatic videos of the artist: A Space Exodus and Nation Estate. 'A Space Exodus', is a video with reminiscences to the famous movie '2001: Odyssey in Space' by Stanley Kubrik, in whom the artist, in an astronaut suit, is the first Palestinian citizen in treading on the Moon, imposing herself as the leader of the Palestinauts. A Moon who turns into a new Palestine: a land without people for a people without land. "Jerusalem, we have a problem" is the beginning of the short of five minutes in which Sansour reflects the happiness of conquering a land and the solitary experience of Palestine in the exile: Jerusalem answers only with a silence. "A small step for a Palestinian, a great leap for humanity" it is the motto that the artist chose to treat with humor and irony on the current situation of Palestinian people.

The video ‘Nation Estate’ consists of a 9-minute sci-fi short film offering a clinically dystopian, yet humorous approach to the deadlock in the Middle East. With its glossy mixture of computer generated imagery, live actors and an arabesque electronica soundtrack, the Nation Estate film explores a veritcal solution to Palestinian statehood. Palestinians have their state in the form of a single skyscraper: the Nation Estate. One colossal high-rise houses the entire Palestinian population - now finally living the high life.

image Larissa Sansour. Nation Estate, Olive tree / Courtesy of Sabrina Amrani Gallery

Finally, UBIK presents Rant#, an ongoing series that takes the concept of an 'anonymous saying' as a departure point to explore the notions of catch-phrases. The aesthetics of the works are modeled deliberately as a 'memorial plaque', in an attempt to explore the idea of a legacy. The texts used are mainly open ended absurd statements or questions, derived from UBIK's facebook status, twitter updates and journals.

image UBIK, Rant#18 - Contemporary Joke, 2013. Laser engraved wood. 50x35 cm. Unique / Courtesy of Sabrina Amrani Gallery


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