Paul Guiragossian

Retrouvailles

1983

Milton Avery, in full Milton Clark Avery, (born March 7, 1893, Altmar, New York, U.S.—died January 3, 1965, New York City), painter noted in his lat...

Since the 1940s, the Egyptian painter Hamed Abdalla is not only a visionary pioneer of modern art for the global south and Arab countries; he is also one of the first of his generation to envision painting as political art and activism. The current display focuses on a specific time of defeat and disillusion for a whole generation of Arab artists and intellectuals, in the aftermath of the “Six Days War” led by Israel and their allies (a war title which a lot of Arab activists consider propagandist, preferring to call it “The Defeat of 1967” or simply the “June 1967 War”). This persistent ideological wound became the symbol of failed dreams for the “Arab Nation” or Arab states alliances – including the short but emblematic Egyptian-Syrian achievement of the United Arab Republic. Another major failure, to which Abdalla will respond through the paintings on display here, is the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat program of “opening up” (Infitah) the Egyptian economy and give way to political compromise with the US and Israel – Abdalla assimilating this period to a vast state of Coma for all Arab people and territories. In a collective statement by a group of Egyptian artists exiled in Paris (including Abdalla), published in the Egyptian local journal Al-Dustur, on 5 December 1977, one can read: “This disaster is far greater than the defeat of June 1967. Rather, it approaches the scale of the disaster that took place in 1948 (…) To destroy the Arab people’s noble three decades-long struggle against imperialism and Zionism (…) Sadat is exploiting the stifling economic crisis that Egypt is currently facing (…) We must resist this betrayal of our nation or be crushed under the wheels of global imperialism for generations to come.” The works presented here reflect Abdalla’s transformation of the Hurrufiyyah aesthetics, to achieve his own way of “Arab Letterism”. It claims for a deeply experimental, non-decorative, politically committed and non-commercial use of the Arabic letter...

Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the ...

Sara Shamma is a renowned painter whose works can be found in both public and private collections around the globe. Shamma was born in Damascus, Syria (197...

Unique Artwork by Fatima El-Hajj. The artist was born in Lebanon in 1953, graduated from the Lebanese University’s Fine Arts Institution, the completed a second degree at the Lening...

Fatima El-Hajj, born in Lebanon in 1953, graduated from the Lebanese University’s Fine Arts Institution, the completed a second degree at the Leningrad Fine Arts Academy, and finally...

Woman, Dog & Spring Flowers, Large Scale Figurative Abstract with Petroglyphs by Cindy Kane Absolutely stunning large scale abstract expressionist painting titled "Bending Forward," by San Francisco and now Martha's Vineyard artist Cindy Kane (American, b. 1957). This unique monumental piece, created in 1987, has a netherworld primal quality depicting a petroglyph-like blonde woman and her animal spirit dog bending toward a flower-strewn earth. Additional petroglyph vignettes add mystery to narrative. Signed and dated "Kane '87" upper right. Unframed. Image size: 66.5"H x 84"W. Her early works were influenced by her memories of these hieroglyphs, and embellished with symbols from her dreams. “I hope [that viewers] get what I get from my work, which is enjoyment, visual satisfaction, and a story — whatever their own story is,” she said. “I can’t give them one, but I can tell my own, and the story they take with them is something personal.” Her early work was influenced by the experience of living and working at the bottom of the Grand Canyon National Park, where she had the opportunity to document Anasazi Indian pictographs in pen and ink drawings. These images would inform her work for years to come. While working in Grand Canyon National Park, she became familiar with the Anasazi Indian ruins...

"The Marriage Proposal " is an abstract style painting by the French artist Maestro Simon Richard Halimi. Through his art, he has a very sharp and unique style of bright and colorful...

Brassai many years before the street art revolution said in 1933 that "it's authority is absolute. The art of the streets............. so ephemeral that it is easily obliterated........

"Abstract Woman" is an original oil painting by Matthew Schaefer. It depicts a woman in bright shapes and lines instead of solid form and naturalism. Matthew Schaefer's painterly sty...

Large-scale abstract of multicolor brains by Bay Area artist Michael Pauker (American, b.1957). Unsigned, but was acquired with a collection of his work. Unframed. Image size: 60"H x...

Large-scale vertical abstract of brains in a neutral color palette of black & white by Bay Area artist Michael Pauker (American, b.1957). Unsigned, but was acquired with a collection...