BASSAM AL-SABAH USES DIGITAL ANIMATION, PAINTING, SCULPTURE AND TEXTILES TO CONVEY INTRICATE VISIONS OF WAR, RESISTANCE AND PERSEVERANCE. HIS WORK EXPLORES THEMES SUCH AS DISPLACEMENT, NOSTALGIA AND PERSONAL MYTHOLOGY THROUGH REFERENCING JAPANESE ANIME CARTOONS, WHICH WERE DUBBED INTO ARABIC AND BROADCAST THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST – WHERE BASSAM SPENT HIS CHILDHOOD – FROM THE 1980S TO THE PRESENT DAY. MANY OF THESE TV PROGRAMMES FEATURED IMAGERY OF REVOLUTION, WAR AND EXILE, AND THEREFORE HAVE A HEIGHTENED POLITICAL MEANING WITHIN HIS PRACTICE.
ARTIST BIO
Bassam Al-Sabah lives and works in Belfast and Dublin. He completed a BA in Visual Art Practice from Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (2016) and was awarded the Temple Bar Gallery + Studios Graduate Residency Award (2018-2019) and the RHA Graduate Studio Award (2016-2017). Recent solo exhibitions include Dissolving Beyond The Worm Moon, Solstice Arts Centre, Navan (2019); Illusions of Love Dyed by Sunset, The LAB, Dublin (2018); and The dust carried me into the watchful summer, Eight Gallery, Dublin (2017). Recent group exhibitions include For Refusal, Transmediale, Berlin (2021), and A Fiction Close To Reality, IMMA, Dublin (2019).
Reaching your wandering to my eye, 2023, Bassam Al-Sabah, 22.5cm (h) x 40cm (w), C-Type Fuji Pearl
Wandering, Wandering With a Sun on My Back, Bassam Al-Sabah, 2018, Video HD, 16:40. Film still
AS SUCCESSIVE GENERATIONS OF ARABS HAVE GROWN UP WITH THESE ANIME SERIES, BASSAM’S WORKS BOTH CONNECT WITH A FEELING OF COLLECTIVE NOSTALGIA AND AMALGAMATE NARRATIVES WHERE FACT AND FICTION, HISTORICAL TRAUMA, AND QUEER POSSIBILITY CAN INTERSECT.
An installation shot of work A Fiction Close to Reality, Bassam Al-Sabah, IMMA, 2019
An installation shot of the work Dissolving Beyond The Worm Moon, Bassam Al-Sabah, Solstice Arts Centre, Navan, Co. Meath, Ireland, Sep 2019
TITLE
However there are flashes
ARTIST
Bassam Al Sabah
ABOUT THE WORK
However there are flashes is a computer-generated portrait of a shimmering flower. Not intended as an authentic portrayal of a particular species, this image instead invites an encounter with a flower in all its artificial beauty, its face providing an unsettling, unblinking stare.
This work is printed on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag, a finely-textured cotton paper that brings out the image’s high density and vivid deep colours.
*Please note this work does not come framed.
DATE
2021
DIMENSIONS
40cm (h) x 50cm (w)
MEDIUM
Archival print on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag
ORIGINAL WORK / EDITION
Edition of 5, authenticated by the artist
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Bassam Al-Sabah uses digital animation, painting, sculpture and textiles to convey intricate visions of war, resistance and perseverance, and to explore themes such as displacement, nostalgia and personal mythology. His work references Japanese anime cartoons, which were dubbed into Arabic and broadcast throughout the Middle East from the 1980s to the present day.
DELIVERY AND POSTAGE
Shipping cost will be quoted and confirmed via email. When your order has been placed we will be in touch with you to discuss the best options for shipping your purchase.
FRAMING
We’re happy to be able to offer framing of your purchase. When adding your purchase to cart, you will be given the option to add framing. When your order has been placed we will be in touch with you to discuss the best options for framing.
My mind yields easily, To the unrelenting pressure of the sun, 2021, Bassam Al-Sabah, 40 x 50cm, archival print on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag
