ArtNews
Review - November
Hazem Taha
Mirage
Albareh Art Gallery &
Albareh Art Cafe Dubai
26 September - 16 October
Mirage
Albareh Art Gallery &
Albareh Art Cafe Dubai
26 September - 16 October
Join artBahrain.org
November 2010
About Hazem Taha
Since the early 80's Hazem Taha has been working as an artist, designer and teacher of visual communications design in Germany, Egypt and now in Bahrain. After developing the series of "Stick figures and portrait ghosts" in 1987, Hazem moved to Basel in 1988. This was the beginning of a series of new works whereby the paintings started to be superimposed with repetitive patterns.
In 2000, Hazem continued to compose his works by the Juxtaposition of patterns leading to his own series of Omar El-Khayyam (A one man exhibition showcased at Space cream Art Gallery in Cairo). As he said, Hazem was inspired by his parents who are both artists. He learned from his father the importance of building layers while constructing a painting and he learned from his mother the technique of painting abstract figures in a dynamic or three dimensional perspectives.
He has more than 80 products and public art projects in Africa, India and many other European and Arab Countries. He has been involved in Photomontage exhibitions in Cairo, Marseilles and Bonn, as well as painting exhibitions in various European countries, such as Sweden and Spain.
Since the early 80's Hazem Taha has been working as an artist, designer and teacher of visual communications design in Germany, Egypt and now in Bahrain. After developing the series of "Stick figures and portrait ghosts" in 1987, Hazem moved to Basel in 1988. This was the beginning of a series of new works whereby the paintings started to be superimposed with repetitive patterns.
In 2000, Hazem continued to compose his works by the Juxtaposition of patterns leading to his own series of Omar El-Khayyam (A one man exhibition showcased at Space cream Art Gallery in Cairo). As he said, Hazem was inspired by his parents who are both artists. He learned from his father the importance of building layers while constructing a painting and he learned from his mother the technique of painting abstract figures in a dynamic or three dimensional perspectives.
He has more than 80 products and public art projects in Africa, India and many other European and Arab Countries. He has been involved in Photomontage exhibitions in Cairo, Marseilles and Bonn, as well as painting exhibitions in various European countries, such as Sweden and Spain.
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MIRAGE, a mini retrospective exhibition by Bahrain-based Egyptian artist Hazem Taha, last September showcased the artist’s oeuvre arranged chronologically, from the earliest work displayed at Albareh Café gallery to his recent work at Albareh Art gallery.
His works from 1988 to 2006 exhibit a sophisticated and sympathetic grasp of his Egyptian and European cultural roots that enabled him to develop a sequence of thoughts, which helped him work out formal and pictorial solutions - formal and symbolic analogues based on his personal experience in life.
His 2010 paintings, Vanishing Things, are assemblages of figurative paintings overlaid with reticular Islamic grid. But the grid created by Hazem was a cohabitation of circles arranged in a pattern where colour changed depending on the image underneath and as the cells fuse, the invariable vertical or horizontal configurations form a degree of Phyllotaxis.
This highly technical rendering required the artist’s devoted energy which leads the viewer to question where his principal focus of attention lies as Vanishing Things exposes his appetite for system of order and the pleasure one can find, in being lost.
Because underneath the veil of Phyllotaxis, the human figure emerge with genuine painterliness. In near-monochrome, regardless of size, Hazem consistently presents a figure with gestural spontaneity which brilliantly captures the sense of hand at work.
Given the look and timing of Hazem’s stylistic revision, on his ‘Face’ series, one would be tempted to characterise the development of neo-expressionist breakout. Yet Hazem’s ‘Face,’ in origin and effect, stand far from any expressionist prototypes because neither anger nor imperiousness can be detected in his manipulations of the human face and its control - not willfulness that one reads in every stroke. The facial deformations and dislocations never translate as the artist’s alienation from the ‘other,’ nor is the viewer shocked or entreated into emphatically experiencing Hazem’s relationship to humanity by having taken liberties with the schema of representation to near-abstract figures.
Thus, Vanishing Things shows that the relentless analytical spirit of Hazem led him to break the conventional definitions of aesthetics. He balanced contradictions and removed aesthetic boundaries while being uncompromising with the form. The human head/figure focuses on the reality of the present moment - where one can find pleasure in being lost; while grasping the timeless system of order - the Islamic grid. Vanishing Things is a creative reconciliation of opposites by Hazem Taha. - Maria Vivero
His works from 1988 to 2006 exhibit a sophisticated and sympathetic grasp of his Egyptian and European cultural roots that enabled him to develop a sequence of thoughts, which helped him work out formal and pictorial solutions - formal and symbolic analogues based on his personal experience in life.
His 2010 paintings, Vanishing Things, are assemblages of figurative paintings overlaid with reticular Islamic grid. But the grid created by Hazem was a cohabitation of circles arranged in a pattern where colour changed depending on the image underneath and as the cells fuse, the invariable vertical or horizontal configurations form a degree of Phyllotaxis.
This highly technical rendering required the artist’s devoted energy which leads the viewer to question where his principal focus of attention lies as Vanishing Things exposes his appetite for system of order and the pleasure one can find, in being lost.
Because underneath the veil of Phyllotaxis, the human figure emerge with genuine painterliness. In near-monochrome, regardless of size, Hazem consistently presents a figure with gestural spontaneity which brilliantly captures the sense of hand at work.
Given the look and timing of Hazem’s stylistic revision, on his ‘Face’ series, one would be tempted to characterise the development of neo-expressionist breakout. Yet Hazem’s ‘Face,’ in origin and effect, stand far from any expressionist prototypes because neither anger nor imperiousness can be detected in his manipulations of the human face and its control - not willfulness that one reads in every stroke. The facial deformations and dislocations never translate as the artist’s alienation from the ‘other,’ nor is the viewer shocked or entreated into emphatically experiencing Hazem’s relationship to humanity by having taken liberties with the schema of representation to near-abstract figures.
Thus, Vanishing Things shows that the relentless analytical spirit of Hazem led him to break the conventional definitions of aesthetics. He balanced contradictions and removed aesthetic boundaries while being uncompromising with the form. The human head/figure focuses on the reality of the present moment - where one can find pleasure in being lost; while grasping the timeless system of order - the Islamic grid. Vanishing Things is a creative reconciliation of opposites by Hazem Taha. - Maria Vivero
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Hazem Taha
Shaikh Rashid with Hazem