Tabari Artspace Gallery presented the dual exhibition of Mohammed Kazem and Hassan Sharif.
Hassan Sharif
Considered the grandfather of conceptual art and experimental practice in the Middle East, Hassan Sharif produces a diverse range of work that spans performance, installation, drawing, painting, and assemblage. His series “Objects”, begun in 1982, consists of sculptural installations that, manipulating found waste materials such as spoons, nylon rope, plastic sandals, and old newspapers, draw on ideas associated with the Fluxus movement. Sharif, who begun his artistic career drawing caricatures and cartoons, has witnessed the transformation of Dubai from a nomadic Bedouin society into a hub of consumerism, and works such as Weave 2 (2012)—composed of detritus found on the streets of Dubai—reflect and critique the modern culture of mass production and consumption in the Middle Eastern metropolis.
Mohammed Kazem
Mohammed Kazem’s practice is characterised by the use of reductive elements in repeating formats. A leading figure in the ‘Second Generation’ of contemporary artists in the UAE, initially a painter under the tutelage of Hassan Sharif, Mohammed Kazem has developed an artistic practice that encompasses video, photography and performance to find new ways of apprehending his environment and experiences. Kazem responds to geographical location, materiality and the elements as a means to assert his subjectivity, particularly in relation to the rapid pace of modernisation in the United Arab Emirates since the country’s founding. Also active as a curator, he has assembled 14 exhibitions of young artists from the UAE.