Posted by Zelal Abdullateef

Walid El-Masri
‘The Seat of Perception III’
Ayyam Gallery Jeddah

Ayyam Gallery Jeddah is pleased to invite you to the opening preview of ‘The Seat of Perception III’, a solo exhibition of paintings by Lebanese artist Walid El-Masri, yesterdays evening, Tuesday 4 June at 6pm.

Lebanese artist Walid El-Masri has in recent years concentrated his attention on a single material subject for his dynamic canvases: a chair. In each of his paintings, he pares down the architecture of the chair to a simple and evocative configuration of shapes and lines, and positions it so that this form is unexpectedly truncated or cropped by the edge of the canvas. Patches or swathes of bright colour punctuate the lower portions of the paintings, serving to counterbalance the decentralised position of the subject and to harmonise each composition.

Through his continuing focus on the unassuming but immediately recognisable form of a chair, El-Masri explores different configurations of colour, pattern and texture in his work. Although ostensibly treating the same subject matter, each of his paintings has a vitality and movement of its own, animated by the movement of expressively applied paint. El-Masri’s paintings defy categorisation as either figurative or abstract: the suggestion of spatial perspective achieved by his elegantly delineated shapes is offset by the flatness of the picture plane and areas of two-dimensional pattern.

Born in 1979 in Syria, Walid El-Masri lives and works in Paris. A graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus, his solo exhibitions include: Ayyam Gallery Beirut (2013); Ayyam Gallery DIFC, Dubai (2012); Ayyam Gallery Al Quoz, Dubai (2009); Ayyam Gallery Damascus (2008).

Exhibition Facts

Preview: 4 June 2013, 7pm
Exhibition Dates: 4 June – 10 July 2013
Location: Bougainvillea Center Jeddah, Gate 2, Third Floor, King’s Road, next to Etoile and Stars Avenue, King’s Road, Al-Shat’ta
District, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

For more information, please contact us at +966 2 613 4111 / +966 2 613 2011 or at: jeddah@ayyamgallery.com, or visit www.ayyamgallery.com