Self-portraits that employ a model

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With popular culture dominated by cinema and photography, and the conventions of catwalk beauty they favor, abstract figuration can be a challenging form to appreciate.

“Elegy,” the solo show of Nadia Safieddine’s oils now up at Agial Art Gallery, offers a way into the form. These nine recent works are abstract figurative studies of the human form.

In her catalogue essay, which seeks to contrast Safieddine’s practice with the theoretically informed work of many contemporary artists,Marie Tomb describes the work in this show as “unabashedly rooted in the exploration of the personal, via the technique of oil painting.”

Though the series is comprised completely of self-portraits, the artist apparently employed models to complete the canvases, having them dress in her clothes, and staging scenes to, as the catalogue states, “paint her inner self.”

In these works, faint faces lay hidden beneath clumps of oil paint applied by seemingly frenetic brushstrokes, which quite literally project from the canvas, lending the work a three-dimensional quality.

Sentiments of violence and melancholy appear to be imbued within the works.

In one untitled piece from 2015, the unbridled mingling of dark oils engulfs the canvas in the same fashion that a hurricane would decimate a landscape. Scrutinizing this storm of color and texture, the vague visage of a man emerges. His slightly unhinged jaw and wistful off-center gaze nearly melt into the background.

Safieddine is a pianist as well as a painter and her experience as a musician seems to have permeated these works. It’s as though she manages to transpose the intangible sonic qualities of music onto canvas.

Brush strokes in the “Irrite et Fier” (Irritated and Proud, 150×140 cm) retain a discordant intensity that recalls the brooding melodies and raucous chords of a Richard Wagner composition.

Tinges of yellow, white, blue (among other colors) aggressively collide with daubs of black paint. In some cases, these collisions seem to only add to the visual noise of the piece. In others, the colors fuse to form ambiguous yet discernable facial features.

There’s something not quite human about the figure in “Le Vilain” (The Villain, 200×186 cm). Distinguished by its pointed ears, scrunched facial expression and stocky build, this disagreeable character seems to emerge from a relatively muted background to impose itself on the space.

The word jarring comes to mind when eyeing the fiendish-looking figure inhabiting “Predateur” (Predator 2015, 200x180cm). Daubs of flesh-colored paint congeal to form its disfigured mug. From beneath its black cloak, a vulnerable looking face peers out at the viewer.

“Lycanthrope” (Werewolf) (2014, 190×170 cm) is a far cry from werewolves that stalk schlock movies and other enclaves of popular culture. Safieddine transforms the hybrid of wolf and man into a chaotic concoction of pigments. It’s almost as though the creature was frozen while in transition between man and beast.

Buried in the muddled cluster of oils, the tormented soul of “Le Rat Ivre” (The drunken rat, 2015), appears to be enthralled with its oblivion. Further clouding the scene, and reinforcing the sense of intoxication, are the frenzied smears of paint across the canvas.

The only work in “Elegy” that references the self-portraiture in Safieddine’s practice is “Auto-Portrait” (2015). Its title makes an encounter with this work all the more revealing. There is a sense of immobility permeating this depiction of a bleak being, dissolving into the all-consuming matter.

Poignant and obtrusive, the cryptic figures of “Elegy” allow a raw glimpse of the artist’s convoluted imagination. Though they may not be as easy to digest as most frankly decorative works, they resonate nonetheless.

Nadia Safieddine’s “Elegy” is on view at Agial Art Gallery through Aug. 22. For further information please contact 01-345-213.

 

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