Jorge Mayet is a Cuban refugee based in Spain. His work revolves around the theme of displacement and exile. Daisuke Ohba, who lives in Tokyo, is one of the most prominent young artists in Japan. He is well known for his innovative experiments with paints. The two artists come from diverse cultural backgrounds, and their personal journeys and art practices are quite different. But the common thread that runs through their work is their use of elements from nature to express their thoughts and feelings. The latest exhibition at The Farjam Foundation, “Nature’s Duet – Selected Works by Jorge Mayet and Daisuke Ohba” is a celebration of the varied perceptions and interpretations of nature by these two contemporary artists.
The artworks in the show are part of the Farjam Collection, one of the world’s foremost private collections of Islamic, Middle Eastern and international art. The selected works by Ohba are from his first solo exhibition, “The Light Field”, held in Tokyo in 2009. What is special about these large-scale paintings of woodlands is that it seems as if the artist has poured an enchanting pool of light across the canvases, creating a stained-glass-like effect of illuminating rays filtering through. The captivating paintings are full of life and movement, with the light and the colours changing constantly when viewed from different angles. They draw viewers in, taking them beyond the forests and trees and giving them the feeling of being engulfed in a world of sublime and shimmering light.
The artist achieves this illusory effect by his skilful use of opalescent acrylic pearl paint. “I try to push the boundaries of the representation of light, because I want to extend the power of my paintings beyond the physical limitations of the canvas and make the viewer feel part of the atmosphere. Each viewer experiences my work in a unique way depending on the light and the line of sight of the viewer,” Ohba says.
Mayet is well known for his lifelike installations of miniature trees, skilfully crafted from electrical wire, paper, acrylics and fabric. And the Farjam Collection includes many of his iconic pieces. The uprooted trees, suspended in mid-air are breathtakingly beautiful. But their bare branches and floating roots express the pain, sorrow and loneliness of being displaced from your homeland. The tiny trees, some growing between two pieces of land, are an embodiment of Mayet’s memories and of the inner conflicts he deals with as an exile.
Trees are also a prominent feature in Mayet’s paintings. Once again his portrayals of rural and marine landscapes are realistic and very beautiful. But there is also an underlying sadness conveyed by the lone trees surrounded by barren land or water. In every composition, a line running through the centre in the form of a pathway, a wave or a slipstream of a jet splits the visual into two parts reflecting the artist’s own conflicted identity.
“Regardless of the medium I use, my work is about the never-ending need to express moments that have marked my past and influence my present. The majority of my life experiences come from Cuba. And these are the inspiration for my work. My installations are embodiments of my experiences. They remain indefinitely suspended from invisible wires, like the ones that connect me to my memories and my roots,” Mayet says.
Jyoti Kalsi is an arts enthusiast based in Dubai.
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Mon Amour
Well-known artist Hesham Malek’s latest exhibition in Dubai, “Mon Amour” (My Love), features a series of abstract figurative and surrealistic paintings that are infused with bright colours and a positive feel. The Bahrain-born artist, who is based in Prague, has taken inspiration from various sources ranging from the history of art and Chinese, Greek and Indian mythology to everyday life of ordinary people; and from ancient philosophical concepts to modern technology. The artist uses sand and other materials to create unique textures and hues in his mixed-media paintings. The figures in his paintings are mysterious, merging seamlessly with vibrant strokes of colour. But these references to different cultures and the titles of the paintings such as “Extrovert and Introvert”, “The Farmer’s Family”, “The Pink Chakra”, “The Hidden Warrior” and “Antigone” offer clues to the ideas, thoughts and feelings the artist wishes to convey.
“Abstraction is about using the imagination to transform the seen into the unseen. I love the abstract style because it is so unpredictable. For me the process of creating these paintings is cerebral, but also spontaneous. When I have the brush in my hand I cannot control the flow of my thoughts and feelings on to the canvas. But I love sharing these emotions and ideas with the world. My inspiration comes from culture and my work embodies the purity of humanity, merging the mind with its physicality,” Malek says.
“Mon Amour” will run at Alliance Francaise in Dubai until June 5.
