Chelsea to Dubai

Since its founding over three decades ago in New York, the Leila Heller Gallery has achieved worldwide acknowledgement for spearheading creative dialogue and exchange between artists from around the globe. It has garnered a reputation for identifying and developing the careers of emerging artists, leaving a persistent impact on contemporary art and culture.

Recently expanding its work to Dubai’s Al Serkal Avenue, known to be the largest gallery in the Persian Gulf region, the Leila Heller Gallery showcased the works of three outstanding contemporary artists, each one a master of their distinct mediums and unique visual vocabulary.

Rana has used renowned paintings from history as a source of imagery, fragmented the images and then reconfigured them to bear resemblance to images of bomb blasts, destruction and chaos

I was quite fortunate to be able to visit this 14,000-square-foot space in Dubai when three solo shows were up simultaneously: Rashid Rana’s “Scatter in Time”, Tony Cragg’s “Sculptures” and Bill Viola’s “The Vast: Mirrors of the Mind”, it was nothing short of a contemporary art feast. Having been a student of the Visual Arts and someone who practices contemporary art, I can assure you that in order to truly experience such work, you just have to go and see it. Images seen on the internet simply won’t do. John Berger’s famed 1972 book Ways of Seeing explains that the uniqueness of any artwork resides precisely in the particular place that it is installed at. Advancements in media and technology have resulted in the massive reproduction of images, with the original image resting miles away. This replication of images has destroyed the uniqueness of a single image.

My point, in short, is: just go and see some contemporary art for yourself! And for those based in the UAE, Al Serkal would be a reasonable place to start. Allow me to introduce you to some of this work.

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Rashid Rana’s recent show titled “Scatter in Time” concluded in late April at Leila Heller Gallery, Al Serkal, UAE. Trained as a painter at the National College of Arts and at the Massachusetts College of Fine Arts in Boston and now considered to be one of the leading contemporary artists of his generation, he emerged on the map of the contemporary art scene with a dynamic, fecund and conceptually enriched art language of his own which comprises of numerous pixels, displayed in such a manner that the individual pixels are discernible. This pixilated observation takes us back to his initial works in which he used the grid, and through it explored the language of minimalism and geometric abstraction. According to Rana, the dual relation of representation and abstraction initially was a formal strategy that overtime evolved into a conceptual concern.

In his works on display at Al Serkal, the artist is seen using his trademark style of interweaving multiple images belonging to Art History and contemporary times. He has been doing this for a while now, every time emerging with puzzles that he leaves for the viewer to decipher.

His earlier works were mostly comprised of photomontages such as “Veil” (2004) and “Red Carpet” (2007). These took the form of an image made up of thousands of smaller images.

For this exhibition “Scatter in Time”, Rana has used renowned paintings from history as a source of imagery, fragmented the images and then reconfigured them to bear resemblance to images of bomb blasts, destruction and chaos that the media brings to us. As a result he redefines how we see history, portraying the present while shedding light on the impact of European imperialism in relation to the violence that we witness today. In his work he makes a deliberate attempt to disturb the harmony linked to form in Western painting, thus pervading this source image with the very havoc and chaos we associate with contemporary times. He is interested in this dual relationship of the remote and the actual: the former being the images from history and the latter referring to something that is physically experienced.

For Rana, his reference image or source material is secondary, as it is simply a way for him to connect to a global audience. For example, one of his works on display at the Leila Heller Gallery titled “War Within I” is a puzzle emanating from the source image titled Oath of the Horatii (Le Serment des Horaces), painted by the French artist Jacques-Louis David in 1784 and on display in the Louvre, Paris. The base image from history is in this case connected with violence as it depicts a scene of conflict between two city-states, Rome and Alba Longa, portraying the significance of patriotism and self sacrifice for one’s land. The image that Rashid has constructed is formed out of fragments from the same painting but pertains to a media image of a bomb blast in Quetta. One cannot miss the influence of cultural history on contemporary art here.

Another historic painting that he used as source material for one of his works titled “Two Ways to a View” is the famous “Napoleon crossing the Alps”, painted between 1801 and 1805. The painting depicts Napoleon Bonaparte as a daring commander: Rashid rearranges the image in a manner better portraying the frenzied nature of war. This rearrangement of bits of imagery is a conscious, thoughtful and selective process. Note his intentional deployment of the fragments to influence the clash of space and time and generate new meanings – and hence new stories unravel.

Rashid Rana takes a very serious view of history and its weight on our times: the burden is inescapable. One gets the impression that his use of historic imagery is only barely out of admiration (if at all!), the primary focus appears to be the dispersal or scattering of time and territory.

Viola loved that drowning experience to the extent that he started fighting with his uncle who saved his life!

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Until the early twentieth century, sculptures were constructed out of a very narrow range of materials. It was when modernism took hold that artists went out in search of diverse materials, as production was on the rise. One such eminent sculptor who emerged in the 1970s with a bold practice through which he explored a vast variety of materials was the Turner Prize-winning sculptor Tony Cragg, born in Liverpool, UK.

Tony Cragg’s initial body work consisted of ‘found objects’ (manmade objects or natural fossils), but as his art practice evolved, Cragg’s sensitivity and inclination towards materials increased. Now, one can say that materiality has completely taken over. Material started deciding the very form of his sculptures. For Cragg, form and meaning are interdependent: any change in form (including materials) changes the meaning completely. The wide variety of mediums that he has used throughout his practice includes stone, glass, bronze, clay, synthetic fiber glass and polystyrene.

The work by Tony Cragg that I had the pleasure to experience at the Leila Heller Gallery appeared abstract but at the same time evoked feelings and fantasies in relation to the natural world. As a sculptor myself, whose own practice stems from materiality and its concerns in relation to objects and imagery around me, I feel Cragg’s approach resonates very strongly with me. I have found that the choice of materials has a most profound effect on both the artist and the viewers.

Cragg’s forms are biomorphic, resembling a still from a futuristic 3D motion graphic image generated by software. Quite a few involve stacking and heaping of materials. The overlapping and layering of material gives a sense of rhythm and a solid feel to the pieces. The final outcome evokes a new sensibility – a new idea, a new thought and a new emotion.

Cragg’s bronze forms are fabricated in such a manner that the form appears to be frozen in a red or gold molten state. As a result the forms capture a sense of movement and motion.

One of his works titled “Spring” (2015) was one of my favorites at the show – hands down. It was an abstract representation of the sun with rays springing out, thereby exploiting the aesthetic potential in these natural subjects to the extreme, while also testing the limits of material during the process.

Recently Tony Cragg had started with a new in-depth exploration of glass as a material. Works testifying to this new direction were also part of the exhibition. The artist tends to explore the transparency of glass and relate it to the idea of “upon and beneath the surface”. We can clearly notice a mellowing down or a decline in the restless energy of Cragg’s work. This change or evolution in his practice can perhaps be explained by life itself. With age comes maturity in expression. There is also a certain transparency, visual delicacy and sensitivity to his work now. One cannot help but be reminded of Jean-Paul Sartre saying: “The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.”

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Known to the contemporary art world as the “Rembrandt of Video Art”, Bill Viola’s work not only pays tribute to the great Dutch master but also to the age-old tradition of creating large-scale works that compel the viewer to immerse themselves entirely in riveting images and engrossing narratives.

One of the pioneers of video and sound art, he explored the potential of the video camera back then in 1970. Ever since, he has consistently explored the medium.

Initially in his career, Bill Viola experimented with video by capturing life experiences out of the studio, including his own self as subject. Gradually, as he got along with the medium, he explored it to a greater extent, being inspired by video artists such as Douglas Gordon (who once slowed down a Hitchcock film and played it on a large screen). Viola’s whose signature slow-motion style increases the significance of even the most mundane of activities.

Bill Viola’s videos are not simple. They are environments or scenarios that tend to absorb or encapsulate the viewer, quite often with the integration of sound, displayed in dark spaces to avoid distractions for the viewer.

Since the 1970s, Viola’s videos and installations have dealt with the themes of perception, memory and self-awareness. He draws from a wide range of influences, from Eastern to Western Art and the spiritual traditions of Zen Buddhism, Islamic Sufism and Christian mysticism to express fundamental truths that lay the foundation of human existence. Hence elements such as water, fire or the desert are suggestive of his explorations of the journeys of life, death and renewal.

In his solo show at Leila Heller Gallery, titled “The Vast: Mirrors of the Mind”, Bill Viola presented videos from three series of works – firstly the Sufi-inspired “Transfigurations series” he produced in 2008; secondly the “Mirage series” that consisted of desert meditations; and the third one, namely “Water portraits series” (2013)

Viola draws an analogy of the desert as a mirror of the mind. Making use of his medium in a meticulous manner, he investigates the layers of reality and illusion in the very universe that we live in. His visual language expresses feelings and memories that have a universal appeal, inviting viewers to a journey of exploration of their conditions, circumstances and emotions.

One of his works from the Mirage series titled “Walking on the edge” proved to be a most fascinating work of art. The sleek flat panel display kept one glued to the video depicting two men on either side of the frame, walking in the desert, coming towards the viewer and closer to each other until they cross each other and begin to separate. All of this is happening in quite a slow and subtle manner, thereby slowing down the rapid progression of time. Viola depicts the predestined separation of a father and his son, who drift away to their distinct life journeys. The artist seeks to test the limits of our perception of the position of humans in the natural world. He believes the landscape of the desert is the “Void” and “Self” both.

Another very fascinating series of works on display was his “Water portrait series” that bore significant resemblance to the infinite “Mirage” and “Transfiguration” series. Three portraits exhibited were “Sharon” (2013), “Blake” (2013) and “Madison” (2013), depicting a woman, a young man and a little girl immersed in water, still and with eyes closed, but with gentle distortions of the faces noticeable as a result of the current produced in the water. According to the artist, something still, stagnant or motionless is comparable to death (the bodies in this case), surrounded by water that is the root or starting point of life.

This series of portraits is the outcome of an incident that Viola recalls: as a six-year-old he jumped of the dock into the lake. As a result of this act, while drowning, he opened his eyes and saw a sublimely beautiful blue place which he understood to be the world hereafter. He loved that drowning experience to the extent that he started fighting with his uncle who saved his life! Regarding this incident, Viola says:

“That’s where my art began.”

Talal Faisal is an artist based in Lahore