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‘Small is Beautiful’: An exhibition not to be missed
By Majo Tielve, Jordan News
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AMMAN — “Small is Beautiful”, an art exhibition titled after the book of the same name written by E.F. Schumacher, was inaugurated on December 19 at Foresight32 Art Gallery. The book is a direct criticism of consumerism and a radical challenge to the 20th century economic thinking; the pieces on display sought to incorporate this ideology in their design. اضافة اعلان
Foresight32 has hosted the first forum of Arab Plastic Artists (women) as well as the first and second Forum of Arab Sculptors. Now it is the turn of the “Small is beautiful” exhibition, which presents the work of 25 local and international artists. The collection belongs to 12 artists from Jordan, six from Syria, three from Iraq, one from Egypt, one from Morocco, and two from Spain. Half of the artists have long careers in the art world, the other are emerging talents.
(Photos: Majo Tielve/Jordan News)
“When I witness the different pieces in the same space, I can appreciate, on the one hand, how organic the pieces are, and the interactions with techniques and colors. The small pieces are elegant. I like to see them in the sequence in which each artist created them,” visitor Hafsa Barmawi told Jordan News.
After a challenging year due to the pandemic, galleries started to exhibit again.
“It is valued to have an exhibition in physical rather than digital setup; there is nothing like being able to walk the halls and take the time to appreciate pieces by established artist like Balasem Mohammad Jassam, Diana Shamounki, Salem Dabag, Nizar Ismael, and Aeich Thimer in one place,” said viewer Mohammad Samara.
Anas Issawi, organizer of the exhibition, spoke to Jordan News about the unique value of this series: “It is amazing to see the harmony with which each piece becomes part of the other artist. This year one of the artists who impressed me the most was Dalia Ali. There is so much soul, substance, and meaning in her pieces.”
(Photos: Majo Tielve/Jordan News)
In this exhibition, Ali presented four creations from her collection “Tapestry Cityscapes”, which are paintings made with mixed media and collage and acrylic on paper. This new collection proposes another way of looking at urban landscapes abstractly.
The artist describes how her pieces were born: “The forms were inspired by the skyline of Amman. There is the internal challenge of working on myself, and then there is the external challenge of showing my art to the world and selling.”
The pandemic has affected Ali’s work on two levels, in the way she works and in the way she sells art.
“During the quarantine period, I was able to dig deeper into my inspirations. On the other hand, due to the lack of physical exposure, people were more available online, and social media became a strong platform to showcase my art,” said Ali.
(Photos: Majo Tielve/Jordan News)
Jordanian artist Fathi Aref, who said that “everything in life is art, and the most beautiful thing in art is love”, said that “pandemic or not, I am always in my studio, but it changed a lot of things for other people. It made me sad to see the impact on their lives and the horrors that COVID-19 caused. It gave me a shock, and I started to paint the pain”.
It is a universal truth that the richest societies pursue their economic advantage with the greatest cruelty. And so the exhibition “Small is beautiful” seeks to work for the humanization of the acceptance and perception of art. These 25 artists with diverse origins, techniques, and ways of converging their emotions, manage to introduce a discourse that goes against the consumerism of art as a soul-destroying, meaningless, mechanical, monotonous element.
(Photos: Majo Tielve/Jordan News)
For one month, the works will be on display at the Foresight32 Art Gallery, offering a unique opportunity to acquire small pieces by well-known names and to discover new talents working in a variety of techniques and visions. Prices for the works range from JD50 to JD1,000.
Read more Culture and Arts
Foresight32 has hosted the first forum of Arab Plastic Artists (women) as well as the first and second Forum of Arab Sculptors. Now it is the turn of the “Small is beautiful” exhibition, which presents the work of 25 local and international artists. The collection belongs to 12 artists from Jordan, six from Syria, three from Iraq, one from Egypt, one from Morocco, and two from Spain. Half of the artists have long careers in the art world, the other are emerging talents.
(Photos: Majo Tielve/Jordan News)
“When I witness the different pieces in the same space, I can appreciate, on the one hand, how organic the pieces are, and the interactions with techniques and colors. The small pieces are elegant. I like to see them in the sequence in which each artist created them,” visitor Hafsa Barmawi told Jordan News.
After a challenging year due to the pandemic, galleries started to exhibit again.
“It is valued to have an exhibition in physical rather than digital setup; there is nothing like being able to walk the halls and take the time to appreciate pieces by established artist like Balasem Mohammad Jassam, Diana Shamounki, Salem Dabag, Nizar Ismael, and Aeich Thimer in one place,” said viewer Mohammad Samara.
Anas Issawi, organizer of the exhibition, spoke to Jordan News about the unique value of this series: “It is amazing to see the harmony with which each piece becomes part of the other artist. This year one of the artists who impressed me the most was Dalia Ali. There is so much soul, substance, and meaning in her pieces.”
(Photos: Majo Tielve/Jordan News)
In this exhibition, Ali presented four creations from her collection “Tapestry Cityscapes”, which are paintings made with mixed media and collage and acrylic on paper. This new collection proposes another way of looking at urban landscapes abstractly.
The artist describes how her pieces were born: “The forms were inspired by the skyline of Amman. There is the internal challenge of working on myself, and then there is the external challenge of showing my art to the world and selling.”
The pandemic has affected Ali’s work on two levels, in the way she works and in the way she sells art.
“During the quarantine period, I was able to dig deeper into my inspirations. On the other hand, due to the lack of physical exposure, people were more available online, and social media became a strong platform to showcase my art,” said Ali.
(Photos: Majo Tielve/Jordan News)
Jordanian artist Fathi Aref, who said that “everything in life is art, and the most beautiful thing in art is love”, said that “pandemic or not, I am always in my studio, but it changed a lot of things for other people. It made me sad to see the impact on their lives and the horrors that COVID-19 caused. It gave me a shock, and I started to paint the pain”.
It is a universal truth that the richest societies pursue their economic advantage with the greatest cruelty. And so the exhibition “Small is beautiful” seeks to work for the humanization of the acceptance and perception of art. These 25 artists with diverse origins, techniques, and ways of converging their emotions, manage to introduce a discourse that goes against the consumerism of art as a soul-destroying, meaningless, mechanical, monotonous element.
(Photos: Majo Tielve/Jordan News)
For one month, the works will be on display at the Foresight32 Art Gallery, offering a unique opportunity to acquire small pieces by well-known names and to discover new talents working in a variety of techniques and visions. Prices for the works range from JD50 to JD1,000.
Read more Culture and Arts
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