Following the phenomenal success of Le Lab's "Awakenings" exhibition in New York last year, they are once again taking us on a trip all the way to the MENART FAIR in Brussels for a dreamlike display of works by artists Bahaa Amer and Omar Chakil named “Out of the Ordinary”. From the 3rd of February to the 5th of February, Le Lab will be showcasing their exhibition in the 3rd edition of the long awaiting modern and contemporary art fair at The Boghossian Foundation, Villa Empain, a significant location in Brussels' creative life. In the heart of Europe, Out of the Ordinary will depict a selection of recent works by Bahaa Amer and Omar Chakil, which when seen together invoke fantasies, ethereal landscapes, dreams, and reveries.
The fair presents an introductory voyage to the core of a demanding selection of more than a hundred modern and contemporary artists in a confidential and exclusive format, in addition to a distinctive selection of contemporary design from the MENA region. The majority of the artists exhibited are already well-known in their own nations and are gathered by art collectors in the west at the fair, with one of them being Le Lab. Unmatched in the west, MENART FAIR reveals a flourishing art scene whose dense and strong production is now sponsored by a number of notable museums and organisations worldwide. Visitors will travel deep within this dazzling and alluring middle eastern culture thanks to this remarkable event.
Bahaa Amer creates vibrant, strikingly coloured compositions with fantasy animals and natural themes. His multidisciplinary paintings combine bodily forms with monstrous figurations that are simultaneously amusing and fragmented. For example, one his paintings specifically depict a collection of fictitious creatures gathered around a little flaming sun against an azure sky with each is made up of different body parts, with features like a gigantic, shocking eye, a beak that is wide open, jagged wings, and elongated tails. Amer created his expressive style as a means of addressing socio-political issues, his works are characterised by unorthodox compositions and what has been called a "metaphysical" graphic language that mixes human and animal figuration.
A collection of Omar Chakil's works includes several pieces in his signature style fashioned of Egyptian alabaster, such as a stool, table lamp, centrepiece, and receptacle. One of the items, Big Free, is a curved stool made from luminous, translucent alabaster that has been meticulously hand-carved and moulded. Chakil's preferred medium is "pharaonic alabaster," a stone that captures the spirit of the desert and its connections to Egypt's ancient civilizations. The slick, sophisticated visual language that he has built over the course of his practise is permeated with the mystical and metaphorical qualities of this chosen medium. Each of Chakil's limited-edition pieces conjures an ethereal character, showing a mastery of workmanship, and exhibits an elevated design. They are made of an iridescent substance that is specifically native to Egypt.
The foundation of Bahaa Amer's and Omar Chakil's artistic practises is found in their individual sources of inspiration, affinities, and the graphical languages they have each constructed within their oeuvres to communicate their views. These practises are rooted in childhood dreams. As a result, their artwork conjures up wonderful dream realms, which effectively reflects the dualities found in both the earth and dreams.
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