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In placing these two artists in conversation, one an American living in Dubai and the other a Saudi living in his home country, we present a selection of new works that challenge our perceptions in a smart, dry and twisted way.
In Clar’s words, ‘We’re both (artists) told what to think about each other, but we’re (artists, curators, viewers) smart enough to forge our own opinions...There are definitely people who benefit from keeping us blind but it’s time to draw back the curtains’.
Following a move to the Middle East in 2007, Clar’s unique vantage point as a new media artist from America has led to conceptual works that deal with nationalism, globalism, and popular culture in the age of mass information.
Describing himself as an ‘observer’, he comments, ‘I don’t condemn, this is just how things are at the moment and how they are presented to us. If we can talk about these things then maybe we can have a better understanding of them and of each other.‘
Clar presents a series of works from his ‘What Goes Around Comes Around’ series including And they Played for Days, EK202, Friendly Fire and The Difference Between Me and You, in addition to brand new works such as BFF and United States of Arabia. His work tries to readdress the bias presented to us through mainstream media (from both the West and the Middle East), allowing us to step back and formulate our own opinions through our own experiences.
Abdulnasser Gharem, who is both a practising conceptual artist and a Major in the Saudi Arabian Army, deals with similar subjects of communication, dialogue and administration, questioning our relationship and trust in the structures and materials that surround us.
In Concrete Block VII, No More Tears IV (Obama: No or Bad Signal), In Transit II and Detour, all from the series Restored Behaviour, Gharem is concerned with our understanding of, and relationship to, concrete, the material and the premise that we trust in ideas and structures that are presented as absolute. Concrete in this context denotes safety and immovability. In his use of rubber]stamps in these works, Gharem is addressing bureaucracy and the authority of its process.
As an artist whose work deals in intervention there is an analogy here between the idea of delivering a judgment on your environment as an artist, and the approval or disapproval implied by Gharem’s use of stamps. Gharem believes that “Life is a kind of stamped contract since you’re born. You have religion, it’s a contract, you have a wife it’s a contract, between the countries there is a contract for trading….”
Ultimately, both artists ask us about the choices we make in life; whether we, as individuals, as cultures, as societies are following the straight path, or whether we trust in a path at all.
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Abu Dhabi International Airport - 41°F
