hassan sharif deconstructs paper + pages at gallery isabelle van den eynde

hassan sharif deconstructs paper + pages at gallery isabelle van den eynde
image courtesy of gallery isabelle van den eynde

hassan sharif: images
now through may 05, 2015
gallery isabelle van den eynde, dubai

coinciding with the 2015 edition of art dubai, gallery isabelle van den eynde presents the exhibition ‘images’ by renowned emirati artist hassan sharif. the artists’ more than 40 years career is often characterized by glistening, bright plastic, sculptural heaps, conceived as a response to globalized consumerism. his most recent series of work however, presented at alserkal avenue, the industrial quarter of al quoz in dubai, reject commonplace understandings of his practice.

visitors experience huge reams of paper, air-rusted iron shapes and hundreds of pages torn from a dictionary that hang from the ceiling and crawl up walls. viewers are invited to explore a wall of papier-mâche encrusted toys, a pillar of inkjet printouts, and a chandelier of ripped book sheets. fascinated by a seemingly endless repetition of imagery from glossy magazines churned out month-to-month, photographs that are printed and reprinted, and streams of leaflets and brochures, sharif addresses this flood of information with his own acts of repetition, where images are stripped of their meaning and turned into raw material for reuse.

installation view at gallery isabelle van den eynde

installation view at gallery isabelle van den eynde

a pillar of images, 2015
magazine pages, staples and cotton rope / 1000 x 170 x 160 cm approx
courtesy of the artist and gallery isabelle van den eynde

cutting and tying no.2, 2014
cotton rope and wool / 275 x 650 x 50 cm.
courtesy of the artist and gallery isabelle van den eynde

installation view of ‘cutting and tying no.2’
image © designboom

detail of ropes for ‘cutting and tying no.2’
image © designboom

shredder, 2015
12 individual works, paper shredder, shredded paper, cardboard, cotton rope / variable dimensions
courtesy of the artist and gallery isabelle van den eynde

dictionary, 2015
glue, dictionary pages and cotton rope / 380 x 190 x 80 cm approx.
courtesy of the artist and gallery isabelle van den eynde

detail of ‘dictionary’
image © designboom

detail of pages for ‘dictionary’
image © designboom

shopping mall, 2015 (right)
copper / 56 x 61 x 55 cm
shopping bags, 2015 (left)
shopping bags, cotton rope, copper wire, synthetic stings and plastic clips / 235 x 100 x 30 cm.
courtesy of the artist and gallery isabelle van den eynde

shopping bags, 2015
image © designboom

installation view of ‘images no. 2’, 2014
paper and glue / variable dimensions
courtesy of the artist and gallery isabelle van den eynde

images no. 2, 2014
paper and glue / variable dimensions
courtesy of the artist and gallery isabelle van den eynde