Ziad Kaki, The Arrival, 2022. Courtesy of the artist and Mariane Ibrahim
Mariane Ibrahim is pleased to announce the gallery’s second dual exhibition in Paris entitled, Cinematic Expressions, featuring new works by Patrick Eugène and Ziad Kaki, marking their inaugural exhibitions in France and with the gallery.
Both emerging from an initially abstract practice, Patrick Eugène and Ziad Kaki advanced to figuration, with a focus on the expressions of the figures and scenes. Distorted characters, vibrant colors and an uncanny composition reveal an emotional intensity reminiscent of cinematography. Their history with abstraction is evident, as the composition in the figurative works are ambiguous, pulling the figures in and out of the backgrounds.
Patrick Eugène, a Haitian American painter based in Atlanta, creates large scale compositions with a central figure, evoking a stillness that entrances the viewer. These works harness the improvisational energy and emotive depth explored in his abstract period; his signature line-making remaining fluid. He shares, "My work speaks to human connectivity using a minimalistic approach to evoke emotion. Much of my work is void of a particular place or setting, hoping to leave a space for the viewer to transcend into a vessel without distraction or instruction."
Similarly, in Ziad Kaki’s paintings, the viewer is immersed in a mysterious world in which the human figures and animals seem vanished and chaotic, both in the way the figure dissolves into the background of the work, and the mere expression of their placement in nature. Raised in Saudi Arabia, London-based painter, Kaki gives birth to paintings that witness the ongoing changes of the Saudi Arabian culture. Having spent half of his life in and out of the country, he offers a native and exterior perspective.
As an enthusiastic admirer of abstract expressionist philosophies and forms, Patrick Eugène identified a correlation between the freedom and experimentation of artistic movement and jazz music. Eugène studied the ways in which both forms convey mood and facilitate visceral responses in audiences. The musicality of his paintings engenders very cinematic characters, alive and animated.
Kaki’s characters are in between two worlds, constantly travelling, in perpetual motion, like nomads trying to find a place to call home. Theatrically staged, humans and animals move in packs, on a hunt. Each painting echoes a colorful scene and as you look at one to the next, each embarks the viewer in a powerful road-movie whose main characters would be horses, wolves and lions supporting humans in their journey. Digging into history Kaki describes the present time but also questions our future: Will our world one day evolve in such a way to mirror the origin of time?
Motivated by his exploration on the Reconstruction Era and the Gilded Age, Eugène portrays fictional characters that are figurative representations of abstract concepts such as spirituality, love, creativity and strength.
Deeply rooted in their personal history, Eugène and Kaki practices are connected to the present but also look forward, focusing on what the future holds. Ultimately, these figures evoke feelings of hope and triumph.
