SARAI Gallery (SARADIPOUR) is delighted to announce Cries and Whispers, Zaam Arif's solo exhibition at Cromwell Place in South Kensington, London, from January 24 - 29, 2023, at Gallery 10 -4, as part of SARAI's KARAVAN PROJECTS.
Cries and Whispers is the title of Zaam Arif's new series of oil paintings depicting lonesome, brooding figures against surrealistic backdrops. These isolated figures' states of mind are conveyed through symbols and archetypes, and allegorical titles, each of which foreshadows inner conflict, interplaying with themes of human existence, anxiety, and acceptance. Painted in visible, pulsating brushmarks and muted color palettes, these are introverted visions of the human condition, perpetually alone even in crowds, pondering their own existence in a dense flow of thoughts and feelings symbolically manifested as walls, openings, bodies of water, vast fields, etc. Through the series, Arif continues to follow his deep interest in the human psyche, investigating the human experience and using his art as a form of self-expression. Holding a cigarette, sitting idly, or staring into the darkness, his familiar-looking yet inscrutable characters are often young men clad in vernacular clothing and they appear-like near-self-portraits of the artist, himself a young immigrant from south asia: they all appear to be staring at an unclear horizon, their hopes and dreams hanging in balance, going through the motions and examining their individual and collective identities as they follow an often harsh and uneven 'yellow brick road' towards their destiny.
Cries and Whispers is the title of Zaam Arif's new series of oil paintings depicting lonesome, brooding figures against surrealistic backdrops. These isolated figures' states of mind are conveyed through symbols and archetypes, and allegorical titles, each of which foreshadows inner conflict, interplaying with themes of human existence, anxiety, and acceptance. Painted in visible, pulsating brushmarks and muted color palettes, these are introverted visions of the human condition, perpetually alone even in crowds, pondering their own existence in a dense flow of thoughts and feelings symbolically manifested as walls, openings, bodies of water, vast fields, etc. Through the series, Arif continues to follow his deep interest in the human psyche, investigating the human experience and using his art as a form of self-expression. Holding a cigarette, sitting idly, or staring into the darkness, his familiar-looking yet inscrutable characters are often young men clad in vernacular clothing and they appear-like near-self-portraits of the artist, himself a young immigrant from south asia: they all appear to be staring at an unclear horizon, their hopes and dreams hanging in balance, going through the motions and examining their individual and collective identities as they follow an often harsh and uneven 'yellow brick road' towards their destiny.
