Muhammad Yusuf, Features Writer
Tabari Artspace located in DIFC, Dubai, has announced ‘Yellow Tropics’, the solo exhibition of Egyptian painter Adel El Siwi (Nov. 15 – Jan. 6, 2025). El Siwi (b. 1952) has been called the “chronicler and storyteller” of his generation. Born in the 1950s, a period of both upheaval and change in postwar and post-revolutionary Egypt, his painting practice spans over fifty years; it is one which the artist describes as having been one “continuous stream” of activity and thought. ‘Yellow Tropics’, his first exhibition in over a decade, is a staging of both recently executed paintings and pieces from an archive of earlier works, with the paintings shown presenting philosophical meditations and musings.
The exhibition’s title might at first seem confusing – one cannot connect Egypt and the tropics, set as the country is amidst great sand dunes. But it is actually an allusion to the anthropological history of Upper Egypt and the origin of man, and to Egypt’s outreach towards its southern neighbours and the greater African continent, historically speaking. It hints at the artist’s desire to reclaim a part of his identity, not merely as an Egyptian, but as an African and as one belonging to the continent. According to El Siwi, it is not simply Egypt’s Islamic and Mediterranean history and culture that shape his country’s identity, but a longer and earlier one.
The artworks, only a small selection from the many different phases of creative output, present a variety of subjects. El Siwi’s world seems familiar yet just out of reach. They are rather like dramatis personae on stage, viewable but untouchable. The paintings are in the manner of magic realism, hearkening to a probably distant, parallel universe. The insistence of sharing identity with the continental history of Africa to realise a greater story of identity and history, has resulted in an oeuvre unlike that of many artists of his generation.
The artist’s fascination with colour is front and centre, with bright, turmeric-hued yellow and its forceful energy, dominating the canvas. The chromatic intensity emits super charged, livewire vibrancy. The yellow paintings – akin to those of Vincent Van Gogh’s sunflowers with a touch of Gustav Klimt – mark a desire to stand out in the world. The choice of yellow says that Africa is the primordial source of life and human energy. El Siwi is known for his monumental figures and elongated faces, as well as his exploration of the relationship between animals and human beings. Trained in medicine, he has mastered the human anatomy; indeed, the human figure is a central theme in his work.
He studied medicine at Cairo University between 1970 and 1976 and in 1980, he relocated to Milan, Italy, where he lived and worked for a decade, before moving back to Cairo where he currently lives and works. El Siwi has participated in the Sharjah Biennial (1997), Cairo Biennale (1996, 2008) and the Venice Biennale (2009). His work is included in a number of group exhibitions, including Rencontres Africaines, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris (1994); Modernities and Memories, Venice Biennale, (1997); Transafrican Art, Orlando Museum, Miami, (2000) and Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East, (organised by British Museum), Dubai (2008). He has translated numerous art historical texts into Arabic by artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Paul Klee.
At a time when the UAE art scene was in its nascent stage, Tabari Artspace art gallery was founded by Maliha Tabari, in Dubai. It has a twofold aim: that of preserving and presenting art of the MENA region and elevating young artists in the Gulf on the global stage. Tabari, who was trained as an artist herself, has presented artists in institutions and biennials including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Institut du Monde Arabe, Sharjah Art Museum, Venice Biennale, Sharjah Biennial, São Paulo Biennial, and its artworks are part of collections such as the Barjeel Art Foundation, British Musuem, Dalloul Art Foundation, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Kamel Lazaar Foundation, Lyon Biennale, Khalid Shoman Collection, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art and Yale University Art Gallery.
The foundations for this international outlook began with the realisation that artists from the Arab region were quite absent in the Western art canon. To remedy the lacuna, Tabari began representing artists whose work would stand up anywhere in the world. Therefore from Egypt came the late Adam Henein in sculpture and Omar El-Nagdi in abstract expressionism. In Lebanon, Tabari worked with Hussein Madi, before he became hailed for his talent of melding Cubism and Islamic abstraction.Tabari has also launched the careers of artists like Saudi Arabian Ahmed Mater, Iranian artist Farhad Moshiri, Syrian artist Louay Kayyali, and Egyptian artists Mohamed Abla and Adel El Siwi, before they became well-known.
Tabari Artspace has an international collector base, interested in the region’s evolving artistic production, across generations. The gallery takes a deep interest in GCC-specific, female-centered narratives, working with Kuwaiti, Emirati and Saudi artists like Alymamah Rashed, Maitha Abdalla, Al Maha Jarallah and Lulwah Al Homoud. The Artspace’s communal spirit extends to its all-women team who looks after its spaces. Now in its second decade of operation, it is grounded in the cosmopolitan city of Dubai with a branch in Cromwell Place in London since 2015. Tabari Artspace recently partnered with the revamped boutique hotel La Serena in Forte Dei Marmi, Italy, launching an artist residency, situated near marble and stone foundries.
