I Wish to be Happy, I Want to be Yellow : Group Show | 10 September - 26 October, 2024

Fascinated by the anatomical intricacies of both human and animal bodies, Adrian Pepe captures their essence and substance, establishing diverse relationships and juxtapositions. With a playful and performative approach, his works become a sanctum where these two worlds merge, deconstruct, and heal one another.

Nervous Bodies (2024) is a ceiling-to- floor, see-through tulle scroll featuring embroidered replicas of a human silhouette, resembling a frog poised for dissection, flattened as they move down a conveyor belt. Despite the contrasting worlds at play, Adrian has crafted acohesive texture—yet one figure has leaped from the rack, its escape attempt failed, now lying smashed on the floor with its limbs splayed out.

Mohammad Alfaraj maintains a continuous dialogue with nature and his environment. As a multifaceted artist and poet, his work often explores themes of environmental vulnerability, reflecting on the human form and nature. Born in a palm oasis in Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia, Mohammad uses the palm trees to draw connections between the human’s emotions and the natural world.

In his series of burnt palm charcoal drawings titled Brother and Sister and You Could Be Me and I Could Be You, the trees are casted by their shadow in various forms, navigating through grotesque, swirling, contorted, and other imagined representations of emotions—joy and sorrow, shared dreams and disappointments, love and kindness, and the “dream of a bright tomorrow”.

Sanguis/Tempus (2024) further develops these ideas, blending the symbolism of blood and time in a series of five red paintings. The intensifying reds reflect an ongoing spiritual and physical transformation, where the artist’s essence may be embedded within the medium itself, symbolizing sacrifice and the relentless march of time.