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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Art Across Borders @ Babylon Art & Cultural Center
Wednesday 05 February @ 13:02:33 |
 by Jenny Assef
When Meg Novak and Flo Razowsky traveled to Iraq and Palestine, their goal was literally to transport art across national borders. They brought art supplies in, with the goal of taking finished paintings out.
Untitled by Dr. Abadel Rahman Al Mozayeen (Palestine)
Tubes of paint, canvas and brushes were distributed to dozens of artists they met along the way. These were men and women who struggled daily to create in the midst of violence and the threat of war. Many had been painting on cardboard because there was no canvas. One artist had begun using tar for lack of paint.
Months later, Twin Cities residents have the chance to view the fruits of Meg and Flo’s border crossings and the artists’ tenacious work. Art Across Borders features art from more than 50 artists currently living in Palestine and Iraq. The exhibit opens Sat., Feb 8, with a not-to-be-missed celebration complete with music, poetry, and Iraqi food.
Untitled by Moy'ad Al Mussein (Iraq)
The exhibit’s organizers hope it inspires other, more abstract borders to be crossed. As their mission statement asserts, they seek a “dialogue between peoples that have been caught in a long history of misconceptions about one another.” They also believe art can provide “a human face to peoples that have been largely vilified.”
Sure enough, the works are as varied and multi-faceted as the people behind them. Collectively, they aspire toward an almost ethereal beauty, but that beauty takes many contrasting forms. Mehad Adeya’s landscapes, for instance, employ Van Gogh-esque brushstrokes to create a busy, ominous sky, while Mohammed Rami’s simple line drawing of a woman is elegant and subtle as a single breath. Abdu Rakman Elmohzen’s striking black and white geometric drawings portray picturesque, almost iconographic Arab women. The same themes are repeated in his daughter’s works, which incorporate large swooping fields of bright color to create an updated style of her own.
Each artist set prices for his or her work and will receive that entire amount if the work is sold. What does not sell at Babylon will travel to Iowa, Wisconsin and Hawaii. Other U.S. and international stops are currently being negotiated in hopes that the show crosses many more borders, raising funds and awareness as it goes.
If you miss the opening reception you can stop by Babylon through the next month to check it out.
Opens Feb. 8, reception 6 p.m. Organizers’ presentation, including a video documentary about the individual Iraqi artists, Feb. 13, 7:30 p.m. Continues through Mar. 4. Babylon Art and Cultural Center, 1624 E. Lake St. Mpls. 612-722-5438.
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