Untitled is a joint exhibition of the latest works of two artists, Lebanese Semaan Khawam and Jordanian Mohammad Tamimi. As a collection of works, Untitled eludes any attempt at an overly precise classification. It charts segments of each artist’s search to understand a particular facet of himself or his identity. While Tamimi looks within himself, Khawam’s exploration takes an out-of-body vantage point. Both encounter allegorical quasi-human beings, both searches are inconclusive.

 

Mohammad Tamimi

Mohammad Tamimi was born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1988. In 2010, he received his Bachelor of Art in Graphic Design from Philadelphia University and later he began working as a gallery assistant at Foresight 32 Gallery and Orient Gallery in Amman. He has continued to pursue his artistic practice, creating and exhibiting works since his graduation with exhibitions in Jordan, Russia and Bahrain.

 

Intensely personal, Tamimi’s acrylic on canvas paintings are an exploration of his inner world. ‘One cannot fully understand oneself without delving into ‘the other’’, that part of the psyche that is not immediately obvious or visible except through introspection. It is through this process of exploration that Tamimi traverses an allegorical inner world populated by impish creatures who squint at the viewer over their large noses, disengaged, as if unperturbed by the intrusion.

 

While the artist calls them ‘foreboding’, his description belies his obvious sense of fun and a endish sense of humour. His inner world appears to be haunted not by the tormented demons of repressed Freudian desires but by placid genderless creatures that appear to have wandered out of a dark fairytale and had trouble nding their way back. They confront the viewer as if to ask, ‘What did you expect to nd?’, teasing, goading him to venture deeper; there may yet be monsters to be found deeper within, if one dares to look. 

 

Semaan Khawam

Semaan Khawam was born in Damascus, Syria in 1974 and moved to Beirut, Lebanon in 1988 where he continues to live and work. The self-taught multidisciplinary Khawam is a painter, sculptor, and installation artist whose work is informed by the daily reality of the city in which he lives.

 

In addition to being a visual artist, the multi-talented Khawam is also an actor, script-writer, prop designer for lm and theatre, poet and internationally-published writer. His art has been exhibited in Lebanon, Europe and Bahrain.