ince the formation cartoonist, painter, object of the United Arab maker, sculptor, and instal- Emirates (UAE) in lation artist. 1971, the speed of Each generation of modernization and avant-garde artists has tilt- urbanS development, driven ed at the windmills of con- by enormous oil revenues, vention, drawing inspira- has been extraordinary. tion and strength from the Today, the seven emirates thrill of the new and the of the UAE are vibrant unknown. Sharif, who was centers of international born in Dubai and studied finance and trade.1 Over at the Byam Shaw School the past three decades, of Art, London, from 1979 the UAE art world has also to 1984, has always been a changed beyond recogni- rebel. He has never been tion, moving from a tradi- afraid to challenge conven- tion of figurative and realist tional notions of what art arts and crafts to one that is and what it is not. embraces the most dramat- While Sharif con- ic cutting-edge art in the tinues to paint and to Islamic world. Its evolv- draw but “only for docu- ing culture is drawn not mentation,” he rejects the only from the Arab world, view that he is a sculptor firmly rooted in Islam, but or conceptual or instal- also from the West. Such lation artist, or even an changes are underscored abstractionist or abstract- by the presence of inter- expressionist. Rather he national auction houses sees himself as an object in Dubai and events such Hassan Sharif, Coir and Cloth, 2007, 150 x 150 x 70 cm. maker whose work can as the Sharjah Biennial, now in its ninth to art schools in the Arab world. Artists be as much about painting as it is about edition, Art Dubai, and the alternative Al such as Ibrahim Mustfa (b.1953), Rahman objects. It is clear that through his objects Bastakiya Art Fair, now in its third edition, al-Zainal, Obaid Srour (b.1953), Salih or assemblages he speaks to society’s which is a platform for emerging artists, al-Ustadh (b.1957), Hisham al-Mazloum, wastefulness, to “the monotony of the both local and international, working in a Muhammad Yousif (b.1954), and Hassan industrial producer.” Where most people wide range of media. Sharif (b.1956), to name but seven, have will see only ‘trash,’ Sharif sees materials The creation of a distinct contem- played significant roles in the development for making art. In ‘trash’ he obtains a sense porary artistic identity in the UAE began of both traditional and Western-inspired of freedom that exists beyond art’s formal in earnest in the mid-1970s when young art. Outstanding among these artists, who rules. Outside the rules he has tried hard artists began to travel abroad to study, not have matured during all of the UAE’s social to find himself, especially in his use of only to Europe and North America, but also and artistic changes, is Hassan Sharif, a tangible materials.

Hassan Sharif, Holes in Cardboard, 1990, 100 x 70 x 50 cm. All images: Courtesy of the Artist and The Flying House, Dubai. A Poetry Of Objects

Hassan Sharif is one of the most outstanding artists of his generation living and working in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. His assemblages and objects breathe new life into everyday objects. His work also speaks to life, nature, and the human spirit on a most profound level. There are many who consider him to be the father of contemporary art in the Gulf.

By Ian Findlay

Hassan Sharif, Classic 2, 2008, 70 x 150 x 150 cm.

36 WORLD SCULPTURE NEWS SPRING 2009 SPRING 2009 WORLD SCULPTURE NEWS 37 “I am an object maker but I am Greenberg, Harold Rosenberg, and Jean- his work “to be exhibited on the floor. I philosophy, the environment, poetry, also painting. It is the same as making an Francois Lyotard. “I like the wit and ironic don’t want my work to be decorative in politics, cartoons, irony, speed, calligra- object,” he says. “These objects plus the way of Marcel Duchamp. He said it was boxes. But you can’t get [entirely] rid of phy, and literature inform Hassan Sharif’s paintings, which I call objects, must have better to be influenced by poetry and the decorative.” While Nevelson’s works transformations of his everyday materials three features. One is nonsense, which is literature than impressionism. Conceptual were boxed or shelved and Sharif’s are and objects. His art is also colorful, lyrical, to say I don’t have secrets. The second is art is about thinking. De Kooning said that freestanding, both their artworks are di- elegant, and humorous. There is, too, a that it is useless, that it has no function, all art after Marcel Duchamp is concep- rectly related to collage. sense of timelessness about it and through and that is why it remains a work of art tual. The difference between my objects Painting, drawing, sculpture, this one is able to move beyond the ob- and penetrates a human’s memory. And the and conceptual art is that I am viousness of the materials into third is that it is skill-less, because I have not Duchamp nor Willem de human memory. Sometimes, his no secret to reveal, so I am making art. Kooning and that is why I want art appears random; at other Even when I paint, I say to myself that I to differentiate between making times, it is well ordered, even am making a painting. The word ‘making’ objects and conceptual art or carefully planned to the smallest is very important for me.” 2 painting. I am not an abstrac- detail. Sharif’s art then speaks tionist. I insist that I am not a to diverse human sensibilities harif has struggled against the conceptual artist nor painting where we become more aware confining rules of the art estab- as an abstract-expressionist. I of humankind’s relationship lishment for almost four decades. don’t do what you are doing, with the environment, nature, Without this fight he would not be neither do I do the opposite and the wasteful reality of the the artist or teacher that he is, nor of what you are doing. I make industrial process and consumer wouldS his influence among Emirati artists something else or I do some- society, as well as the margins be as important as it has become. Indeed, Hassan Sharif, Raj – 555, 2008, 100 x 200 x 200 cm. thing else. This ‘else’ is art, between art and life. there are many people who regard Sharif a straightjacket.” But Sharif is able to speak questions about the place of art in the Gulf: whether or not this ‘else’ is By the 1950s, when the as the father of contemporary art in the of his own art with sense of humor and a What materials does one use to make new conceptual, minimal, abstract, artist Jean Dubuffet coined the UAE. His words and actions are colored candor that surprises. “I see my work as art for a new time? Is art a reflection of the pictorial, or representational. term ‘assemblage,’ the visual by his experiences of rejection, beginning a meta-narrative. I create stories,” he says. society in which it is made? How does one “Philosophy saved me, arts world was ready for a new with his first well-documented exhibition “ [But] my work is silent, nonsense, banality, relate assemblage to other art forms? Is one especially that of Kant and the aesthetic with which to ad- at Dubai’s Central Public Library in 1976, skill-less, useless, without morality, dumb, making art for now or for future genera- Enlightenment philosophers dress a rapidly changing world. when there were “calls to burn his work and erotic.” Whether or not one believes tions who, with the benefit of hindsight, and the Frankfurt School of Assemblage or object making, and expel him from the country,” as the these things, he clearly delights in unshack- might understand it better than earlier criticism. I am influenced by the although a significant part of the writer Lisa Ball-Lechgar has noted. Rather ling the mind, provoking the viewer into generations? And what is art and where French; especially Jean-Francois art canon since the early years than retreat from the art scene, Sharif has imagining art far beyond the Orientalist does it come from? Lyotard, who said that we do of the 20th century, remained doggedly pursued his own course to make realism, figuration, and impressionism that But answering his questions has not need any more discussions the province of only a few ad- art that is uniquely his own and which is dominated early Emirati art. required a lifetime. The foundations of his about being noble; that we venturous artists. Object making, now firmly situated in the mainstream of While Sharif speaks perceptively art and ideas began to take shape during don’t need any high-level dis- including Sharif’s, is touched by Emirati art. to many issues, his art is not didactic; it his studies in London, a time that opened course. Life is so complicated virtually every ism and ist but for Sharif’s determination not to be speaks to a wide variety of contemporary up not just a new world of intellectual, and philosophy helps people Sharif the freedom to make his cowed by threats and criticism has always concerns, from the challenges of creating technical, and theoretical challenges, but to be stronger. Philosophy art should not be dominated by set him apart from those who have taken a strong personal identity to the wasteful- also made him aware that there were in fact teaches people to think about one thing. “I take from the isms the safe artistic route, making art that of- ness of industrial production, from the no limitations to the making of art. In culti- their condition. The thing is, in [what] I like instead of being fends no one and sells quickly. Sharif’s acceptance of new kinds of art, including vating a unique artistic voice Sharif’s foun- 1982 I started thinking about dominated by one ism or ist,” art, a multifarious narrative, is not timid the demands of painting now, to how it is dation, which is constantly being built up, what art is, the function and he says. “I don’t want one ism but something that is bold and stirs the perceived in the rapidly changing societies embraces art’s language, history, and phi- the nature of art. It is some- but a pluralistic view, taking in imagination. He abhors “the banality of the of the United Arab Emirates. The manner losophy, as well as poetry, literature, per- thing beyond philosophy.” all cultures. I don’t blame people rules of art, which stifle, [and] puts one in in which he makes his art raises important formance and installation art, and humor. who see my work and don’t One sees this humor at work in ashioned from the sim- understand it. I am making art assemblages such as Clothes Pegs (2007) plest of objects and ma- for the next generation.” and Raj and 555 (2008). In the former terials Hassan Sharif’s art As an intense young Sharif’s colorful arrangement of wooden appears as an effortless artist Hassan Sharif grasped the and plastic clothes pegs are placed in the response to a chaotic freshness of object making with center panel of a cardboard box that has world.F A close look at his use of the tenacity of a free spirit. Like been opened out; in the latter he uses a such things as brightly colored Marcel Duchamp, who found trademark for “cultivating and conditioning plastic sandals, cardboard, coir, sculpture everywhere, even in and promoting and stimulating the mind of clothes pegs, plastic cups, pa- rejected material, Sharif rejects the individual in all societies.” We smile at per, copper, aluminum, spoons, nothing, embracing everything these works because their quotidian real- and cloth reveals that this is not that will add to his vision. Today, ity is reinforced for the viewer by Sharif’s so. His art is a complex intel- however, he approaches his art subtle simplicity: the familiar is made lectual and emotional riposte making more calmly, but equally unfamiliar through arrangement. to suffocating banality, much in intensely. “I used to be ob- Innumerable artists, critics, and the same way as the art of the sessed. Now I don’t need intu- theorists have also played a vital role in great assemblage artist Louise ition or inspiration. I don’t agree shaping Sharif’s own theories and art mak- Nevelson’s was in the 1950s. But with people about inspiration,” ing. Among the most important are Marcel whereas Nevelson boxed her he says. “Art for me is a deci- Duchamp, Alberto Giacometti, Willem objects and materials, Sharif, sion. Suppose I want to make de Kooning, Kasimir Malevich, Gerhard who calls his work “objects, something tomorrow, say three Richter, Joseph Beuys, Anslem Kiefer, not sculpture in the modern things, if I do one of these three Hassan Sharif, Clothes Pegs, 2007, 19 x 41 cm. Georg Baselitz, Walter Benjamin, Clement or contemporary sense,” likes Hassan Sharif, Spoons 3, 2008, 230 x 60 x 45 cm. things, it is enough. Making art

38 WORLD SCULPTURE NEWS SPRING 2009 SPRING 2009 WORLD SCULPTURE NEWS 39 has nothing to do with heritage, tradition, in poetry, but he also has a sense of time convention, childhood memories; it has a that informs his art. He says that whether it link with archetypes, before history. How is a minute, an hour, a day, or a month, he we find art is by making, by doing, which pays no heed except that he knows within means living art. You don’t live to make art himself that his “art” will emerge from him because art is something you cannot stop as a continuous narrative, life unfolding in doing—that is why art is alive.” the folds or twists or bends of his objects. “The aim of my work is not answering any s one looks over Sharif’s works questions, nor is it solving any problems,” of the past 30 years in his store- he says. “It represents my state of mind up room at his home and gallery to this moment. Because after one hour known as The Flying House, in my state of mind is going to change, but Al Quoz, Dubai, it is clear that it doesn’t mean that I have forgotten. It is heA has been making art that expresses not adding to my state of mind and my experi- only an objective view of the world but also ences so that one hour is added.” something of his spiritual life and his spon- But in object making Sharif is not taneous nature. This is evident in almost only investigating how to bring his found all of his work, from the making of his first materials together in a lively and spon- ‘books’ in the early 1980s to such recent taneous manner, but is also questioning works as Spoons (2008), a magnificent the space between form and illusion, Hassan Sharif, Eight Very Small Horizontal Lines and X, 1983, 5 x 40 x 40 cm. sculptural work of spoons bound together between void and solid, and the relation- Hassan Sharif, Foam Rubber and Copper, 2008, 40 x 70 x 40 cm. with copper wire that hangs on the wall, only appeals to the eye, but is also part step towards destroying a culture. ship between painting and sculpture. To from philosophy. If an artist doesn’t walk from their predecessors, to hold onto one’s and Classic (2008), a boldly colored work of their austere beauty. Such works may With works such as Zip & Cardboard achieve the most fluid results he allows together with the philosophy in his time, voice in times of rapid change is a dif- that suggests the fluidity of Arabic calligra- be interpreted as soft sculptures. A book (2007) and Clothes Pegs (2007) the lined them to reside freely on the floor, their then there is something wrong in his art. ficult challenge indeed. “Art,” he says, “is phy and an abstract-expressionist collage. can be just a cardboard box opened out paper of his earlier books has given way colorful volumes and arrangements open He can’t improve,” says Sharif. “In the between order and chance,” and he lives Sharif’s first books were made when with pages affixed to one of the sides as to colored materials tied with ribbons and to myriad interpretations. past artists’ demand was how to paint and through this daily to make his art. He notes he was starting “to experiment with art and in Book of Numbers (1982) and Eight very the simple geometry of plain wood and then what to paint. Now this has totally that one has to move beyond that which is life. I was a cartoonist in the 1970s, until small horizontal lines and X (1983). The colored plastic clothes pegs. One may see harif invests his found objects with a changed. Now the demand is in knowing safe in art, to make things that one loves, 1979, in the Dubai News. I stopped because pages may be virgin blank or have typed these colored materials and clothes pegs new identity far beyond their quotid- what painting is in the context of the 21st to speak in a philosophical way so that I started to think of fine art. This period was or hand-drawn straight or wavy or broken as extensions of the typed or handwrit- ian reality; there is both a hint of Arte century and how we are going to make a one begins to understand life, and not to very important to me but during this time I lines that he says lead to Kandinsky or Klee. ten line, as sculpted lines from another Povera and existentialist angst here. painting or an object.” be afraid of what art has to offer. was still painting. My art came to represent His rudimentary books suggest something culture, calligraphy or hieroglyphs, to be This is not a job of a few hours but Hassan Sharif’s influence as a writer While many challenges remain for everything except cartoons. Cartoons are of pre-history, of humankind imagining read as something magical, speaking to oftenS weeks, months, and years of activity and teacher since the mid-1980s has been artists and the acceptance of new art in like a joke. I think reality needs sharper what kind of form will contain their nar- the imagination, tiny segments of Sharif’s during which he rediscovers and reinvents profound and his artistic voice remains a the UAE, Sharif looks to the future with things than a joke.” rative. Sharif’s blank pages demand to be meta narrative. the reality of his materials, challenging their unique one in the United Arab Emirates. optimism, but it is tinged by a warning. “I His books are not jokes. They written upon and those that are written Books and the reading of an art- original associations in unique, colorful He has long been aware that while new art think there is a new civilization growing or may be seen as ironic statements on the upon demand that the narrative there be work so fascinate Sharif that one of his fu- objects, sometimes tied with copper and movements and schools dress differently emerging from the Middle East. You cannot content of all books and, by inference, extended by the viewers’ imaginations. ture projects is “a book to be read in which rope, of which Classic 2 is judge now how it will look,” knowledge and secrets. For Sharif a book His Holes in Cardboard (1990) the reader can read a painting of Cezanne’s a good example; sometimes he says. “The most important begins two dimensionally as individual —packs of different colored cardboard or read a performance of Joseph Beuys.” the materials are simply piled thing is education. We aban- pages, much like a drawing or the canvas bound together and piled on the floor— While Sharif’s ‘books’ have a stud- up on the floor unrestrained, doned art, music, and dance of a painting, then gradually emerges as a suggests books that have been discarded, ied formality about them, other objects as in Coir and Cloth. Plastic in government schools. We three-dimensional object. It is this emerging the secrets now unwanted, knowledge such as Plastic and Wire 2 (1987), which Sandals (2009) [see cover] is must reinstate these if we are that clearly intrigues Sharif and inspires his abandoned. There is something inherently reminds one of the bold line that Sharif has a fine example of Sharif giv- to build or to realize a new ‘re-interpretation’ of structure and content. sad about this work as it reminds one of a used in drawings, Plastic Cups and Coir ing new life to the mundane civilization. Without these His books have a simple geometry that not pile of books waiting to be burned, the first (1999), Cloth and Paper (2005), Plastic object. The pile of brightly we won’t reach this new Funnel – Aluminum Foil (2006), Foam colored sandals bundled civilization. In the collective Rubber and Copper (2008), and Classic together and tied with wire unconscious if these things 2 (2008) come together in bursts of color stands on the floor as an are destroyed, human be- and spontaneous energy and as such they object whose fluid geom- ings become little more than are clearly connected to the dynamism of etry encloses dark spaces, machines.” ∆ abstract-expressionist painting. Since he whose line and form suggest titles his works simply with the names of something eerily organic, a the materials that he is using, he is letting monster grown from waste. Notes: us know that art is everywhere, that it re- But Sharif’s ‘monsters’ have a 1. The United Arab Emirates, quires no special materials. Perhaps he is warmth and intensity that the in the eastern Arabian pen- even suggesting that, since his materials are calculating, high-tech con- insula, formerly known as so common, anyone can make art. “I make sumerist society that is 21st the Trucial States, is made up some objects that are over ornamented so century Dubai does not. of Abu Dhabi (the largest of the audience exaggerates when it ques- Some people might the emirates), Dubai, Sharjah tions: Why is it so? The opposite is that I see madness in his art. But (al-Shaiqa), Ra’s al-Khayma, Fujayra, Umm al-Qaywayn, have objects that are almost minimalist. In as he says, “If art is mad- and Ajman (the smallest of both there is no skill so everyozne can do ness, then the authorities the emirates). it,” he says. should open the doors of the 2. All quotations are from the au- There is a quirky, lyrical quality to asylums. Art is not madness. thor’s interviews with Hassan Sharif’s art that is immensely attractive. This Art is a mirage, as Marcel Sharif in Dubai, March 28, Hassan Sharif, Zip & Cardboard, 2007, 24 x 40 cm. is no accident since he has a great interest Duchamp said. It [art] comes Hassan Sharif, Plastic Funnel - Aluminum Foil, 2006, 150 x 100 x 100 cm. 2008, and March 22, 2009.

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