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Leading Sudanese Artist Ibrahim El-Salahi Receives

Renewed, International Recognition This Spring

Two years since his solo show at Tate Modern, Ibrahim El-Salahi—one

of Sudan’s foremost living artists—and his elegant, visionary paintings

and drawings are back. The pioneering artist was the first from his

continent to be represented in a retrospective at Tate Modern, and this

spring, thanks to Vigo Gallery, his works will be on view in New York,

London, Hastings, and Istanbul.

ARTSY EDITORIALMAY 11TH, 2015 1:27 PM

Though his approach to his work is decidedly personal, El-Salahi’s

compositions beautifully reflect the internationalism of our times. He

merges European abstraction, the traditions of Arabic calligraphy and

ornamentation, the colors and crafts of his native Sudan, and his own life

experiences to develop striking works that range in scope from

celebrations of culture to statements on social injustice.

El-Salahi is the focus of Vigo Gallery’s booth at Frieze New York this

year. On show will be works drawn from the artist’s own archives,

including rare paintings and drawings from the 1960s, and monumental,

multi-part compositions from the 1980s and 90s. Among these is the

edgy Visual Diary of a Time-Waste Palace (1996), whose genesis is as

intriguing as its semi-abstract, ink-on-paper images. The artist made this

work while serving as an advisor to the Qatari government and a

translator and cultural advisor to the Emir. These roles gave him access to

the Emir’s palace, where he found square-shaped, blank books. For a year

and a half, he worked to fill each page of these books with drawings,

ultimately creating the 57 drawings of Time-Waste Palace. Upon

completion (and at the age of 66), he decided to devote the rest of his life

to art making full-time.

Later this month, at Vigo’s Mayfair space, a suite of paintings that were

featured prominently in the Tate retrospective receive a renewed

exhibition. As the title, “Flamenco” may suggest, the series is the result of

the artist’s travels through southern Spain in 2009, during a trip with the

collector AbdulMagid Breish. During that summer, El-Salahi experienced

Marbella, Toledo, Córdoba, Granada, and Málaga, exploring the cities’

Moorish architecture by day, and enjoying traditional food and dance at

night. He was particularly inspired by the Alhambra in Granada, where

he found motifs that were the same as ones he encountered while

studying the Quran during his youth. The resulting paintings are

spirited, rhythmic compositions in black and white or rich umber and

sepia tones, filled with stylized dancers that range from curvaceous

abstract forms to robust, defined figures in traditional costume.

The artist’s spirit of independence and individuality finds its reflection in

a tree native to his country, which has inspired him for decades: the

Haraza. This tree is the focus of a series of subtle, modernist drawings,

which are now on view in a concentrated exhibition at the Jerwood

Gallery, presented in partnership with Vigo Gallery. Bucking all

expectations, the Haraza flourishes in the dry season and sheds its leaves

during the wet season, when everything else is in bloom. “This is a

definitive statement,” El-Salahi once declared about his beloved Haraza.

“Like saying, ‘I am me! I am an individual! I do not follow what everyone

is doing! When everyone is going to be green, let them be green. I am

not! It’s individuality. I love that very much.”

—Karen Kedmey

Visit Vigo Gallery at Frieze New York 2015, Spotlight, Booth B48, May14–17, 2015.

“Limelight: Ibrahim El-Salahi – Haraza” is on view at Jerwood Gallery,Hastings, Apr. 28 – May 31, 2015.

“Flamenco” is on view at Vigo Gallery, London, May 29–July 31, 2015.

Follow Vigo Gallery on ArtsyFollow Vigo Gallery on Artsy..

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Untitled , ca. 1958 They Always Appear, 1961

SOLD

Ibrahim El-Salahi

Vigo Gallery

Ibrahim El-Salahi

Vigo Gallery

Visual Diary of a Time-Waste Palace, 1996

Ibrahim El-Salahi

Vigo Gallery

Flamenco Dancers, 2012

Ibrahim El-Salahi

Vigo Gallery

Flamenco Dancers, 2011 Flamenco Dancer, 2012

Ibrahim El-Salahi

Vigo Gallery

Ibrahim El-Salahi

Vigo Gallery

The Tree, 2001

£40,000

Oxford Tree, 2001

Ibrahim El-Salahi

Vigo Gallery

Ibrahim El-Salahi

Vigo Gallery

Oxford Tree, 2001 Oxford Tree, 2001 Oxford Tree, 2001

Ibrahim El-Salahi

Vigo Gallery

Ibrahim El-Salahi

Vigo Gallery

Ibrahim El-Salahi

Vigo Gallery

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