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TTL - Sa - Rainbow Clearance and Other Paintings - Press Release

The Third Line gallery is hosting 'Rainbow Clearance and Other Paintings,' a solo exhibition by Los Angeles artist Sarah Awad from November 10 to December 16, 2022. The exhibition features large-scale paintings that explore themes of color, space, and the act of looking, emphasizing the relationships and collisions between colors. Awad's work is characterized by its vibrant layering and open-ended interpretations, reflecting her ongoing exploration of color and materiality.

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14 views3 pages

TTL - Sa - Rainbow Clearance and Other Paintings - Press Release

The Third Line gallery is hosting 'Rainbow Clearance and Other Paintings,' a solo exhibition by Los Angeles artist Sarah Awad from November 10 to December 16, 2022. The exhibition features large-scale paintings that explore themes of color, space, and the act of looking, emphasizing the relationships and collisions between colors. Awad's work is characterized by its vibrant layering and open-ended interpretations, reflecting her ongoing exploration of color and materiality.

Uploaded by

ppsashmaanharoon6d
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Sarah Awad

Rainbow Clearance and Other Paintings


10th November – 16th December, 2022

The Third Line is pleased to announce Rainbow Clearance and Other Paintings, our first solo exhibition with
Los Angeles based artist Sarah Awad. Occupying both gallery spaces, Awad presents a series of new
paintings that traverse notions of space, colour and the act of looking.

Sarah Awad, Phantom Web, 2022, Oil and Vinyl on Canvas, 152.4 x 167.64 cm

Rainbow Clearance and Other Paintings marks Awad’s first solo presentation outside of her home state of
California. With paintings rendered in large-scale – a preference on the artist’s part to allow an interpretation
of colour and form – the collection is dense with colour and takes on the theme of isolation. It isn’t isolation
in the sense of remoteness or seclusion per se, but rather in the function of looking outward and inward, or
as Awad puts it: “The way the paint can allow you to see through something to see something else that is coming from
the form of the work.” Awad maintains, however, that the paintings are void of narratives, “but hold gesture, body
and colour” and are intended to be “open-ended” in their interpretation. “They are figurations, not illustrations,”
she asserts.

There is a vigour in Awad’s charged and obvious layering, and a dynamism to her grouping of colours – on a
palette, they may seem disharmonious, but on her canvases, they are utterly captivating. Colours excite her,
especially those that one assumes do not go together. “One fundamental aspect about colour is its relation to
other colours. I am aware of colour relationships and the spatial relationships that happen,” she says.

Time and again, Awad refers to these ‘relationships’ as collisions, largely because she intends on colours and
materials to make impact. The painting begins life flat on the ground at first and Awad then constructs it with
transparent washes. The emerging shapes and colour relationships dictate the painting’s aesthetic direction,

The Third Line, Al Quoz 3, Dubai, UAE | +9714 3411 367 | [email protected] | www.thethirdline.com
“allowing the materials to bleed and develop different edges” and it is then hung on the wall where the figuration,
or rather, “the collision” is imposed. “The forms that are happening will inform the figures,” explains Awad. “I don’t
know what it will be, nor do I know who the figures are.”

The energy is electric, and yet, however systematic the configuration appears, it is guided by Awad’s instinct
and that is solely led by trial and error. What looks like a vibrant arrangement is the artist’s continuous
attempt at solving textural and colour riddles on her canvases. Thankfully, those have endless possibilities,
meaning Awad’s journey is a life-long exploration in colour and materiality. “If I understand it, then it loses its
power,” she says. “The same palette can yield different colour combinations and that is limitless.”

Another impact is the figure, which she discovered during a life-changing trip to Florence in 2001 that
cemented Awad’s commitment to art and exposed her to classical art in a manner that continues to
influence her painting today. It is from the seat of the Italian Renaissance and modernism where Awad’s
female figure stems and which initially appeared as a singular subject, “coming from the male relationship to the
female body as a muse.” Over the years, that has evolved into multiple figures and bodies in conversation with
each other through colour.

- Words by Myrna Ayad

About Sarah Awad


Sarah Awad (b. 1981, Pasadena, CA) has had solo exhibitions at Night Gallery, Los Angeles; Blossom Market,
Los Angeles; and Diane Rosenstein Gallery, Los Angeles. She has been included in group shows at Night
Gallery, Los Angeles; LA Louver, Venice; V1 Gallery, Copenhagen; Long Beach City College Art Gallery, CA;
and Galerie Ernst Hilger, Vienna. Awad is the 2011 recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant and
her work has been reviewed in Artillery, Modern Painters, Art in America, Artsy Editorial, ArtScene, and New
American Paintings, among others. Her work is in the permanent collections of Dallas Museum of Art, TX;
The Britely, West Hollywood; and Hotel Figueroa, Los Angeles. In 2022, she will be featured in group shows
at PRJCTLA, Los Angeles, and Chan Gallery, Pomona. Awad currently teaches on the faculty of the Claire
Trevor School of the Arts at UC Irvine and is based in Los Angeles.

About Myrna Ayad


Myrna Ayad established her namesake consultancy in 2018, focusing on art advisory, cultural strategy and
book publishing and is recognised as one of the Middle East’s leading cultural commentators. From 2016–
2018, she was Director of Art Dubai, the region’s foremost international art fair. Preceding this, she wrote on
regional art for The New York Times, CNN Online, The Art Newspaper, Artforum, Artsy, Artnet,
Wallpaper* and The National, among others, and contributed to artist monographs and exhibition
catalogues. Ayad was Editor of Canvas, the premier magazine for visual art from the Middle East from 2007–
2015, where she oversaw the production of the title’s affiliate newspapers, catalogues, and luxury art
books. Over the years, she has served as a panellist and moderator and sits on the committees of cultural
organisations in the region. Based in the UAE for four decades, Ayad graduated with a bachelor’s degree in
Business Administration in 2001 from the American University in Dubai. She lives in Dubai with her
husband and two children.

About The Third Line


Founded in 2005, The Third Line is a Dubai-based gallery that represents contemporary Middle Eastern
artists locally, regionally, and internationally. A pioneering platform for established talent and emerging
voices from the region and its diaspora, The Third Line has built a dynamic program that explores the
diversity of practice in the region.

The Third Line, Al Quoz 3, Dubai, UAE | +9714 3411 367 | [email protected] | www.thethirdline.com
In addition to its exhibitions, The Third Line engages in the production of art publications in English and
Arabic and hosts numerous non-profit, alternative programs that add to the discourse on art, film, music
and literature in the region.

Represented artists include: Abbas Akhavan, Ala Ebtekar, Amir H. Fallah, Farah Al Qasimi, Farhad Moshiri,
Fouad Elkoury, Hassan Hajjaj, Hayv Kahraman, Huda Lutfi, Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, Jordan
Nassar, Laleh Khorramian, Lamya Gargash, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Nima Nabavi, Pouran
Jinchi, Rana Begum, Sahand Hesamiyan, Sara Naim, Shirin Aliabadi, Slavs and Tatars, Sophia Al-Maria,
Tarek Al-Ghoussein, yasiin bey, Youssef Nabil, and Zineb Sedira.

Media Contact
Gabriella Moore | [email protected]

The Third Line, Al Quoz 3, Dubai, UAE | +9714 3411 367 | [email protected] | www.thethirdline.com

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