“(Dis)Figured”

trio show of Rashwan Abdelbaki, Luis Gomez de Teran, Jan Van Oost

Installation view (DIs) figured di Rashwan Abdelbaki, Luis Gomez de Teran, Jan Van Oost

Installation view (DIs) figured di Rashwan Abdelbaki, Luis Gomez de Teran, Jan Van Oost


 

Montoro12 Contemporary Art is pleased to present (Dis) Figured, an exhibition featuring paintings and sculptures by Rashwan Abdelbaki (b.1984, Damaskus, Syria), Luis Gomez de Teran (b. 1980 Caracas, Venezuela) and Jan Van Oost (1961, Deinze, Belgium). While these international artists work in very different styles, they are all concerned with the human condition, expressed in works featuring predominantly the human figure, deconstructed as it may be. Visually alluring, fascinating and seductive, the works are dialectical masterpieces, reconciling binary opposites, light and dark, life and death, tension and relax. Their beauty lies in the darkness of the depth beneath the surface.

Coming from war-torn Syria, Rashwan Abdelbaki, who was a fellow at the American Academy in Rome in 2016, is best known for his colorful acrylic paintings showing figures that always keep one eye open: constantly alert of the enemy, like prey, his figures are always half awake as to sleep could result in injury and death. His newest series depict close couples that seem to comfort one another in this tragic situation: The works Love, Whisper and Connection remind us of humanity in our time of dis-humanity.

Born in Venezuela, Luis Gomez de Teran made himself a name as an international mural or street painter, with walls painted from Berlin to London to Mumbai. Mostly self-taught, he has recently started to create mixed media paintings on panel that seem to come straight out of the Baroque: chiaroscuro, even tenebroso, his painted figures emerge from the dark, night figures remind us of Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Rubens. For this exhibition Gomez created a series of five works representing a lifetime, from pre-birth to after death. Each work includes a natural element which he immortalises in resin.

Internationally known Belgian artist Jan Van Oost has always been concerned with death, with skeletons as memento mori, with seduction and fear of the one certainty in life: death. Some of the large size drawings in the exhibition are from his well known Pasolini - De Sade cycle. At first glance his expressionist paintings seduce us with their power and beauty, while danger seems to lurk right beneath the surface. His beautiful marble sculpture of a skull transforms the notion of death into a beautiful and still resting place.

Visually far apart, each of these three artists gives us a glimpse of the human tragedy. Life and death are intertwined and synthesized in the beauty and decay of the “(Dis) Figured” protagonists of their fascinating works of art.

Rashwan Abdelbaki was born in Syria in 1984 and has lived in Beirut and Rome before he moved to New York City, where he currently lives and works. He has had solo exhibitions in Damascus, at Dar Al- Mussawir, Beirut, George Mason University Gallery, Fairfax, VA, the Metropolitan College of New York and the Elizabeth Foundation, New York City.


Luis Gomez de Teran, born in Caracas in 1980, is best known for his large murals in cities including Barcelona, Berlin, London, Rome and Mumbai. He has lived in Berlin and London before he came to Rome, where he currently lives and works. He has exhibited his work in Paris and Rome and will have a solo exhibition at MUSMA in Matera later this


Jan Van Oost, born in Deinte, Belgium in 1961, has exhibited his work internationally since 1984, with solo exhibitions in London, Paris, Tokyo, Athens, Brussels, Turin and Monte Carlo to name just a few. His work is in numerous private and public collections.