Ali Jabbar
"TIME IN BEINGNESS"
An exploration into Ali Jabbar's ambiguous paintings
22 November 2010 - 8 January 2011
Private view 23rd November 2010, 6pm - 9pm

Ali Jabbar 'Nobody Can Surprise You', 100 x 100 cm, acrylic on canvas

The Hay Hill Gallery is proud to announce the first UK exhibition of Iraqi artist Ali Jabbar. Jabbar's collection of paintings is thought provoking, challenging and humorous. The artist draws the viewer into his own world where thoughts and dreams interconnect and where light and shadow accentuate the brightly coloured surface that dances on the retina.

“Ali Jabbar is a significant painter who works with the penumbra between light and dark, between external reality and the imagination, between figuration and the abstract environment. These variations on a theme are pronounced with vivid color. The magic (if I dare say) that is within his sculpture is also within the paintings.“ Robert C. Morgan. Art Critic, New York

“My paintings show a vivid contrast between what is covered and naked, innocent and corrupt, old and new, tender and coarse. They are created both in an abstract and expressionist as well as in a realistic and surrealistic style. There are always distortions, contradictions, arguments, sarcasm and fear about the unknown. My paintings display the comparison between the perpetuity of things and the disappearance of the instant sensation which was created accidentally.“ Ali Jabbar

"The greater the ambiguity, the greater the pleasure."
Milan Kundera 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being'

Ali Jabbar 'Bus Stop', 100 x 100 cm, acrylic on canvas

Ali Jabbar:
Ali Jabbar is a painter, a sculptor and a graphic designer. He was born in Iraq in 1963, lived in Denmark from 1992 to 2008 and now lives and works in London.

He studied at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad (1982-1987), at the Academy of Fine Arts in Baghdad (1987-1990) and the Graphic Design School in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Jabbar started his career in art in 1985. Between 1985-2009 he created 5 bronze statues in Iraq and participated in the Baghdad International Biennale, the Cairo Painting Biennale, the Tehran Painting Biennale, the Grand Palais Biennale in Paris and the Sharja International Biennale.

He participated in 85 group exhibitions in Denmark, Iraq, Sweden, Austria, Jordan, Egypt, Tunis, UAE, Finland, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, France, USA, Iran, Spain, Bahrain, Turkey, Norway. He also did 8 solo exhibitions in Denmark, Germany, and Spain. He produced 14 stone and steel monumental works in Turkey, Iran, Bahrain, Oman, Lebanon, UAE and Germany. His work was shown in the Drammen Museum in Norway, the Fletcher Museum in Denmark, the Kerkeby Museum in Denmark, the Silk Borg Museum in Denmark, the Tehran Contemporary Art Museum and the National Museum in Lithuania.

In 1985 and in 1987 his paintings got 1st award in Iraq. His sculptures won him the first prize in Dubai International Sculpture Symposium in 2005 and the Tehran Sculpture Symposium in 2007.

Notes to Editors:

Hay Hill Gallery, located on Cork Street, specialises in the sculpture of the famed artist Auguste Rodin and represents a number of internationally recognised contemporary artists. The exhibition of works by Ali Jabbar will be held along with works of Auguste Rodin.

For press information and images please contact Alexandra Tuulos, info@hayhill.com

Listings information:

Hay Hill Gallery, 5a Cork Street, London, W1S 3NY
Tel: 020 7439 1001
Opening hours: Monday - Saturday, 10.30am-6pm
www.hayhill.com