Shoe? Safaa Alset in Bahrein

An exhibition at Albareh gallery in conjonction with Saks Fith avenue in Bahrein from the 25th october to the 24th of November 2011.
Safaa Alset, syrian artist, works metal and creates sculptural forms.
Her "Shoe" is about also the arabic meaning of "shou" (or What)
The question is surely about the cinderella ever growing syndrom of the shoe in the Arab world. Metal shoes, designers red sole shoes, flipflops, higher and higher heels or any form of shoes to squish those toes and look pretty?
Shou, are we getting out of it soon and addressing issues in the Arab world in regard of what women could achieve?
Shou, do we stay stuck in the realm of pretty pretty girls and brush our vanity?
Shou, will artists know where to look for inspiration on women's condition in the arab world?

Safaa Alset writes on one sculpted shoe : Shou, lawen rayheen (or "What, Where are we going?")
Of course, it is the toughest question to ask in the region today.


link to albareh
link to Safaa Alset website

exchange

Al Bareh gallery, Bahrein, has a back room available for workshops with artists exhibiting in the gallery. This type of exchange can only give openness and sparkle creativity as an art center.
Transformation of ideas with a personnel impact is one of the essence of creativity. Picasso had said: "copying others is a necessity, copying oneself is disastrous". Where is the line drawn between copying, creating, exchanging, learning, examining, investigating and exploring?
Why do artists keep on repeating themselves in a style that looks like their own and the buyers have indulged in acquisitions? Why is it so difficult to continue the search for a liberation from within? Why comfort of the known takes over the beauty of the quest?

Artists residence around the world are a corner stone for exchange of ideas and work. One of the oldest is the Villa Medici in Rome when in 1803 Napoleon planned for the french artists to have the opportunity to see and copy the masterpieces of antiquity or the renaissance. Politics and history have changed the configuration of the Villa; today, France lost its guardianship over the residence. It has nevertheless allowed generations of artists to soak and impregnate in a world of art and find a bit more about themselves.
In the Arab world, Artists residence has a sense of budding, still in embryo and barely vibrant. Sharjah has set out an artist residence. Khartoum under the supervision of Rashid Diab has a place for artists. But what wbout the environement in which creativity is encouraged, learning is supported and the will to explore motivated?
A back room can be a starting point...