The featured artist of the week this week is Aziz Anzabi.
"My base technique to create artworks is using real life natural events to create artworks with images or words from an imaginary world. Throughout my art I clearly elaborated the disposition (changing the shape of an object), and morphing of objects. I have long been intrigued and fascinated by these concepts. In my sculptures and painting, both figurative and abstract, I employ these aspects of a collective unconscious to evoke an emotional state within the viewer. In my figurative work, my goal is to capture the myriad changing state of the human condition through subtle changes in facial countenance and body language. The end result shows how the inner condition is expressed by the outward form while also conveying a timeless quality to human emotion. In my abstract sculptures, I have recreated the numinous quality of subconsciously shared images, stories, and ceremonial rites. The sculptures, themselves, are composed of abstract forms that are covered with a rich, textured surface. The end result is a complex organic piece that evokes a sense of ancient artefacts, of ritualistic objects from some unknown culture, or of imagined landscapes. However, my ultimate goal is to have the viewer feel a sense of familiarity with the work...a sense of having experienced this before. I believe this feeling of arises from both the collective unconscious and a mystical canter we all share..."
Selected Artworks:
Artworks in order:
Above water level 1, 2020, Oil on canvas, 102cm x 66cm, £14000
Part of his series "insignificant", Above water level ultimately conveys that with the king's happiness and exercise of power, some must suffer. The champagne glasses symbolize celebration and joy, yet despite this the king is haunted by his cruel actions, depicted through the blood that inks the glass. The spreading of the ink in the liquid highlights that the unjust abuse of power by the king has a domino effect, not only on the lives of the people affected but also those who are indirectly affected. Ultimately the king inflicts more suffering to reinforce his power and enjoy his authority, yet he cannot fully enjoy it as he is haunted by his actions.
A World within me, 2020, Oil on canvas, 102cm x 66cm, £12000
In his series "Don't Judge me" He uses surrealism style Anzabi aims to criticize unnecessary judgement in society, that is made based on someone's appearance or lifestyle. Through using such Dali, an important figurehead in the surrealist movement, Anzabi ultimately demonstrates that no one is free from judgement. Overall Anzabi highlights how judgement obscures reality and is dangerous in society as it leads to misconceptions and biases towards individuals, made without knowledge.
Care home, 2019, Oil and peeling paper on canvas, 102cm x 66cm, £14000
Based on the death of Aziz's mother in a care home. This surrealist painting clearly expresses the pain and suffering she went through in the care home. The Qajar women is a symbolism of his mother's youth and the dead, dried fish is a symbol of the effects of old age. Furthermore, the frame around the scene highlights the limited lives and freedoms, elders are restricted to in care homes. Review by: Asra Y
Covid-19 orbit, 2020, Oil on canvas, 102cm x 66cm, £10000
"Covid-19 orbit" encapsulates the situation caused by the current pandemic. The pendulum symbolises the effects of the virus on humanity and the world. The virus causes a momentum in the healing of the Earth, demonstrated through the decline in pollution but in turn results in the damage of a healthy lung and eventually leads to death. Despite the facade that the momentum of the pendulum is never ending, it does eventually halt which is symbolically significant in demonstrating that people need to maintain hope and that this pandemic would eventually end. Through this minuscule symbolism I show how even the smallest event can have consequences for the whole world, thus discouraging the ignorance and racism by people witnessed when the virus was only in Wuhan. Furthermore, through using a grey background I show the grimness of the situation, yet ultimately hint that there is hope for the world to heal.
Tintin in auction 2, 2020, Bronze sculpture, 21 x 10 x 10 cm, £8500
This is a series of sculptures which has been influenced by the character TinTin as a symbol of saving the environment and Aziz's goal has been to show how nature is being destroyed and if we continue in this way it wouldn't be left for future generations. TinTin carrying the whale emphasises the crisis humanity is in while subtly through the irony of a human carrying a whale, he demonstrates that humans are using finite resources faster than they could be restored. Through using a whale, Anzabi provokes sympathy as he illustrates that the destruction of the environment has permanent consequences and affects innocent lives as demonstrated through extinction of animals throughout history.
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