Are you feeling overwhelmingly exhausted these days because of the tropical heat that we have here? Well, instead of sweating at the beach club I have a much better suggestion for you: Go and pay the perfectly well air-conditioned Gallery Sfeir-Semler a visit. The Marwan paintings that they are showing at the moment are totally fascinating: Faces that are landscapes or landscapes that are faces? You can’t tell. But the act of watching the paintings closely is such an adventure, you shouldn’t miss. In these paintings Marwan works with black charcoal and watercolours which results in very colourful paintings. Have a CLOSE look at them. The closer you get, the more it will get through to you…
The exhibition shows Marwans’ self-portraits between the years 1985 and 2014. The Syrian artist immigrated from Damaskus to Berlin in the late 1950s. What is so interesting about Marwan is the cultural background. To me it’s so mind blowing how different cultures are working together and how each is translated into the other “language” and something totally new is formed.
If you have cooled down after watching the paintings, well…still plenty of time to check out the beach, I’d reckon.