According to Dexter Wimberly, we all stand together under a fast-moving sky. It is a way of looking at the world that’s both poetic and apt.
A Fast Moving Sky is a group exhibition of four artists linked by their African heritage, which guest curator Wimberly has put together to explore the idea of cultural hybrids.
“The underpinning of this show is that people move around the globe, ideas travel and influences are shared regardless of background. As a result, it is very difficult to define anything down under one specific category,” he says.
As such, taking in the work of Andrew Lyght becomes a multi-layered experience. Lyght was born and raised in Guyana and his artworks are three-dimensional: painted plywood rectangles protrude from their window-like frames and are suspended through thin ropes that resemble ship sails.
“My work has always been universal. I came from a place where many races lived side by side. My uncles were house builders; my Chinese neighbours made kites, my East India neighbours did a lot of dying with fabrics, and I learned the basics of fine art through a leading art master in Guyana who trained in London,” he explains.
Traces of his many influences are evident in his works, which also recall the horizon line that separates the solid earth from the sky – a nod to the name of the exhibition. “The artists here are blurring the lines between different disciplines, and thematically that speaks to the exhibition, too,” says Wimberly.
Another artist is Valerie Piraino, who was born in Rwanda, and whose notable works include sculptures of papayas.
The papaya is a Caribbean fruit that she ate regularly for breakfast growing up in sub-Saharan Africa. “The fruit is ubiquitous,” she says. “When I started thinking about how that came about, it became a conversation about colonialism and imperialism.”
Sweet Tropical Edibles by Valerie Piraino. Courtesy of Valerie Piraino and The Third Line
The forms are also very feminine and, therefore, question fertility and reproduction and fit well with the overarching theme of hybridity.
The other two artists are: Leonardo Benzant, a Dominican-American, who makes textile pieces, and Rushern Baker, who draws inspiration from the history of geometric abstraction.
Upstairs in the gallery is a second exhibition – a solo show from Amir H Fallah, an Iranian artist based in Los Angeles. His work normally steers clear of issues of national identity, but living in the age of Trump when immigration is under the spotlight, he says he felt the need to address the issue of home.
Amir H Fallah: Almost Home also showcases a series of portraits of Iranians who grew up in the United States, but in Fallah's signature style, none of the faces of his subjects are shown. Instead, he identifies them with personal objects – a pot plant, a statement necklace or a stuffed Mickey Mouse.
“The show is a meditation on the word ‘home’ as a place of origin as well as domestic space,” he says.
Amir H Fallah’s Happiest Place on Earth. Courtesy Amir H Fallah and The Third Line
Each portrait is also bordered with a layered collage of ornate flowers – a nod to the Persian rug, which are typified by their frames. There are several other floral paintings included that continue this reference. The flowers cling to the edges of the canvas leaving their centres as blank windows.
On the petrol-blue painted walls is a Google translation to Farsi of the lyrics to Simon and Garfunkel's Homeward Bound. "The words don't really make much sense, but that is the point," he says.
“It is about that moment of things getting lost in translation.”
• A Fast Moving Sky and Amir H Fallah: Almost Home will run until July 25 at The Third Line, Dubai. For more information, visit www.thethirdline.com
aseaman@thenational.ae
