EAST meets WEST

In the exhibition „EAST meets WEST“  Mario Mauroner Contemporary Art presents two artists at the Gallery House in Salzburg (Ignaz-Rieder-Kai 9): the kinetic works by the Austrian FERRO encounter the reliefs by RASHID AL KHALIFA from Bahrain.

Both artists – who are from the same generation – have a common sensitive approach to art: the reflection about space and time, the delicate and poetic vocabulary as well as the materiality (metal) are similar.

The filigree mobiles by FERRO that float like a mesh of lines in the space remind us of musical scores projected into the third-dimension and instantly connect with the reliefs varying in color by RASHID AL KHALIFA – „Variations of a theme“ is one of the main challenges in the music – an ability that RASHID AL KHALIFA perfectly masters.

FERRO’s “Linienschiffe” – a series of hanging objects / mobiles – consisting of carefully arranged and balanced fragile metal rods, that calmly take over the space and interact with it in a subtle way. Gently those delicate objects respond to the slightest breeze with a little noticeable starting of movement, that returns any time the air dynamic of the room changes. The quiet movement can then be perceived as a vague shadow play on the walls. “Linienschiffe” appear as floating worlds, as a loose levitating drawing and capture the performative characteristic of FERRO’s art work: the object stages itself as the actor, who refuses the actual state and celebrates constant transmission and change. Thus the “Linienschiffe” create an immediate connection with the outside world: the world in constant movement, the art world in transformation which is also the case in the reliefs of:

RASHID AL KHALIFA uses his work as a contemporary tribute to traditional Middle Eastern design. His “Spectrum” series considers the ‘rules of repetition’ in Islamic art which creates the illusion of infinity. RASHID AL KHALIFA takes these rules and applies them to structural attributes that are reminiscent of contemporary Arab architecture. Further the color range refer to the shades of the landscape of RASHID AL KHALIFA’s homeland Bahrain.

The exhibition runs until end of October.