Today’s SUSTG Review includes a review from the East Bay Express about GENERA#ION, a traveling show presenting contemporary art from Saudi Arabia that is now on view in a number of galleries in San Francisco. The East Bay Express gives the show a strong recommendation and, in fact, the exhibition has been very well-received as well in its previous stops Houston (Parallel Kingdom at Station Museum) and Aspen, Colorado (Gonzo Arabia at Boogies).
The tour’s next stop will be the Bates College Museum of Art in Lewiston, Maine.
Rashed Al Shashai, “Heaven’s Doors,” 2014. Courtesy of Hafez Gallery
The tour was initiated by CULTURUNNERS and the Riyadh-based Gharem Studio. It includes up to 15 Saudi artists and is organized and spearheaded by the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, a Saudi Aramco initiative based in Dhahran.
The Station Museum described the exhibition as an exploration of, “the complex issues faced by the new generation in Saudi Arabia, challenging the broadcast of hyperbole and contradictions which have sculpted the narrative of the Saudi Kingdom internationally. Moreover, questioning western perceptions of Saudi society. What do we ‘really’ know about the Kingdom and the people that live there?”
Abdulnasser Gharem, founder of Gharem Studio comments, “The artists in this show present a new intellectual paradigm that utilizes unique concepts and terminology to define the artists’ role within their society and their generation. Rather than analyzing art and society separately, the artists confront art as a reflection of society, positioning themselves as its mirrors.”
The combination of young Saudi artists and the collaboration of its Saudi and American organizers makes for a fascinating artistic experience.
Abdulnasser Gharem, “The Path (Siraat),” 2012
