Nadia Ayari: Focus On

Raised in Tunis, Nadia Ayari lives and works in New York. Her distinctive paintings are characterised by a striking balance between abstraction and narration. Generally Ayari produces series of works which focus on a select number of repeated objects like the flower, branch and leaf which are inspired by her native landscape. These forms become characters in her paintings, taking on the contours of human disembodiment, or another shape isolated from nature. Her compositions tackle narratives of survival while the thick, methodically applied oil-paint give the protagonists and the plastic space they inhabit substantial skin, making them physically relatable. 

 

Ayari moved to the U.S. in 2000 and received a B.A. in art history from Boston University, an M.F.A. in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design, and a certificate of fine arts from Brandeis University. She began exhibiting her work in 2008, and has participated in numerous international shows and biennales, including the U.S. pavilion at the 12th Cairo International Biennale and the 3rd Thessaloniki Biennale.

 

Her works can be found in collections of the Collection Pinault, Paris, France; the Dalloul Art Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon; The X Museum, Beijing, China, The Scantland Collection, Columbus, Ohio; Fundación Medianoche, Grenada, Spain; Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden, Marrakesh, Morocco Barjeel Foundation, Sharjah, UAE; State Museum of Contemporary Art,; Thessaloniki, Greece; Saatchi Collection, London, UK.

 

At the center of Nadia Ayari's new paintings are forms and motifs that are represented as recurring characters in various series by the artist. After an intensive creative period, Ayari is using the exhibition in the context of Focus On as an opportunity to reflect on her older works and intensively examine the symbolism of her paintings. Metallic lines circle through the artworks. Their surface and form are reminiscent of barbed wire. Their symbolic hardness and demarcation are contrasted by the flowers that grow out of the wire instead of the spikes. They manage to blossom even in difficult situations and assert themselves against their harsh surroundings.

 

Through the intensive examination of motifs and their recurring circulation, they take on an increasingly abstract quality for Ayari, much like a word that is often repeated and almost loses its meaning, seems unnatural and is reduced to its sound instead of its meaning. Ayari repeats her motifs in a similar way. Contemplation is also essential to her working process. It takes over two months to complete one of her paintings. Form and color gradually harmonize with each other and slowly merge into a finished work. The naturalistic depiction of flowers, almost like futuristic still lifes, are examined for their meaning. Ayari speaks of a representation of survival. The flowers, which protrude from the metal, assert themselves against their unnatural surroundings, assert themselves against adverse circumstances and flourish as central protagonists of the works despite their circumstances. Climate change, political instability and war form the soil from which these flowers sprout.