Nadim Touma
(Canada)
"Shriek", Oil on canvas, 122 x 122 cm
"Abstract explorations from recent years search undetermined moments following disrupting events. These events are interrupting the natural chronology and precipitating the subject into a mist of psychological doubts and fleeting questions, an opportunity for sudden and undefined interpretation on canvas. The paintings are the reflection of reflexes of escape, research or confrontation born of these troubles.
Abstraction in this sense is a fog of exploration, a search for visual balance, where I try to instill a radical element in each painting, movement or impression, representing these shards. The notion of time and sensory perception, shifting for every subject, are as many facets concerned by my process.
The Burnt Carpet series revolves around these emblematic art objects from the Middle East, which support millennia-old cultures and have offered me comfort, familiarity and visual imprint since childhood. Patiently woven by symbolic craftsmen, carpets pass through the ages, through endless conflicts, misunderstandings, futility and ridicule, to finally surround the unfortunate waste of time until the end. You can pull it violently from under the feet of evolution, or sit back and plan your sweet revenge.
Using heavy impasto and crumbling textures, I am trying to illustrate the fragility of opportunities and the magnitude of these issues."
