ADEL EL SIWI
YELLOW TROPICS
15 NOV – 6 JAN 2024
"Egyptian painter Adel El Siwi’s latest exhibition Yellow Tropics is a reflection back on his painting practice of over fifty years. Yellow Tropics is both a conjuring of a shared history and a desired alignment by the artist artistically and spiritually with a greater story, told through a selection of artworks made as early as the 1990s, to show his ever-constant evolution both as a painter and thinker about place, identity, and the expression of the individual self.
The exhibition’s title might at first seem misleading about his origin as an Egyptian whereby the word ‘tropic’ does not conjure images of the great sand dunes of the Egyptian desert or the muted oranges of a Cairene scene at dusk, but rather, serves as an allusion to the southernmost tip of Egypt as it starts to stretch towards its southern neighbours, historically and culturally speaking, and with the greater African continent, speaking of his desire to reclaim an element of his identity as an African and as one of the Continent.
The artist’s fascination with the science of colour is front and center in this presentation whereby bright turmeric-hued yellow and their energizing energy dominates the canvases of his latest works, a departure from the reds, blues and greens of earlier phases of his practice. In his choice of colour, yellow is both a statement of life and a reference to the colourfields of a different landscape that inform him as deeply as those of his native Egypt. [...]" - Heba Elkayal, curator
About Tabari Artspace
In 2003, at a time when the UAE art scene was still nascent, Tabari Artspace art gallery was founded by Maliha Tabari in Dubai. With a twofold aim of preserving histories of craft emerging from the MENA region, while elevating young artists in the Gulf on a global stage, Tabari Artspace’s forward-looking vision situates itself in the contemporary art world’s dynamic moment. Tabari, who was trained as an artist herself, has re-envisioned the art gallery since 2017 to bridge the storied past with an ever-changing present, with a program that juxtaposes the breadth of Arab heritage with the promise emerging artists hold for the future.
Opening hours: Monday – Friday, 10am – 6pm
Address: The Gate Village, Bldg. 3, Level 2 DIFC