Secession
19 eur
This book accompanies Simon Fattal‘s exhibition metaphorS at Secession, Wien, in which she presents bodies of work from different periods in her career and in a variety of media, including fired clay and ceramic sculptures, paintings, and collages. With her works, she tells stories of humanity, culture, history, and the present. Conflict, consensus, nature, faith, and trust are central concerns. Despite (or precisely because of) the artist’s nomadic life, her oeuvre is deeply rooted in the millennia-old culture and history of the Middle East—she was raised in Damascus and Beirut—and the epic literature, poetry, archaeology, and landscapes of this region, which is as rich as is riven by strife, are both vital sources of inspiration and central themes. Ancient-looking clay and ceramic sculptures are based on characters from prehistoric narratives like Gilgamesh, Dhat al-Himma, Dionysus, or Adam and Eve. Landscapes are the focus of her mostly abstract paintings, which are inspired by the view of Mount Sannine from Beirut, but also by the gardens of her childhood. [publishers’ note]
The publication contains an interview with the curator Cecilia Alemani, a portfolio of beautiful b/w pictures taken in the artist’s studio in Paris in May 2024, and an insert that reproduces a collage from the exhibition at Secession – a Sumerian seal coupled with a remark by Wagner about Beethoven’ Piano Sonata No. 30.