Dwelling in the Gap is Shaikha Al Mazrou’s second solo exhibition at Lawrie Shabibi. Here Al Mazrou develops the forms and language of her practice, and extends her investigations into materiality, tension and the interplay between structure and content. Her materials appear to betray their functions and their fixed properties. This space of ambiguity - between the intent of the artist and the possibilities of her materials – results in the gap that is central to her creative process.
Al Mazrou’s new sculptures are partially inspired by the properties and possibilities of folded and creased paper, transmuted into stainless steel. Inflated and folded, they resemble giant displays of origami, the shapes of which are drawn from small-scale paper prototypes created by the artist. Finished in vibrant blocks of colour, which range from her signature red, together with yellow, orange, blue and teal, the works embody characteristics that are simultaneously organic and synthetic.
Complementing these steel sculptures are Irrational Figures, a new series of ten works, laser-cut laminated wood-grained structural forms laid down on paper. The structures twist themselves together, interlocking, turning like mazes, some in eternal knots. The gap between their seeming solidity and their actual flatness, results in unresolvable tensions.
Al Mazrou’s recent works, both in steel and in wood, result from a similar action of laser-cutting and piecing shapes together, yet they also contain opposing systems of compression and expansion. Whilst Irrational Forms materialize solely from the imagination, the fabrication of the steel sculptures is made possible through reference to their small-scale paper prototypes. Through the interplay of flat and rounded surfaces, rising and descending folds, and empty spaces, Al Mazrou offers an art of mystery, becoming and re-forming.
