Lawrie Shabibi are pleased to announce the representation of Saif Azzuz in the Middle East and North Africa. The gallery will co-represent the artist with Anthony Meier, Mill Valley, CA.
Saif Azzuz (b. 1987) is a Libyan-Yurok artist based in Pacifica, California, whose paintings straddle abstraction and surrealism in their sweeping use of colour, sensual movement, and evocation of the natural world. The paintings are full and alive, pressing their power up to the very edges of the canvas, resisting their frames. The shapes he makes are like liquid leaves - stretching, reaching, pulling, pushing, almost vibrating with the cycles of the seasons. Azzuz uses a series of personal gestural marks and an iconography derived from the traditions and native land of his peoples.
Azzuz received a Bachelor’s degree in Painting and Drawing from the California College of the Arts in 2013. He has exhibited widely in the United States and internationally, including a solo exhibition at Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai; Blaffer Art Museum, Houston; 1599dt Gallery, San Francisco; Adobe Books, San Francisco; Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco; de Young Museum; Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco; Kadist, San Francisco; CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco; Galerie Julien Cadet, Paris; Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York; Jack Barrett, New York; Hudson River Museum; K Art, Buffalo; Nevada Museum of Art; Oakland Museum of California; Rule Gallery, Denver; PRAX, Oregon State University; Ever Gold [Projects], San Francisco; Pt.2 Gallery, Oakland; and NIAD, Richmond.
Azzuz looks to the land in a moment marked by fleeting ecologies and environmental catastrophe. His artwork silhouettes native plants, waterways, and animals. Interested in material history and cultural and ecological inheritance, Azzuz uses metal, wood, paint, and gathered materials to make portraits of the land, positioning them as a relative to be nurtured and protected rather than something to be conquered. Through these gestures, Azzuz reveals the interconnectedness of all living systems and the care needed to sustain them.
Azzuz’s practice revolves around the de-contextualization of Yurok and Arab imagery. Starting with stories by, of, and for family members, Azzuz constructs spaces utilising colourful ink and acrylic paint on tapestry-like canvas, imbuing the work with the washy luminosity and gentle disquiet of dreams. The titles for his pieces are conversational and often include Yurok language, further highlighting traditional and contemporary culture side-by-side, and asserting Yurok people’s deep, ongoing commitment to land stewardship.
His work is held in public and private collections including The Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation, Dallas, TX; de Young Museum - Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA; Facebook, Menlo Park, CA; Gochman Family Collection, NY; KADIST, San Francisco, CA; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC; Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA; Rennie Museum, Vancouver, Canada; Stanford Health Care Art Collection, Menlo Park, CA; UBS Art Collection, New York, NY; and University of St. Thomas, Saint Paul, MN.Thomas; Facebook Collection; and the Gochman Family Collection.
