Zanbeel Art Presents: Antonio Puri Solo Art Show in West Hollywood On Nov 17, 2013

"Existence" by Antonio Purr

Date: Sunday November 17, 2013

Time: 5-7 pm

Location: BOASOA Gallery

607 West Knoll, West Hollywood, CA 90069

6 pm presentation: South Asian Art and Literacy for Youth: Slide Presentation by Fatima Sultan, Director, Zanbeel Art (more info on SAALY below in "about Zanbeel Art section")

Followed by Poetry Reading: Poetry Reading: Mehnaz Sahibzada from her Memoirs "Tongue Tied"

Artist Statement & Biography

"I embrace the possibility that we can exist in a world free from labels" Antonio Puri

Antonio Puri is an Indian artist who was born in 1966. Antonio Puri has had several gallery and museum exhibitions, including at the Crossing Art Gallery and at the The Guild, NY. 

His first experience with light and nature was growing up at the toes of the Himalayan mountain range, and the world's most impenetrable wilderness. Vast, imposing, and perfect, Antonio's inspiration was cut like the ganite of the range itself and weathered by its timeless music. It is little wonder, given so magnificent a backdrop that Antonio's first steps into Art came at the age of 5. A sensualist from the beginning, Antonio experimented with clay, batik, woodcarving and charcoal before painting with oils at age 12.

Antonio spent 17 years beneath the gaze of the Himalayas before wandering into the world that would become his playground. His experience in both English and International boarding schools lends the first hint of universality to his work - giving an international essence to his Art that transcends culture and ethnicity. Antonio studied Art across the globe - from Spain to Iowa, India to San Francisco. He drew inspiration from the Spanish Masters, French Impressionists, Abstract Expressionists, and the Dadaists. 

Click here for his artist website

About Zanbeel Art

Zanbeel Art is a South Asian cultural resource that uses art to break down barriers between South Asia and the United States. By fostering understanding between cultures, encouraging confidence among youth, and planting seeds of tolerance for future generations, Zanbeel Art builds bridges for a peaceful future.

SAALY is a nine week art program sponsored by Zanbeel Art in Los Angeles low socio economic public schools that fosters respect and understanding for people and regions of South Asia via art educational program. Furthermore the program diffuses post 9/11 fear and racism against South Asian youth in schools.

Zanbeel Art's South Asian Art Literacy for Youth Program

The budget crisis has led to cutbacks in school art programs all over the world. In 2011 Zanbeel Art launched a program that was geared to tackle this problem head on:  SAALY (South Asian Art Literacy for Youth).  The focus of this project is students from low socioeconomic backgrounds who do not have exposure to the arts in their community. 

SAALY made its debut in October 2011 with its pilot at The Watts Elementary School in South Los Angeles. An underprivileged school district, many students heres had never had art classes previously and were extremely enthusiastic about the classes.

True to Zanbeel Art's mission of bridging cultural gaps among future generations, the theme of the several week long course was "South Asia", where each course taught the students a little bit about a world they have never been to. 

Sculpture class with Lisa Caraway 

The Watts Elementary School

October 2011

Calligraphy with Khalid Husain

The Watts Elementary School

October - December  2011

Student art from Calligraphy class with Khalid Husain

The Watts Elementary School

October - December  2011

Calligraphy with Khalid Husain

The Watts Elementary School

October - December  2011

Herb planting class

The Watts Elementary School

October - December 2011

Exhibit Spotlight: Nasreen & Sana Haroon at Schomburg Gallery, Bergamot Station Arts Center

From February 9 - March 2, 2013 Nasreen Haroon and her daugher Sana Haroon's abstract paintings are on display at the Schomburg Gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica. 

The closing reception for the exhibit will take place at the gallery on Saturday, March 2 at 4pm PST. All are welcome to attend!

For many years the mother and daughter have been traveling, working, and now painting together. The results are quite literally, truly cosmic.

With her meticulous attention to detail and vibrant use of color, Nasreen Haroon is perhaps best known for her serene landscape pieces. However, the relationship between inspiration and actualization for an artist is an ever changing, dynamic process. Making a recent break from landscape paintings, Nasreen has transitioned to the celestial; a break that she attributes, at least in part, to finally recovering from a long illness. 

Stellar Origins by Nasreen Haroon

Oil on Canvas

24x36 inches

Celestial  by Nasreen Haroon

Oil on Canvas 24x30 inches

Nasreens influence on her daughter is evident in Sana Haroon's work, which is on display  alongside Nasreen's. It is remarkable that even through east artist has a distinctly different style, their influence on each other is more than evident. 

Diffusion by Sana Haroon

Oil on Canvas 24x30 inches

Flurry by Sana Haroon

Oil on Canvas 24x30 inches

Writer Leila Shauk describes the display with blazing accuracy in the Pakistan Link: 

"Deep purples and greens are lovely backgrounds to the starry world of dots that Nasreen creates. Her purple painting, when looked at closely, is like looking into another universe. Teensy dots of yellows, reds, golds, and purples sit next to each other like many starts against a deep purple sky. She continues this theme on different backdrops of bold color. They are intense and yet wondorous; light and dark; playful and yet serious. You may want to take a look, and then come back and look at them again.

Across from this atronomical complexity -- at Sana's wall of paintings, are heavenly brush stroked whirls of colors entangled and moving into each other -- sort of reminiscent of Jackson Pollack. Again a palette of primary colors is captivating; the reds, yellows, greens, blues, and purples are warm but also perhaps harsh. Sana explained that while working on some of her pieces it was an emotionally challenging time for her. Henceforth, the ferocious and aggressive movement of colors is both quite apt and evocative."

INFO:

Schomburg Gallery, Bergamot Station Arts Center

2525 Michigan Ave, E3A

Santa Monica, CA 90404

310-453-5757

Hours: Weds-Sat 11am - 6pm

CLOSING RECEPTION: Saturday, March 2, 2013

www.schomburggallery.com

Youth Art Express 2012 Artist Feature: Yasmine Suleiman

"Levitated Man" by Yasmine Suleiman

Artist Statement

"These pieces are a collection and illustration of my progress as an artist.  I've tried to expand my horizon and try different methods with different materials.  A large part of what I try to accomplish is relating the subject/ content of my work to the technique that goes into it.  The process should reflect the subject and what it implies.  As far as content, I tend to be inspired by the essence of something, rather than its' physical or tangible aspects.  If I can appreciate the concept of a given ideal, the art will compose itself naturally.  In this sense, the focus of my work weighs a great deal on symbolism and surreal imagery.

Although some of these pieces are so different from one another, they all carry a centralized value that reflects my aesthetic.  I draw elements from the past to interpret my present and imagine my future.  Whether it be an observation,  documented history, or a personal experience, the past is my main tool.  The past is the ultimate resource."

"Ephemeral Landscape" by Yasmine Suleiman

To contact or commission the artist email youthartexpress@gmail.com.

Youth Art Express 2012

Zanbeel Arts latest project “Youth Art Express” is a Platform for the up and coming generation of artists who are emerging with a fresh perspective. This Platform focuses on the pace and expressions of youth culture within the United States, as it evolves, grows, and develops an identity of its own. The exhibit will examine personal, cultural, social, environmental, and global matters youth around the world are confronted by in their daily lives. We aim to learn about the hopes, dreams, influences, struggles, successes, fears, and joys they face.

YOUTH ART EXPRESS 2012

This year’s exhibit will showcase the works of South Asian and American emerging artists who have joined hands for the love of art, peace, and progressive thought. The showcase will focus on youth subculture from an international perspective, as it creatively unites, grows, and finds a unique voice of it's own.

Participating artists include Farah Ahed, Sadaf Ahmed, Asna Habib, Sana Haroon, Khalid Hussein, Kamal Khan, Mona Khan, Dario Mellado, Irfan Mirza,Yousra Qadir, Adam Rasheed, Nadia Rawjee, Kite Sparrow, Sara Suleman, Yasmine Suleiman, and Arezo Yassai.

Poetry reading by Mehnaz Sahibzada

Raffle /Book corner and shop /Art workshops 

Co-Curators: Sadaf Ahmed & Raeesa Tar

OPENING RECEPTION
Saturday, December 1, 2012
2:00pm - 7pm
Exhibit runs through December 7, 2012
Bergamot Station
2525 Michigan Ave, Suite D5
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Contact: 310 586 9789 // 310 359 2090
RSVP: youthartexpress@gmail.com
sadafahmed4@gmail.com
tim@artla.com
www.zanbeelart.com

ABOUT ZANBEEL ART

Zanbeel Art is a South Asian cultural resource that uses art to break down barriers between South Asia and the United States. By fostering understanding between cultures, encouraging confidence among youth, and planting seeds of tolerance for future generations, Zanbeel Art builds bridges for a peaceful future.

All proceeds raised from this exhibit will benefit Zanbeel Art's South Asian Art Literacy For Youth program (SAALY), designed in collaboration with Cheryl Maletta Trujillo. SAALY provides art classes to low socio economic LAUSD schools. This year’s program features a creative exchange between 5th grade students in The Watts Elementary School with their counterparts in Karachi, Pakistan. The exchange is taking place in collaboration with the Citizens Archive of Pakistan. 

Exhibit Spotlight: The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk at The de Young Museum

One of our board members was fortunate enough to visit The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk at The de Young Museum during her trip to San Francisco last month. This stunning display has been put together with unparalleled precision and is theatrical in nature, celebrating a variety of visual arts including fashion, photography, design, and video. 

The fascinating multimedia exhibition includes 140 haute couture and prêt-à-porter designs created between the mid-1970s and 2010, along with numerous sketches, archival documents, fashion photographs, and video clips that spotlight Gaultier’s collaborations with filmmakers, choreographers, and musicians, most notably Madonna.

Jean Paul Gaultier launched his first prêt-à-porter collection in 1976 and founded his own couture house in 1997. Emerging as a designer in the 1970s, he developed his own dress codes that reflected the changing world around him. 

Often provocative, he addresses issues of multiculturalism by bringing ethnic diversity to the Paris runway. Despite the gritty and sometimes controversial context of his collections, the clothes remain beautiful, superbly crafted with the finest dressmaking and detailing skills.

The Exhibition The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk is organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in collaboration with the Maison Jean Paul Gaultier. JoliCoeur International is the official supplier of mannequins for the exhibition. For more information click here.

Artist Spotlight: Irfan Mirza

Pakistani native Irfan Mirza uses his most recent painting series to capture feelings of love, fear, beauty, pain, violence, suffering, and hope that exist in the worlds current affairs with startling precision.

His work is dazzlingly colorful, excruciatingly painful, and mesmerizingly hopeful all at the same time.

Artist Statement

My most recent painting series is all about human violation and natural disasters. I am painting about war, earthquakes, floods, suicide bombing, and people who are financially frustrated in the current state of the world. This series has been inspired by electronic and print media where one can see the suffering that exists around the world. My work express my pain for the suffering people everywhere and my plea for help from God to bring peace on earth.

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Hope Survive

The title of my painting expresses my hope to survive the destruction, exploitation and violation prevalent in the world presently, there is still 'hope', which survives in the hearts of the people that peace will re emerge one day. This art work illuminates the current horrifying humanitarian conditions of the world. The rough strokes show the preponderance of evil over good. The colors that i have used are mainly red, blue and black with some shades of purple. The color red illustrates the danger that is predominant amongst people; this fear is  reflected in the terrifying eyes of the figures i have made. Red is also the sign of blood and it signifies 'life' and indicates 'survival'. Blue on the other hand, shows the inspiration and sincerity through which people are wanting spiritual and physical relief from the terror. Consequently, black means grief and death, and purple symbolizes mystery. This painting reflects fear, danger, death, destruction and mystery, but most importantly, it indicates a hope for survival, that is the primary requirement for human beings everywhere. 

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Hidden Fear

I have illustrated the fear that has grasped human beings all over the world through this piece of art. It is mainly about the death and destruction that currently exists throughout the world, which. Fear is a major component of the terror prevalent in the form of bomb attacks in Pakistan. It has made man's life on earth miserable. Bomb attacks that are executed against "terrorists" create lasting moments of terror in the nation. Even the innocent are being miserably killed. The distorted lines in this art work indicates the disturbance in the lives of the innocent people. The use of colors like black and red indicates the danger and hidden fear of death amongst the people. However, human beings are hopeful about their conditions because no matter whatever the consequences are, man remains hopeful for the betterment of himself and for his fellow human beings.

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Mirza will be one of the artists to be showcased at "Youth Art Express", taking place in Los Angeles later this year. For more information on Irfan Mirza or Youth Art Express contact youthartexpress@gmail.com.