Simon Coates and Ephrem Solomon Tegegn Dubai Art Residency & Exhibition Spawns Unique Creative Relationship

International Mon 06-02-2012

Simon Coates and Ephrem Solomon Tegegn Dubai Art Residency & Exhibition Spawns Unique Creative Relationship
Press Release

In September 2011, English-born, Dubai-based artist Simon Coates and Ethiopian artist Ephrem Solomon Tegegn embarked on a joint artist-in-residency program at the Gallery of Light in the Dubai Community Theatre & Art Centre (DUCTAC). Their time creating art side-by-side has led to a unique friendship and an artistic collaboration that will continue when Coates travels to Addis Ababa in April 2012 to spend a month working alongside Solomon, creating work for their second joint exhibition.

The Gallery of Light’s residency programme is part of DUCTAC’s ongoing initiative to promote and develop opportunities for under-represented artists and curators and to provide a platform for dialogue between artists, both locally and across cultures. The programme aims to build a dynamic and vital foundation for visual arts and promote contemporary art in the UAE and to provoke public interest, input and debate around new artistic developments.

_{The Gallery of Light}

After meeting for the first time at The Gallery of Light, with Solomon having travelled to Dubai from Addis Ababa specifically for the residency, the two artists were charged with making works that responded to Dubai and everything the city meant to them. For four weeks they treated the gallery as their studio, creating artwork as well as conducting workshops for local schoolchildren and art students. The space was open to the public throughout the month, allowing people to watch the artists at work and talk to them about the pieces in progress.

During their time in the space, the pair became good friends. Despite being worlds apart geographically, culturally and stylistically, they found a common ground that was uniquely their own. They realised that, although the results of their labours were very different, there were fundamental threads to their ideas that crossed over and intertwined.

Solomon and Coates conducting a workshop in the Gallery of Light

Their residency culminated in a joint exhibition named Holding the Locust, where both exhibited the works they had individually completed in the Gallery of Light along with one collaborative sculpture. The exhibition’s title has its origins in the etymology of the name ‘Dubai’ – one theory posits that Dubai means ‘baby locust’. So, as the artists had been asked to produce work about Dubai, they both felt that they were examining Dubai in the palm of their hands e.g. holding the ‘locust’. Continuing with this theme, during Coates’ visit to Ethiopia the pair intend to create works that reflect on Addis Ababa.

As Coates and Solomon’s time together in the gallery came to an end, both vowed to continue their artistic journey, and in April 2012 Coates will travel to Addis Ababa to spend a month working alongside Solomon in what they see as the second term of their residency. The Ethiopian visit will take place under the auspices of DUCTAC’s Gallery of Light in partnership with a gallery in Addis Ababa.

The work that they create will be exhibited in Addis Ababa before moving to The Gallery of Light at DUCTAC, where their relationship began, later in 2012. The artists are in the process of finding sponsors and patrons for the project.

Such is the interest in their relationship that there will be a radio documentary about their journey mooted for broadcast on the BBC World Service, and there will be a book published in 2013 that documents their work, their ideas and their unique friendship.

Profiles:

Simon Coates

Middle East art convention alongside Professors Stephen Farthing and Irene Barberis.

His work themes are based around what Coates calls ‘the politics of emotion’: human responses to strong, basic feelings that are often buried deep in the psyche. Coates sees the short films he makes as extensions of his paintings: less a linear narrative and more an image with the added dimensions of sound and movement. Similarly, his three-dimensional work is couched in the theories of installation, and gives the viewer experiences that paintings and drawings may not convey.

Work

Coates’ work has been described as difficult and it is certainly non-commercial. He takes indirect influences from painters like Caravaggio and obscure English artist Robert Lenkiewicz, the Viennese Actionists, German multi-media artist Joseph Beuys and writers Samuel Beckett and Charles Baudelaire.

Whilst his artwork is sometimes for sale, more often it is not, as he prefers to give his work to those who show appreciation and understanding of his ideas.

The themes he works on are based around what Coates calls ‘the politics of emotion’: human responses to strong, basic feelings that are often buried deep in the psyche. Furthermore, he is fascinated by non-verbal communication – the way in which human beings can both hide from, and articulate, feelings and thoughts. This is often manifested in images of discomfort and disorientation wherein the viewer is forced to work through a series of responses, thus holding up a mirror to themselves and their preconceptions. Coates sees the short films he makes as extensions of his paintings: less a linear narrative and more an image with the added dimensions of sound and movement. Similarly, his three-dimensional work is couched in the theories of installation, and gives the viewer an all-round (literally) experience that paintings and drawings may not convey.

Since arriving in Dubai – and as a result of working with Ephrem Solomon – Coates’ work has become imbued with reflections on social strata, injustice and the dichotomies of leadership versus dictatorship. During the artists’ residency with Solomon, Coates worked on a number of pieces that reflected the plight of immigrant workers in Dubai, particularly those from South India.

Simon Coates website: http://www.simoncoates.com/

Ephrem Solomon Tegegn

Ephrem lives and works in a studio in a main thoroughfare Addis Ababa which he shares with one other artist. His mother lives north of Addis Ababa, and he has a sister who lives and works in Egypt and a brother in South Africa. Ephrem’s work is strongly socio-political and is heavily informed by traditional printmaking techniques along with mixed media.

He is fiercely patriotic and his work reflects his feelings regarding his home country’s political issues, leadership and tribal conflicts. He calls himself a ‘studio artist’, meaning that his studio is open to the general public who can wander into his studio, talk with him and buy his work. Ephrem has shown extensively in Ethiopia, Nigeria and in Croatia. He is a member of the Tigray tribe.

Work

Solomon is inspired by socio-political feelings concerning human and natural life. He believes that any life is composed of two colours: black and white. Thus, his work is often simply monochromatic (sometimes complimented with vibrant reds) and is made using materials that others throw away. He works on themes that reflect his personal life experiences; to Solomon his artwork is his diary.

Although Solomon’s artwork could almost always be described as objective or realistic, his aims never stay fixed to any particular point on a broad spectrum of intent. Sometimes he feels a strong need to make works that are unapologetically descriptive of what is immediately around him: views of his city, the people, familiar hallways and spaces, or elements of nature.

Motifs of chairs and flip-flops often appear in his work. To Solomon the chair can be a symbol of rest and domesticity or it can be seen as a symbol of power, like a throne. The flip-flops are again a symbol of home but the direction that they are facing can have significance.

At other times, his work depicts a different kind of reality; one that is highly fictitious and free of the limitations of the ‘truthful’ recording of his own experiences. In these paintings, motivations might come from outside his surroundings. People, places, and objects reflect deeper political, personal narratives and thoughts of his own identity.

Common to the various styles and executions of Solomon’s work is a deep commitment to the traditions of descriptive painting. In a world where newness has become a value in and of itself, he feels that what he is doing technically is something from the past, whilst embodying something that is highly current.

During his time in Dubai, Solomon’s work changed. Conversations with Coates led him to create pieces that reflected more deeply on his own identity, as well as the identity of his people in general. He has also been moved to look into new ways of making art, and is particularly interested in installation work.

About DUCTAC

Dubai Community Theatre & Arts Centre is the first modern, non profit, cross-community multi-art form creative centre in the Gulf. The Centre was officially opened on 1 November 2006 by Honorary Patron HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, wife of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice-President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai.

Located on Level 2 of Mall of the Emirates, the Centre occupies around 80,000 square feet and includes a 543-seat theatre, 200-seat studio theatre, art gallery, dance studios, rehearsal rooms, artists’ studios, classrooms, mosaic and pottery workshops, and food and beverage facilities. Also on site is the Centre For Musical Arts, The Old Library and Arts Materials Shop.

The Centre is host to some 100 classes a week, local, national and international shows, artists, productions and performances. Facilities are available for hire performances, seminars, workshops and presentations.

Dubai Community Theatre & Arts Centre does not receive any funding. It relies on the generous support of sponsors and patrons and on income generated through the hire of its facilities. The Centre is currently fundraising to support its artistic programme, educational and outreach work.

Posted By: Andrew Njoroge

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