We are delighted to have Syrian artist Aula Alayoubi showing at Beacon Gallery from June 7th through July 28th!
Her exceptional work made her a natural candidate for a solo show. Alayoubi requested that the show be entitled “Spring Revolution” in honor of the civil war that is currently tearing apart her home country (that grew out of the Arab Spring uprisings across the Middle East).
Her highly symbolic work often features ladybugs and pomegranates. Ladybugs are considered harbingers of good luck in many societies, and pomegranates are seen as a heavenly fruit with many spiritual overtones. For Alayoubi pomegranates also have a connotation back to violence and war as they lent their name to “granates” in French or “grenades” in English.
Many other paintings of Alayoubi’s feature animals – seemingly tamed and interacting with her female protagonist. Birds are a often-visited theme, with their feathers spread, close to flight, and with an item clutched in their beak.
One of the most exceptional images is a pigeon feeding a leaf to a snake, with a woman sitting on its back. The snake seems to be turning into the branch on the tree on which the pigeon is perched. Overtones of Genesis, with the story of the serpent, as well as the Noah receiving an olive branch from a dove may come to mind. Yet here, the “Garden of Eden” mostly seems to reside in this woman’s head. The trees are only vaguely suggested where as the flowers and leaves on this woman head are exquisitely rendered.
In wild story, again, the figures take center stage: we find the theme of a bird in flight again; with the main portrait of a woman with and a tamed bear. Flowers again adorn the woman, this time covering her dress. They seem to flow from her temple, decorate her dress and are even littering the ground.
Come and see the show in person starting June 7th for even more exceptional images, and check out this blog post from Artodyssey for another perspective on Alayoubi’s work!
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