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Saudi artist Abdullah Qandeel on The Muse - June 12th, 2015

Abdullah Qandeel is making his mark in the art world with his abstract paintings. He describes his work as an intelligent dialogue. His first exhibition was in Monaco. Qandeel's painting "The Enemy Within" was auctioned off at Sotheby's for 209,000 USD. A mural he created at a Manhattan hotel resulted in an arrest for vandalism and a night in jail and he goes into detail about his experiences on The Muse!

In his own words: "I believe that I am my own worst enemy. I'm the person that tells myself to do this or to do that, I'm the one that controls my hand...It is my responsibility to press on myself and not go for comfort, to press on my desire to focus on creating positive things rather than negative things... You have to fight yourself, you have to tell yourself sometimes...let's fight this temptation, this desire to break. Focus."

Takalamy- She speaks. These young Saudi women are speaking their minds, and you should listen.

“Our Story: Two of our Takalamy team members decided to take on the challenge for their senior project and create a short, complex 10 minute movie. The script was written as a narrative that highlights issues that arise from the clash of traditional vs. modern ways of life for a Saudi female student abroad. Instead, the team decided to place multiple opinions into one voice, by interviewing some of the female college students abroadabout their opinions on different topics. We hope this will help Takalamy take its initiative forward, and make a difference to the local community.

We are a number of Saudi females with an objective of creating a platform that encourages the outflow of thoughts and opinions, and make it easy for everyone to voice them. We realize the importance of freedom of thought and speech and hope to give Saudi women, and men, a safe place to practice this freedom.

What drove us to take this initiative is the need to emphasize the importance of equality in the advancement of society. We want to be thought provoking and spread ideas. We aim to be unbiased, open-minded, community oriented, interactive.

Mission Statement: We aim to encourage women to speak their minds aloud in order to express their presence in the saudi Arabian community and help their opinions shape its future.

Established in summer 13′ in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia by the original Mr. Salllk. Salllk or (سلك) is a Saudi slang word, which essentially means “just go with it” in the sense that whatever it is you are doing, does not have to be 100% as long as the intention is 100% clear.

The original Mr. Salllk then partnered with RexChouk to produce numerous works and patterns on canvas, walls, sneakers, and apparel. Mr. Salllk then mass produced Salllk snapbacks that got international exposure within circles of friends. 

Rex Chouk, artist and founder of "But Why Productions."Debuted his first, culturally relevant and engaging works,at The Hole Gallery Tuesday, May 26, 2015 for a one night view.The show featured brilliantly colored, mixed media works by this young and talented, emerging Saudi Artist.

For Rex Chouk, the conversation begins with, "But Why?" It is this question that the Saudi-born artist has used as the springboard to launch a career in multimedia works. Through his art, Chouk seeks to create a relationship between the traditional narratives and symbols specific to his Saudi perspective and exposure to different cultures. Having lived in Saudi Arabia until the age of 15, Chouk moved to Switzerland where he attended boarding school before enrolling in college in the United States. In work that is energetic, relatable and playful, he takes on an outsider viewpoint to better connect people, generations and cultures and begin new conversations.

Currently working out of his Soho studio, Chouk’s approach to art is influenced by symbolism unique to his experiences: a character with skeleton features is a self-portrait of the artist, hiding behind the “mask” of a skull. The images seen in the artist’s painting live in a fictionalized version of New York called RXC. As Rex Chouk’s own version of Batman’s Gotham, RXC represents a hyper millennial iteration of urban environments. The crown seen in many of his works is an homage to Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Much like Basquiat, Chouk presents content from his immediate external surroundings, consumer-culture and current politics. The text featured in many paintings, floating like tags seen in street art, includes hip hop lyrics, short mantras, poetry and even hashtags. By connecting traditional narratives and contemporary symbols, he inspires new conversations and asks his viewers to use pop culture as a vehicle to challenge the status quo.

The first exhibition of Rex Chouk. But Why Productions Presents: Rex Chouk took place on May 26, 2015 at 312 Bowery in New York City from 6:30 – 9:30 PM. The exhibition featured 22 paintings, videos and 20 mixed media works mounted on lightboxes.

For more of this event please visit: http://bfa.com/home/event/12405