Shawki Youssef’s “Fluid Being” at Green Art Gallery

Opening next week at Dubai’s Green Art Gallery is “Fluid Being” the first show of Lebanese artist Shawki Youssef in Dubai. His intense gestural portrayals of human bodies capture how psychological effects and emotions can manifest themselves physically within the body.

Youssef’s figures enact seemingly tortuous dances whereby the body is intertwined within itself in a fierce embrace. It grasps at its limbs in resistance and also in despair as if offering a soothing embrace for the toils experienced.

Youssef’s painting technique attempts to capture his unconscious though process onto the canvas. He paints in a visceral and impulsive manner that evokes Abstract Expressionist style of Francis Bacon’s mutilated and violent bodies.

Youssef’s writhing bodies nevertheless depict a society which has experienced immense pain and loss from the continual trials of war. His works represent a collective people struggling against oppression and tackling issues of identity.

Shawki Youssef (b.1973) was born in Beirut and received his BFA at the Lebanese University in Beirut in 1994, before going on to complete his MSc at St. Joseph’s University in 2007. He works in various mediums including painting, drawing, video, and installations.

Green Art Gallery

Al Quoz 1, Al Serkal Avenue, Unit 28

04 346 9306