Lot 520: f - Hassan Sharif , Emirian B. 1951 Spoons and Electrical Cable spoons and cable

spoons and cable

measurements note 47 by 69 by 61cm.; 18 1/2 by 27 1/8 by 24in.

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner

Executed in 2006.
The satirical works of Hassan Sharif are a response to the rapidly changing landscape of his home. Raised in the Emirates, Sharif has seen the skyline evolve from an open horizon to looming skyscrapers, and his natural sensitivity has influenced his perception of this rapid modernisation and the impact of modernity on his place and time. He describes consumerism as a "devastating and reckless march," and his works reflect this disillusionment with post-modern society where the media holds sway, distorting our ways of thinking and inflicting "base consumerist attitudes and habits" on society (the artist cited in: Exhibtion Catalogue, Sharjah, Sharjah Biennale, 2005, p. 390). It is clear from his words and his work, that Sharif despises modern capitalist culture. In utilising found objects, from rope and concrete, to rubbish, to spoons and cable as he does here; Sharif highlights the impact of modernity in his Emirate through the property boom. By taking the building blocks of his contemporary society, in this case the cable, and creating a knotted, strangulating installation that winds its way around the spoons like a malevolent, industrial snake; the artist symbolically chokes the life out of the hand that feeds it. This style of installation is one that he uses time and again. Whilst he has been negatively accused of repetition, Sharif shrugs these off. Indeed, he celebrates them. By harnessing repetition, and using it as a means of expression, he initiates a commentary on the endless cloning of structures. The duplicating of clothes, attitudes, and desires. He takes something sterile and soulless, and in the very act of repetition transforms it into something poignant. A swan song to what he perceives as dying tradition.