Alfredo Esquillo Jr.

Srisasanti Syndicate is pleased to announce the first solo exhibition of French artist Taher Jaoui in Indonesia. On view at Tirtodipuran Link from 11 September to 11 October 2020, the exhibition will showcase 10 new works shown for the first time.

The Circus of Life, the title and the theme of the exhibition, was inspired by the circus itself where the performance underlying beauty comes from the element of surprise. Even though people often knew what will eventually happen, the attractive movement and high speed with the seemingly fragile equipment at the show compels the audience to be speculative on the unfavourable events that could happen. The circus is an analogy representing the way Taher sees, feels and responds to how his world works. He realizes that the unexpected will keep on happening, but the slight point of optimism will manage to sneak in among despair or feeling of uncertainty, just like how Taher has managed to endure through the crisis of COVID-19.

In this series of new works, Taher has managed to put his feelings, emotions, intuition, and senses in balance to respond to things happening at his surroundings and turned it into dynamic strokes of lines and colors on the canvas. His lines are full of surprises, where we as the audience will ponder on guessing where one line begins and another ends.

Currently based in Madrid, Taher Jaoui paintings are rich assemblages of layered forms, vibrant colors, expressive gestures, mathematical signs and formulas. He creates work with an idea of continuing the legacy of abstract expressionism movement from the 50s and 60s, while subsequently inspired by African primitive art and graffiti. He works by combining and layering spray paint, charcoal, chalk, oils and acrylics paint on raw canvas.