Lockdown and other Covid restrictions in 2020 and 2021 had an impact on the work and wellbeing of most artists. Ahmed Farooqui responded initially by retreating inwards into his studio, revisiting and reimagining places and incidents in his life. The result were a set of surreal, digital paintings created in the winter of 2020 that rearranged familiar spaces and characters into an alternative,virtual reality. At the announcement of the second Lockdown in November 2020, the artist radically changed his orientation, becoming outward facing and working on a large scale. The vibrantly coloured "Winter Hares" were created as an antidote to the Covid Wnter, followed by the "Tigers" later in 2021.
The tigers, 2021
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A playful assemblage based on a children's story "The tiger who came to tea" outside Space36. April 2021
Following the Winter Hares installation in 2020 (see below), Ahmed Farooqui wanted contrasting animals for the summer of 2021 and thought of tigers, which connected with Judith Kerr’s wonderful book “the tiger who came to tea” about a little girl’s kindness and generosity towards a (rather scary) stranger who had invited himself to tea. This work adds a further chapter to the story where the tiger family invite the little girl to tea in return. After the dark winter that we had in 2020 , the artist wanted a positive and optimistic theme to take us through the summer.
Following the Winter Hares installation in 2020 (see below), Ahmed Farooqui wanted contrasting animals for the summer of 2021 and thought of tigers, which connected with Judith Kerr’s wonderful book “the tiger who came to tea” about a little girl’s kindness and generosity towards a (rather scary) stranger who had invited himself to tea. This work adds a further chapter to the story where the tiger family invite the little girl to tea in return. After the dark winter that we had in 2020 , the artist wanted a positive and optimistic theme to take us through the summer.
Winter Hares, 2020
These colourful heraldic creatures were installed to keep watch over the neighbourhood at Space 36 during the dark days of the Covid Lockdown in Winter 2020 to remind us that however dreary the winter, sun and spring will return. They are ambivalent creatures that feature in myths across the world, associated with the ending of the year, the waning of the moon, but also with beginnings and rebirth, moving by moonlight between the human world and that of the gods.
December 2020 |
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Realities and its disorders
Digital paintings created duting the first Lockdown reimagining familiar spaces and characters, reflecting the strageness of the circumstances that people all over the world found themselves in.