Suspension | Mark | Trace Perhaps we can begin with Piece of Land, (2014) as in a way, I did. [Piece of Land, Figure 1] The earliest work in this exhibition is also one of the first I saw during a studio visit with the artist in the late summer of 2015. We were beginning discussions about a solo exhibition. Graciously, Faizal offered me tea, some delicious treats and we looked at his work together. When the artist showed me this diptych, I was struck— by its evocative luminosity, its layered subtlety, by its impact and the lower left hand corner. The white edged corner is the trace of where tape once was and when the artist removed that tape, he realized the impact of the way these jagged borders set off the image, by the contrast between the layered textures of the painting against the striking white primed canvas. With this exposed raw corner, the landscape took on another aspect, set off from both the canvas edge and the wall by different degrees. The effect is startling as it both differentiates the image from its support and at the same time, draws attention to the artist’s selective decision-making. By exposing the nuanced layering that Suhif uses to build up his images as part of his process, it emphasizes his embrace of happy accident. (For example, he has left a printed canvas out in the elements for months to see what happens and what nature can inspire as his collaborator.) In this case, it is the trace of absence (of the artist’s hand) that is so compelling in juxtaposition to the layered presence of that very hand in the rest of the work.
Obliquely he has spoken of this balance, in almost philosophical terms: “I am fascinated by the interplay of order and randomness that is found where man and nature meet…I [am] left with some exquisite marks that are a curious mixture of planning and randomness which something I feels underlies so much of my work.” The title of the work (Piece of Land) is deliberately general, inviting the viewer into the landscape through the composition; ones eyes follow the imagery literally and figuratively into the space it describes. Simultaneously, the work can be quite specific and the viewer becomes aware of the layered process, a combination of print and painting, and the accrual of imagery. In Floating Land, the artist has expanded the role of the edge, using this negative space in different ways to create different dynamics within each canvas and then multiplied this chemistry by dividing the piece into multiple panels. (Figure 2 Floating Land) Evocative of Chinese landscape paintings and screens, each canvas must function in relation to the next, each panel with an independent integrity but in conversation as a whole. The imagery in these panels demonstrates the layered way of working that Suhif has developed, a combination of rubbings and tracings, of plan and accident. Looking at all the work in this solo exhibition one can trace an evolution of a personal artistic vocabulary as well as
Floating Land, Figure 2
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