Abu Dhabi Art Fair 2024: Booth M6

18 - 24 November 2024
  • JD Malat Gallery is participating in the Abu Dhabi Art Fair at Manarat Al Saadiyat. We are exhibiting two monumental compositions by the late Post-War West Coast artist Ed Moses, alongside works by contemporary abstract artists Katrin Fridriks, Kojo Marfo, Andy Moses, Luis Olaso, and Santiago Parra.
     
     
     
  • Installation Shot: Santiago Parra Untitled 2024, Ed Moses Dappel 2008, Andy Moses Geodesy 1242 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation Shot: Katrin Fridriks Golden Startrek 2024, Katrin Fridriks Indigenous Startraveller 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation Shot: Andy Moses Geodesy 1242 2024, Santiago Parra Untitled 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation Shot: Luis Olaso Composition for a basquet with Diego Rivera's bouquet of Callas 2023 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation Shot: Santiago Parra Untitled 2024, Luis Olaso Composition for a ceramic vase with sunflowers 2023 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation Shot: Ed Moses Edward #2 2008, Ed Moses Dappel 2008, Andy Moses Geodesy 1242 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation Shot: Santiago Parra Untitled 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

    Installation Shot: Santiago Parra Untitled 2024, Ed Moses Dappel 2008, Andy Moses Geodesy 1242 2024

  • Ed Moses (1926 - 2018)

    Ed Moses (1926 - 2018) painting in his studio.
    Ed Moses (1926 - 2018, Los Angeles) was a central figure of Post-War West Coast movement, creating an eclectic body of work which engaged with the varying possibilities of painterly abstraction. Moses' work explores his fascination with the mutability of concepts, transitional spaces and processes. He challenged representational form and experimented with graphite, acrylic and oils by working with unconventional tools, such as mops, hoses and rubber scrapers. Innovative and experimental, Moses' work is instrumental in contemplating and pushing the possibilities of painterly abstraction.
     
    Moses was among the first generation of artists to be shown at L.A.'s legendary Ferus Gallery in 1957, where he formed the "Cool School" of artists - which included Ed Ruscha, Robert Irwin, Larry Bell, Edward Kienholz, John Altoon, Ken Price and Billy Al Bengston. Since then, his work has been exhibited worldwide with major retrospectives in MOCA Los Angeles in 1996 and The University of California Irvine in 2014. Other prominent collections include, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Hammer Museum, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Whitney Museum of American art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

  • Kojo Marfo

    Kojo Marfo with his sculpture.
    Kojo Marfo (1980, Ghana) is a Ghanaian artist based in London. Marfo developed his interest in art and visual culture through traditional Akan artifacts, sculptures and carvings that he was exposed to as a child growing up in Ghana. These artifacts still remain a vital source of strength for Marfo. He references traditional Akan art to highlight social issues, such as inequalities, religion, politics, and spiritualism. After travelling to New York and London, Marfo has developed a unique style that encompasses his wide range of influences in an effort to express his experiences and comment on society.
     
    Marfo’s work seeks to re-establish the immense richness that is lacking in mainstream representations of African people. He hopes to explore a self-referential perspective of the Black image by creating figurative abstractions that showcase the beauty woven into Africa’s social and geographical fabric.

  • Katrin Fridriks

    Katrin Fridriks in Studio.
    Katrin Fridriks (1974, Iceland) She is an abstract expressionist painter who examines questions about new technologies and polemical scientific research of the contemporary age. The artist explores forces that mould our society and raises controversial and political themes through her pieces. Her artistic process looks at stimulating our memory and consciousness. Her Icelandic roots have aroused a curiosity primarily in the four elements – air, fire, earth and water. These elements are powerfully displayed in her native country by volcanoes, geysers and glaciers, and these have shaped her way to comprehend nature and life.
     
    With her well-defined colour palette using silver, gold, copper and aluminium as backgrounds and shadows, Fridriks takes us deeper into her richly colorful world. Through the enlarged size and shape of her drippings, in the vein of pioneer Jackson Pollock yet with an enhanced precision and technique, the movement of her kinetic abstract paintings are heightened, giving a stronger rhythm and boldness. The essence of this visual language radiates from a self-taught urban iconoclast. Emphasized by a tireless work on matter and technique, her abstract expressionism combined with subtle Japanese calligraphic details embodies all the cultural wealth and open-mindedness from years spent in several countries. Fridriks pictorial substance envelops space, shape and time. Creating new perspectives, her work brings an innovative dimension to abstraction.

  • Andy Moses

    Andy Moses (1962, Los Angeles) Influenced by California culture Andy seeks to investigate colour and form through dynamic abstract works....
    Andy Moses (1962, Los Angeles) Influenced by California culture Andy seeks to investigate colour and form through dynamic abstract works. Attending California Institute of Art in 1979 he was exposed to a plethora of creative methods including performance, film and painting. After graduating from CalArts in 1981, Andy moved to New York City where he worked as an assistant to artist Pat Steir. During this time Andy began developing an approach to process painting  incorporating both abstract and representational elements. Andy's oeuvre is marked by his investigation into the physical properties of paint. Exploring the material’s chemical reactions, viscosity interference, and gravity dispersion Andy creates elaborate compositions reminiscent of nature and its forces. 
     

    Participating in his first group show in 1986 at Artist Space entitled ‘selections’ Andy went on to hold a solo show the following year at Annina Nosei Gallery. In 2000, Andy moved back to Los Angeles and was inspired by the colours unique to the Southern California landscape serving to have a profound influence on his chromatic compositions. Continually exploring  painting processes and the interrelations between the  technical and natural world, Andy exhibits his work both nationally and internationally and is included in a multitude of institutional collections.

  • Luis Olaso

    Luis Olaso in studio.
    Luis Olaso (1986, Spain) is a Spanish abstract artist currently living and working in Bilbao, Spain. Initially self-taught Luis went on to study Fine Arts at the University of the Basque Country where he developed his personal artistic style. Often working on large canvases Luis’ abstract paintings are influenced by his emotions and personal views. His artistic practice is divided into two parts: action and analysis. Working from improvisation Luis paints impulsively, creating shapes, spots, and colour planes. Once his initial impulses have been made Luis takes a step back from his work and observes it. Often analysing his compositions for hours, he discerns what does and doesn’t work. The combination of both impulsive energy and quiet contemplation allows him to reach his internal feelings more effectively producing fresh and visceral works.
     
    Explaining his art as being dynamic self-portraits Luis states “my work is the result of how I am, how I work. I always do it unconsciously; we could say that it is a painting that is born from the irrational part of the brain.” Interested in the contrasts between order and chaos Luis explores the visual tension between colour, geometry, organic shapes and accidents. Often incorporating plant elements and human bodies in his paintings Luis's oeuvre is dynamic, colourful, and expressive.

  • Santaigo Parra

    Santiago Parra (1986,Colombia) studied Literature at Universidad Nacional de Colombia, followed by an art education at Universidad de los Andes,...
    Santiago Parra (1986,Colombia) studied Literature at Universidad Nacional de Colombia, followed by an art education at Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá and later at the Academy of Art University to study Fine Arts in San Francisco where he also learnt about Motion Pictures and Television.
     
    Parra is known for his large, abstract and highly expressive black and white paintings. His canvases capture the suspended flatness of the calligraphy-like imagery, harmonizing two seemingly incompatible aesthetic moments, spontaneity and pondering, which are all shaped by movement, strength, gravity and skill of the Columbian artist’s creative process. He explores the expressive possibilities of the quintessential abstract form. With an audacious manner he redefines abstract structures with bold sculptural brushstrokes. His work is both an aesthetic exploration and a questioning of the essence of abstract image making.