Bye Bye Hosni, by Moroccan artist Zakaria Ramhani, was a highlight of Art Dubai this year. It depicts the now famous image of a protestor in Alexandria tearing down a billboard of ousted former president Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. The forceful painting is, consistent with much of the artist's other works, made of painted Arabic, French, and English prose. On the protestor's back is the image of the Facebook "like" button.
This image stuck with me after the fair and after I came back from Dubai. The artist's work is consistently powerful in its composition. To tackle a subject like this brings it, I think, to a level far beyond a commentary on the relationship between media and revolution. The potential layers of this piece will only truly be unearthed as we move farther from 25 January.
This image stuck with me after the fair and after I came back from Dubai. The artist's work is consistently powerful in its composition. To tackle a subject like this brings it, I think, to a level far beyond a commentary on the relationship between media and revolution. The potential layers of this piece will only truly be unearthed as we move farther from 25 January.
The following is an excerpt on the artist from the catalog Strike Oppose, published by the outstanding Barjeel Foundation in Sharjah, UAE: "In comments to Art Space gallery, Ramhani said last year: 'I use the plasticity, symbolism and aesthetic of writing to reveal and explain the notions of identity, culture and art that are generated by language. In concert with Arabic, the French language became a reality, my reality: the confrontation of cultures that is my life.'"
Bye Bye Hosni was created by Zakaria Ramhani. It appeared at Art Dubai courtesy of ARTSPACE in Dubai, UAE. This image appears here courtesy of Zakaria Ramhani's Facebook page. Please visit www.zakariaramhani.com
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