!WOWOW! artist Adham Faramawy’s solo show “LEGEND II” at London’s Aubin Gallery showcases his multimedia talents, including sculpture, photographic screen prints and two finely composed digital video works.
Adham’s film work is hypnotically fast-paced. Leading his audiences by the hand through a distinct narrative, the artist tells stories through dream-like, echoing imagery of fantastical dancing figures, wrestling nudes and surreal scenes, all merged with poignant flashes of text within a sleek and contemporary aesthetic. “The way I approach video-making is by attempting attempting to change the emphasis of how information is communicated”, Faramawy told i-D Online, “the strobe-like editing means that the viewers continually focus and re-focus their eyes and the high-speed edit creates a mesmeric flicker, comparable to the way that subliminal messaging functions.” The artist’s film works are set to a rich soundtrack of polyrhythmic drumming and chanting that Faramawy says is based on the Egyptian ‘zar’ (Faramawy is of Egyptian descent – so we can trust him on this). ‘Zar’ describes a community healing ritual of drumming and dancing that aims to reveal harmony in the inner lives of the participant by exorcism of their ‘jinn’, or malevolent spirit.
Continuing the ancient theme, Faramawy also references the Hellenistic Greeks in his classically statuesque sculptures, richly tactile, bound with rope in a kinbaku style and dressed in the same head wear as the characters in his films – as if summoning a relic of these mythical figures upon the screen. From ancient history to Youtube videos, Faramawy flawlessly harmonises his influences, resulting in intelligent, original and beautifully executed works.
LEGEND II runs at The Aubin Gallery until 20th February.
