Because she was interested in the contrast between tones, many of Adnan’s works speak to different landscape painting traditions and her growing interest in the relationship between calligraphy, drawing, and abstraction. Adnan worked with many scales and materials, and her career exemplifies the first institutionalised generation of Arab American artists. This untitled painting initially draws attention due to its small scale. Although its size prohibits any suggestion of monumentality, Adnan generates a contrast of colours that seems to go beyond the physical constraints of this object. Extremely engaged throughout her career as a writer and visual artist, Adnan always seems to remind us that even in a world permeated by conflict, the pleasure provided by art, colour, and painting is essential and grounds us in our complexity as individuals and agents of difference.
This is the first time the work of Etel Adnan is presented at Biennale Arte.
—Raphael Fonseca
