Mirrors of Existence
Mirrors of the Existence features a series of raw, unsettling portraits by Mostafa Sleem. They don't have gender, they don't have age, they don't have race… They are universal beings, they are mirrors in which everyone can see themselves.
Sleem´s multi-faced portraits are of the same person in different stages, moods and times. They are not a specific person, they are a mix of memories. Memories inspired by the people who surround him. He is trying to show different angles of one's character. They are rather portraits of existence.
Their features are Asian, African and Caucasian and all at the same time. Their colours are blue, green, and pink… they represent symbols of a character, characters that he finds around him: the blue portraits are the artists, green are people connected to the earth, and the pink ones are peaceful. For Sleem, black symbolizes unity, being the colour of the galaxy, it is the oneness which makes us all at one with everything. All the portraits emerge from a black body and the differences are only in the features. What makes us different is the character, which reflects the ego. And that part changes constantly but the unity remains always the same.
The body of work presented in this exhibition was created in a period of loneliness. His previous work is a revolution of colours and things happening everywhere and the portraits are portraits inside the portraits, portraits of many people. To go beyond the surface, Mostafa wanted to focus on one being, zoom in and go inside every portrait to portrait the portraits inside the portrait. To study every individual in depth, to concentrate their features in one body because each has different persons inside. The body is a frame of different types and emotions. In contrast with his previous work, where there was music, noise, and plenty was happening, now there is silence, because we are inside.
Sleem has kept his portraits' background flat with the purpose of centring everything inside the portraits and not outside, and at the same time to represent unity, a universal space that could be the space of any.
Mostafa´s references vary from the way Pablo Picasso changed his faces constantly, to the brush movement and expression of emotions from Françis Bacon and to Leonardo Da Vinci and his iconic Mona Lisa. Through Mona Lisa , Mostafa understood the power of a portrait to become a mirror, it is the most famous portrait in the world, everyone can relate to Mona Lisa. Through Mona Lisa you can still see many Mona Lisas inside Mona Lisa. In Italian “Gioconda” suggests happiness, but there is not a consensus about Mona Lisa´s feelings, for some she holds mystery; for others, it would be sadness, contentment, or flirtatious coyness, while others see a self-satisfied smirk…Which makes us question: Are we perceiving her feelings or our own?
Sleem´s multi-faced portraits are of the same person in different stages, moods and times. They are not a specific person, they are a mix of memories. Memories inspired by the people who surround him. He is trying to show different angles of one's character. They are rather portraits of existence.
Their features are Asian, African and Caucasian and all at the same time. Their colours are blue, green, and pink… they represent symbols of a character, characters that he finds around him: the blue portraits are the artists, green are people connected to the earth, and the pink ones are peaceful. For Sleem, black symbolizes unity, being the colour of the galaxy, it is the oneness which makes us all at one with everything. All the portraits emerge from a black body and the differences are only in the features. What makes us different is the character, which reflects the ego. And that part changes constantly but the unity remains always the same.
The body of work presented in this exhibition was created in a period of loneliness. His previous work is a revolution of colours and things happening everywhere and the portraits are portraits inside the portraits, portraits of many people. To go beyond the surface, Mostafa wanted to focus on one being, zoom in and go inside every portrait to portrait the portraits inside the portrait. To study every individual in depth, to concentrate their features in one body because each has different persons inside. The body is a frame of different types and emotions. In contrast with his previous work, where there was music, noise, and plenty was happening, now there is silence, because we are inside.
Sleem has kept his portraits' background flat with the purpose of centring everything inside the portraits and not outside, and at the same time to represent unity, a universal space that could be the space of any.
Mostafa´s references vary from the way Pablo Picasso changed his faces constantly, to the brush movement and expression of emotions from Françis Bacon and to Leonardo Da Vinci and his iconic Mona Lisa. Through Mona Lisa , Mostafa understood the power of a portrait to become a mirror, it is the most famous portrait in the world, everyone can relate to Mona Lisa. Through Mona Lisa you can still see many Mona Lisas inside Mona Lisa. In Italian “Gioconda” suggests happiness, but there is not a consensus about Mona Lisa´s feelings, for some she holds mystery; for others, it would be sadness, contentment, or flirtatious coyness, while others see a self-satisfied smirk…Which makes us question: Are we perceiving her feelings or our own?
