Salma Al Najem – Suicide and Redemption
Photos: Hady Elcott
Salman Al Najem’s work is a dialogue that questions issues related to important parts of the human experience. Salman aims to redirect humankind’s attention from mortal desires, fascination with material wealth and luxury, mediocrity, vanity and environmental corruption. In an optimistic manner his works aim to illuminate the importance of self mastery, spiritual connectivity, mindful-sensitivity, righteousness, virtuosity and environmental sustainability.
In Salman Al Najem’s “Suicide & Redemption” series, painted images allude to portray Al Najem’s internal frustrations and experiences in the Arab Peninsula’s new age, by creating works he considers to be contemporary Islamic Art. Al Najem’s practice and style, imaginaries are conjured from blackness, designating timely subjects to both the culmination of all light, wisdom and consciousness, as well as the lack of perception which ultimately leads to indulgence, ignorance and darkness. Through his own life, the series simulates a process of redemption through real and unearthly experiences articulating the artists’ trajectory of re-emergence from the obscurity between light (knowledge and reclamation) and gloom (helplessness and uncertainty).
The exhibition ‘Suicide & Redemption’ aims to take the viewer on the journey of a person who at a young age contemplates the idea of living, tries to find reason of why we live life. His sensitive connection to the negative, allows him to study how those around him choose to live. Al Najem affirms through his works, that the person lets go of cultural and dogmatic constraints and values. In a place of liberation the person finds his unique connection with the divine, and commits to the death he thought he sought.
Art of Dying (2019) Emulsion, household gloss, spray paint, & oil bar on canvas 170 x 285 cm. © Courtesy of the artist.
The obscure entrapment manifests within the layers of each painting, projecting the expansion of new age experiences and its tensions with traditional beliefs and social application of religion in the Arab Gulf region.
Each piece is composed of anatomical, metaphysical and culturally celebratory icons expressing the corruption and hypocrisy of knowledge in our time and the folding of socio-cultural and psychological evolutions of culture social application of religion in the region.
Atrophy or hero of the day (2019) Emulsion, household gloss, oil pastel, spray paint, coloured pencil & graphite on canvas 170 x 113cm. © Courtesy of the artist.
Delving into a mystical and growing inner awareness of life and death as reflected in daily events and symbolism, Al Najem presents an anti-narrative concerning money, time, mortality, idolism, dogma, fantasy and mortality.
