Sanam KhatibiExtra View - De ta salive qui mord

Challenging stereotypes of gender and domination, Sanam Khatibi's works both captivate and repel at the same time.

The Belgian artist paints female figures, solitary or in packs, subversive and provocative, giving free rein to their animal impulses in landscapes that evoke a distant and atypical Eden. His subjects-ambiguous in their relationships to power, violence and sensuality, question excesses, a loss of control, domination, and submission.

In addition to these large-format oil paintings depicting both naive and cruel animal and hunting scenes, Sanam Khatibi also produces tapestries, embroideries and small-format still life works, for the first time exhibited at the BPS22. Vases and cups depicting Japanese motifs contain flowers that are as fragile as they are wild alongside imaginary fruits in warm colours; shells and corals rub shoulders with skulls surrounded by snakes with red eyes... These works are directly inspired by her personal collection of objects that she intuitively collates and presents in the exhibition. In comparison to the represented landscapes, these objects convey a disturbing strangeness, exerting their pull through the unfamiliar and "wild" beauty they emanate. Nearby, ceramic snakes crawl about, setting the tone of the artist's imagination between suffering and voluptuousness.

Sanam Khatibi is represented by the rodolphe janssen gallery (Brussels) and the P.P.O.W. gallery (New York).

Exhibition: 08.06 > 01.09.2019

Presented under the EXTRA VIEW label, her exhibition De ta salive qui mord, shown at the BPS22 from 8 June to 1 September 2019 in parallel with Xavier Mary's, presents a specific part of her work.