Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen presents the first exhibition in the new Depot Solo series. For her first solo exhibition in the Netherlands, Mandy El-Sayegh transforms a Depot gallery into an all-encompassing installation. Here she shows new work inspired by artworks from the museum. El-Sayegh uses a range of materials for this purpose: from newspaper clippings and anatomy books to screen prints, latex sheets and her father's Arabic calligraphy.
Mandy El-Sayegh brings together various disciplines in her art: painting, collage, installation, video and performance flow into one another. In the exhibition, visitors discover the creative process in which language, material and meaning are broken down layer by layer and rebuilt. Drawings by old masters such as Andrea Lilio and Pontormo from the museum collection reappear in her art in a subtle way. She also incorporates reproductions from the contemporary art collection, such as Andy Warhol's The Kiss (Bela Lugosi) from 1963. In her work, countless fragments from various sources are brought together to form layered compositions. The grid, a recurring motif in El-Sayegh's artworks, comes to life both in her paintings and in the spatial layout of this exhibition — an idea also referenced in the exhibition title Figure, Field, Grid.
Mandy El-Sayegh explores how meaning and subjectivity constantly shift under the influence of context. She makes this dynamic visible by layering various materials. Her concepts of “attachment” and “skins” refer to contact, vulnerability and the boundary between inside and outside. Visitors also experience this physically in the exhibition. The installation contains pigmented latex poured onto the floor, which slowly wears away through interaction with the public, thus revealing its transience. El-Sayegh's interest in latex stems from the organic and changeable properties of the material, but also from its historical context. Latex is a globally traded commodity that was often extracted under colonial exploitation.
This exhibition marks the start of Depot Solo, a new, multi-year series at the Depot. The series, made possible in part by Ammodo Art, offers artists who have not previously had a solo exhibition in the Netherlands a platform to realise compelling, site-specific installations. In doing so, Depot Solo offers an analogue counterbalance to the growing popularity of digital immersive environments. Each edition invites a unique artistic approach to space, material and meaning.