Dubai-based Egyptian-Palestinian visual artist (b. 1999) Samo Shalaby’s installation “What Lies Beneath” unveils a theatrical and extravagant labyrinth of surreal visions, inspired by various art historical movements from the Renaissance and Baroque art to the Pre-Raphaelites and Symbolism, in a contemporary reappropriation. His extremely refined and serendipitous paintings, photographs, and jewels project the viewer into a beginningless and endless visual carnival behind which lies a meditation on our multiple identities. His strategic and dramatic use of the curtains and the almost metaphysical pattern of the fold function stimulate our imagination toward a dreamscape of his making.
Through painting, photography, and video, his work expands into fields such as stage design, costumes, jewelry, and couture His new installation What Lies Beneath unveils a theatrical and extravagant labyrinth of surreal visions, inspired by various mythologies, in a contemporary reappropriation. His extremely refined and serendipitous representations project the viewer into a beginningless and endless visual carnival where everybody wears a different mask and plays a different role, behind which lies a meditation on our multiple identities.
While his curtain paintings seem to work like theatrical devices for hiding the truth/unveiling the mask, his stage paintings comprise an infinity of interactions debunking the possibility of one single truth or history; just as his mesmerizing collection of jewels or micro-paintings divert us from a stable and grounded vision. His strategic and dramatic use of the curtains and the almost metaphysical pattern of the fold stimulate our imagination toward a dreamscape of his making, unfolding irrational and tormented vision.
