> > *Artist explores the dissonance between humanity and the world > <https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/gallery-shows-in-dc/2020/10/08/ffa22c18-0725-11eb-9be6-cf25fb429f1a_story.html>* > > By *Mark Jenkins* > To convey the quality of something that’s missing is a formidable > technical challenge for a visual artist. Doing so can also function as a > metaphor, as Sam Husseini demonstrates in “Invisibly Present/Visibly > Absent,” his Gallery Al Quds show. A Jordan-born Marylander of Palestinian > heritage, the artist applies paint to natural materials that disappear, > whether largely or entirely, in the finished work. > > The most imperceptible of Husseini’s ingredients is snow. He sticks it to > a canvas and then covers it with layers of sprayed paint. When the snow > melts, it leaves dried ponds and rivulets amid the textured, multihued > pigment. Since Husseini often employs earthy and metallic shades, the > craggy finished paintings sometimes suggest topographical renderings of the > artist’s sandy ancestral region. He titled one “Cradle” after noticing > that two prominent fissures resembled the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. > > Traces of other natural elements, among them flowers and even remains of > dead birds, persist in some of the paintings, although not always > identifiably. One picture is made entirely of the natural tints left behind > by decayed leaves; others incorporate grass or spider webs. Husseini also > paints on found objects, including a car radiator and window screens. The > latter were partly inspired by the much more conventional pictures found on > old Baltimore rowhouses. > > Husseini, who also works in journalism, is not the sort of artist who > stays mum about his interests and references. Each of his works comes with > an explanation, which can be quite involved. In addition to musing on > dispossessed Palestinians and the relationship between the United States > and the Arab world, the painter invokes the Tao Te Ching’s teachings > about the universe’s natural order. He has named one canvas “Accelerate,” > for an R.E.M. song, and another, the uncharacteristically pretty > “Gain-of-Function,” for the term used by biological research labs for > making a pathogen more lethal. Husseini “sought to co-mission Nature as a > collaborator,” explains his statement, but his paintings depict a world > where humanity and the world are profoundly out of balance. > > *Sam Husseini: Invisibly Present/Visibly Absent** Through Oct. 31 at the > *Jerusalem > Fund Gallery Al Quds <https://thejerusalemfund.org/the-gallery>*, 2425 > Virginia Ave. NW. Open by appointment.* > > *More on the show and my art is here > <https://bethatempty.org/writings/2020/8/29/show-invisibly-presentvisibly-absent-at-gallery-al-quds>, > PDF > of > <https://thejerusalemfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Invisible-5.pdf>**catalogue > <https://thejerusalemfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Invisible-5.pdf>, > video chat > <https://www.youtube.com/watch?ab_channel=TheJerusalemFund%26PalestineCenter&t=485s&v=L-28Zq-DwD8>. > Website: BeThatEmpty.org <http://BeThatEmpty.org>. ** > <https://thejerusalemfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Invisible-5.pdf>* > > > > > > > ---
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