Musk and Amber

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From North to South Tales

From North to South Tales

"From North to South Tales" at the Musk and Amber Gallery

 

by Sonia Ben Slimane Besada

 

Exhibition Date: May 27,  2023

 

Dazzling. A manifesto like exhibition.

 

An exhibition like a manifesto, which illustrates and reclaims all the media of visual art: drawing, painting, ceramics, sculpture, writing, comics, and joyfully combines them, revisiting them at the whim of its author's imagination.

 

We recognise them, and yet they are different. Wood resembles ceramics, or maybe it's the other way round, fluorescent colours are used on terracotta, and characters from acrylic paintings populate sculptures.

 

It's all as precise as clockwork.

 

It's like a retrospective, a selection of a lifetime's work.

NTST-V (19)
NTST-V (59)
NTST-V (24)
NTST-V (3)
NTST-V (53)
NTST-H (16)
NTST-H (1)
NTST-H (9)
NTST-H (19)
NTST-H (11)

And yet... This is the first solo exhibition by a newcomer, who has come to introduce us to her world and introduce us to the pseudo-naïve characters she stages and who represent us. They all tell a story, and we can't wait to see what happens next. There's the graceful cat, who plays and believes in his role as winner, but doesn't catch the bird, the impish minotaur, the sheep with elk antlers, the impassive bird, and the one who never stops singing of his freedom with his musical branch, the lemon sun that shines with a thousand lights, the vaporous fish that moves elegantly in the depths of the dunes, the egg, the mineral stone that contains all the wisdom of the world, the chair that waits in eternity, the monuments, churches and ziggurats that float like castles in the sky.

 

 

They whirl around with a serious poetry that might seem light, bumping into each other, calling out to each other and moving away in a breath of spirituality. Sonia Ben Slimane Besada has the kind of spirit that allows her to express light things with gravity and serious things with lightness. In this world where the colours of the Mediterranean blend with those of Nordic tales, it's all about elevation, an ode to transcending and emancipating our human condition. What delights us is the discovery of a new, refreshing artistic vision that we can't link to déjà vu, to another variation on an established process. Sonia Ben Slimane Besada offers us a totally new, original and distinctive interpretation of a unique and instantly recognisable universe.

 

It's hard to pick out any particular favourites from the abundance of works on display.

 

All the works, with their different plastic expressions, are totally homogeneous. You can feel the artist's rigour and perseverance.

NTST-H (2)
NTST-H (7)
NTST-H (14)
NTST-H (4)
NTST-H (5)
NTST-H (18)
NTST-H (21)
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Sonia Ben Slimane Besada

Sonia Ben Slimane Besada is not even thirty years of age yet. After studying art in Paris and Limoges, a leading centre for ceramics, she lives and works in Copenhagen, where she is a member of the Immart group, a group of international artists. She has exhibited in Tunis, Paris, Copenhagen and Beirut. Currently, with the Lorien gallery, she is taking part in a group exhibition on the island of Bornholm, the island of artists and ceramists, attracted by the island's natural light.

 

Today, she is holding her first solo exhibition at the prestigious Musk and Amber gallery in Tunis, which sees itself as a bridge between East and West, with an international reputation and an undisputed role as a discoverer of new talent.
Edia Lesage , 14 May 2023