04 Oct - 20 Oct 2012
After a year working between London, Paris, Dubai, Amman and Beirut, British-Iraqi artist Athier Mousawi is ending his five month residency in Istanbul with a highly anticipated solo show. The Birth and Destruction of the Eagle will be the first exhibition at new gallery space, Poligon - The Shooting Gallery, in the fashionable Galata district of Istanbul.
The show will premiere an all-new series of large monochromatic screen prints on paper from Athier, which sees the artist moving away from the large-scale colour paintings that have been the focus of his practice over the last few years.
This new series of work continues his exploration into the idealized form of the eagle, specifically the Eagle of Saladin, used as a symbol of Pan-Arab strength and unity. The prints aim to describe this ambient symbol in a less static way, posing questions about its origin and relevance to the people it is intended to represent.
