Sara Naim: Rose Tinted

The Third Line is pleased to present Sara Naim's third solo exhibition at the gallery. Rose Tinted introduces a new body of work featuring photographs based on utopian scenes that don't entirely correspond with their sculpted forms. For the last time after six years, Naim uses plexiglass, wood and print in her wall and floor-based artworks, which contain imagery related to food, land, and objects depicted in an idealised form.

Sara Naim: Rose Tinted Rivers, Roasts and Roses.

Words by Vanessa Murrell

"My dad's hand is used in the 'Bouquet Scene'. I wanted to hint at that charge objects have based on the meaning we apply to them, but which are contrasted by their objective form." Sara Naim

There are a variety of colliding images on the ground floor, from the communal Table Scene (2021) to the intimate Bouquet Scene (2021). In the first, lemons perch haphazardly atop an uneven bowl, distorted and distended along the dripping tablecloth. In the second, a bouquet of six distinct flowers is presented, held by a hand that also grasps two tiny blossoms. By enlarging the scale of the bouquet, it embodies an overwhelming expression of love and emotional offering. In Picnic Scene (2021), Naim plays with spatial relationships by placing it on concrete rather than grass, as well as considering the subjectivity of utopia, which can vary between individuals. Among the rug’s details are an ice cream cone or banana, but one's eye is caught by the plump and tender chicken that sits in the spotlight, appealing to the senses while knowingly counterfeit.

A sense of déjà vu dominates the upper floor, as the mind recalls the expectations from downstairs. In Apero Scene (2021), a grazing platter featuring cheese, grapes, and wine evokes the excitement of a Parisian feast. Looking up, one is confronted with an abundant stream of sunshine in Sunrise Sunset (2022). In this piece, a large-scale sunset is printed on fabric and draped across the wall. Despite the seemingly harmonious view, the vertical enlargement is pixelated, showing closeness implies distance by obscuring the clarity of the image regardless of our proximity to it. Leaning against the long, draped fabric is a bouquet, some small flowers and a sole rose stem. A memorial to a deeply felt moment of mourning, Naim invites us to shed the ‘rose-tinted’ lenses that have been obscuring our vision for so long.

"After living in Paris for 5 years I wanted to make a work that echos this exoticisation of the 'apero moment'. The cartoonish thought bubble of a sunset sets the tone of the ideal moment with their ideal objects." Sara Naim

The nature of her work reiterates the sentiments of English philosopher Roger Scruton brings up in his book The Uses of Pessimism (2010)^[1]. The author argues that expecting all aspects of life to attain an impossible standard is the negation of all reality. The veil of illusion is particularly evident within the setting of the exhibition in Dubai. Being built upon and continually reconstructed to achieve the ideal form, it is a tangible manifestation of the unrealistic ideal. Yet, this cityscape of hyper-idealised illusions has grown all too real. The pursuit of such an enhanced version of one's surroundings and self points out how detrimental a rose-tinted vision can be.

An echoing scene reverberates above and below in Lightwave Scene (2021) and Window Scene (2021), encouraging pure observation devoid of the positive filter that comes from misguided hope. From the latter's aeroplane window, the tip of a plane wing is just made visible. In the other, a sliding window lies half-closed in a darkened doorway. The two occupy a liminal space or passageway into the realm between sight and seeing. French philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy postulates similar themes in his book Expectation (2017)^[2] where he attempts to disregard seeing in favour of seeing sight. He lays bare the act of vision in a manner that allows the observer to perceive the world around them as faithfully as possible. 

About Vanessa Murrell

Vanessa Murrell is a curator, educator and writer born in Spain and based in London. Dedicated to the inclusion of emerging and underrepresented artists, she co-founded contemporary art platform DATEAGLE ART in 2017. Since its inception, she has interviewed 150+ artists and expanded her activities to include exhibitions, commissions and educational initiatives. She has co-curated exhibitions introducing 50+ artists’ works offline, in a variety of domestic, public and white cube settings: Dream Rich (2022); Full English (2019); Dark Air (2019); Recreational Grounds V (2019); Prevent This Tragedy (2018); Home Alone (2018); The Pink Panther Show (2018); and online: Control The Virus Vol 03 (2021), Spread The Virus Vol 02 (2019) and Vol 01 (2017). Recently, she was the recipient of Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants (2021, 2019). As a writer, she's contributed articles, interviews and reviews to Coeval, DAZED, émergent, Flash Art, METAL, Soft Punk and Something Curated. Her writing has been published at S.P.A.M. Spreads #2 (2021), BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, and 50 Women Sculptors (2020), Aurora Metro & Supernova Books.