Sumayyah Samaha: Lines and Forms

Dubai, UAE – Leila Heller Gallery is delighted to announce the upcoming solo exhibition by Sumayyah Samaha, titled 'Lines and Forms', opening on 18th September 2024. 

‘Lines and Forms’ showcases a dynamic range of works that are rooted in spontaneity and the intuitive interplay between forms and lines. Each piece in the series begins with the artist laying down forms on a blank canvas, allowing one form to naturally lead to another, creating a visual conversation. These forms, each with its own narrative, are connected by lines that serve as guiding threads, helping the viewer navigate the complex stories that unfold across the canvas.

The exhibition unveils Samaha’s exploration of form, line, and color in a series that began in 2014 and continues to evolve with each new creation.

The artist’s choice of medium is deliberate and purposeful, driven by the desired effect for each piece. Watercolors are employed for their transparency and lightness, while acrylics are chosen for their flatness and the ease with which they can be layered. As the artist's practice has developed, the canvases have grown larger, incorporating diptychs and triptychs that tell increasingly intricate and interconnected stories.

Samaha is celebrated for her profound engagement with color and meticulous attention to detail, continually pushing the boundaries of her artistic practice. ‘Lines and Forms’ is not just an exhibition but a tribute to the essence of painting itself, reflecting the artist's unwavering belief that the act of painting is central to her creative journey. This exhibition invites viewers to immerse themselves in the evolving narrative of Samaha’s work, where each piece deepens the dialogue between form, color, and expression.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Sumayyah Samaha is a Lebanese painter and mixed media artist who has lived and exhibited work in New York since the early 1980’s. In addition to numerous solo exhibitions at 22 Wooster Gallery, Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba House, Denise Bibro Fine Art, and Skoto Gallery, Samaha also has an extensive group exhibition history at venues throughout the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. Highlights include American Abstraction: A New Decade at the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Loretto, PA; New York Chronicles at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, Qatar VCUQ Gallery, Doha, Qatar (2010); Art in Embassies, US Embassy, Kuwait City, Kuwait (2008-09); In/Visible: Contemporary Art by Arab American Artists—the opening exhibition of the Arab American National Museum and Cultural Center in Dearborn, Michigan (2005); and New York Collections 2002 at the Albright Knox Museum Gallery, Buffalo, NY (2002).

Samaha’s work can be found in public collections that include the Arab American National Museum and Cultural Center in Dearborn, Michigan; Centrum Sztuki in Warsaw, Poland; Kenkeleba House in New York, NY; Pfizer Pharmaceutical in New York, NY; and Bank Audi in Beirut, Lebanon.