Simone Fattal b. 1942
Exhibitions
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Simone Fattal, Gina Fischli, Sylvie Fleury, Jasmine Gregory, Hans Josephsohn, Markus Oehlen, Urban Zellweger
Group show
Karma International, Zurich 2 Oct - 9 Nov 2024 Weststrasse 70, Zurich, CHOpening Wednesday, October 2nd, 6 - 8 pmRead more -
Simone Fattal
metaphorS
Secession, Vienna, AT 21 Jun - 8 Sep 2024“In her exhibition metaphorS, Simone Fattal presents bodies of work from different periods in her career and in a variety of media, including fired clay and ceramic sculptures, paintings, and...Read more -
Simone Fattal
Pavilion of the Holy See
Venice Biennale 2024, Venezia Giudecca 712 20 Apr - 24 Nov 2024The project by Simone Fattal is a journey of storytelling and rediscovery of the self through the creation of enameled lava plaques turned into the canvas in to which poems,...Read more -
Simone Fattal
Sitter 1 Feb - 18 May 2024 Weststrasse 75, Zurich, CHOpening Feb 1st, 6 - 8 pm Karma International, Weststrasse 75Read more -
Ida Ekblad, Simone Fattal, Hans Josephsohn & Meret Oppenheim
Group show 1 Sep - 11 Nov 2023 Weststrasse 70, Zurich, CHOpening September 1st, 6 - 8 pm Weststrasse 70Read more -
Etel Adnan & Simone Fattal
Voices without borders
Maschinenhaus M1, KINDL, Berlin, DE 27 Aug 2023 - 1 Jan 2024“Voices without borders ist ein intimer Dialog zwischen Etel Adnan (1925 in Beirut – 2021 in Paris) und Simone Fattal (* 1942 in Damaskus, lebt in Paris), zwei bedeutenden Stimmen...Read more -
Simone Fattal
The Manifestations of the Voyage
Portikus, Frankfurt, DE 24 Jun - 24 Sep 2023Portikus Frankfurt Simone Fattal’s itinerant biography is marked by fault lines, all of which have shaped her prolific artistic practice of nearly fifty years. Growing up amidst both the extensive...Read more -
Simone Fattal
THUS WAVES COME IN PAIRS
curated by Barbara Casavecchia
Ocean Space, Venice, IT 22 Apr - 5 Nov 2023The exhibition 'Thus waves come in pairs', the title of which is taken from the poem 'Sea and Fog' by Etel Adnan, sees the encounter between the American-Lebanese Simone Fattal's...Read more -
Simone Fattal
»... provide me the clay so I can do the making«
Museum Fünf Kontinente, München, DE 3 Jun - 4 Dec 2022»Als Simone Fattal ihren ersten Tonklumpen in die Hand nahm, zögerte sie nicht. Ihre Finger, d. h. die tiefsten Kräfte ihres Geistes, formten aus dieser schlammigen Masse einen stehenden Menschen....Read more -
Simone Fattal
Finding a Way
Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK 21 Sep 2021 - 12 Jun 2022“ Imagining the large, brick-lined gallery to be a giant kiln, Fattal fills the space with a procession of her characteristic ceramic figures who are embarking on a spiritual and...Read more -
Simone Fattal
A breeze over the Mediterranean
ICA Milano, IT 8 Sep 2021 - 9 Jan 2022Fondazione ICA Milano in collaboration with Pompeii Commitment. Archaeological Matters presents the exhibition A breeze over the Mediterranean , first solo show in Italy dedicated to Simone Fattal (Damascus,...Read more -
group show
Vivian Suter, Michel Auder, Alex Becerra, Ida Ekblad, Simone Fattal, Sylvie Fleury, Pamela Rosenkranz, Daniel Spoerri, Urban Zellweger 16 Nov - 19 Dec 2020 Weststrasse 70, Zurich, CH -
Simone Fattal
Artifices instables, Histoires de céramique
group show curated by Cristiano Raimondi
Villa Stauber, Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, Monaco, MON 18 Sep 2020 - 21 Feb 2021“L’exposition Artifices instables, Histoires de céramiques présente à la Villa Sauber un parcours d’inventions et d’expérimentations observant la diversité non seulement des formes et des décors, mais aussi des processus...Read more -
Simone Fattal
Storefront Show 28 May - 9 Jun 2020 Weststrasse 75, Zurich, CH -
Simone Fattal
Fix Your Gaze On Saturn’s Rings
Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, NOR 31 Jan - 22 Mar 2020The first major exhibition at Bergen Kunsthall in 2020 is a comprehensive presentation of works by the Lebanese-American artist Simone Fattal. The exhibition features a large number of works from...Read more -
Simone Fattal
Works and Days
MoMA PS1, New York, US 31 Mar - 2 Sep 2019MoMA PS1 presents the first solo museum exhibition in the United States of the work of Simone Fattal (Lebanese and American, b. 1942). This retrospective brings together over 200 works...Read more -
Simone Fattal
luogo e segni
group show curated by Mouna Mekouar and Martin Bethenod
Punta della Dogana, Venice, IT 24 Mar - 15 Dec 2019Punta della DoganaRead more -
Simone Fattal
Paintings and Sculptures 30 Nov 2018 - 26 Jan 2019 Weststrasse 75, Zurich, CH -
Simone Fattal
Garden of Memory
Etel Adan, Simone Fattal, Robert Wilson, curated by Mouna Mekouar
Musée Yves Saint Laurent, Marrakech, MAR 14 May - 16 Sep 2018“This exhibition has been conceived as a conversation between three artists: Etel Adnan, Simone Fattal and Robert Wilson. It was inspired by their shared experiences, whether in Morocco, Lebanon, California...Read more -
Simone Fattal
Solo show, curated by Sharjah Art Foundation Director Hoor Al Qasimi
Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE 12 Mar - 12 Jun 2016“The visceral qualities of clay—its seemingly primordial fragility, malleability and strength—provide the artist a medium through which she can trace the past into the present. She situates herself along a...Read more -
group show
Après Ski 16 Jan - 20 Feb 2016 Karma International, Los Angeles, USA -
Simone Fattal
Sculptures and Paintings 16 Oct - 28 Nov 2015 Karma International, Zurich, CH -
Simone Fattal
Take Me (I'M Yours)
group show curated by Christian Boltanski, Hans Ulrich Obrist et Chiara Parisi
Monnaie de Paris, Paris, FR 16 Sep - 8 Nov 2015 -
Group Show
I bought a hyacinth flower with lots of leaves, just to make me feel like spring 8 Nov - 13 Dec 2014 Karma International, Zurich, CH
Works
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Ghaylan and Mayya, 2022
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Standing Man, 2020
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Standing figure, 2019
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Wall, 2017
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Kouros, 2016
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Suite en jaune N°1, 2016
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House in the Desert 1, 2015 - 2016
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Fragment I, 2015
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The Garden, 2015
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Quince and Apricots, 2014
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Seated Couple, 2012
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Lady in Waiting, 2010-2019
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Nour Ala Nour, 2008
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Venus II, 2006
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In the Carriage, 2005
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Calypso, 2003
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Tree, 2003
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Trees, 1969
Overview
Simone Fattal (b. 1942, Damascus, Syria) lives and works in Paris. Through her work in sculpture, painting, watercolor, and collage, Fattal translates the cross-cultural experience of her life into a universal narrative of humankind.
Born in Damascus and raised in Beirut, Fattal studied philosophy first at the École des Lettres in Beirut, later at the Sorbonne in Paris. In 1969 she returned to Beirut where she took up painting, inspired by her artistic friends. During the Lebanese Civil war she found refuge in Sausalito, California, where she started Post-Apollo Press, a publishing house dedicated to innovative and experimental literature. It was there where she discovered ceramics and started exploring her sculptural work which would later become seminal in her oeuvre. On a formal level her sculptures, made of ceramic, bronze, clay or porcelain, often are pared down to their most essential, appearing minimalist while bearing the traces of the artist’s hand.
Her artistic alphabet is made up of organic shapes, humans and trees alongside architectural forms and household objects and are being repeated in manifold variations. These works have an ageless quality to them and are hard to place in time. Their inspiration is drawn from mythology and literature, from religious tales to the artist’s nostalgia for her homeland Syria. Not unlike an archeologist, Fattal explores the memory of a place she will never see again and yet it’s culture can be carried forward.
Born in Damascus and raised in Beirut, Fattal studied philosophy first at the École des Lettres in Beirut, later at the Sorbonne in Paris. In 1969 she returned to Beirut where she took up painting, inspired by her artistic friends. During the Lebanese Civil war she found refuge in Sausalito, California, where she started Post-Apollo Press, a publishing house dedicated to innovative and experimental literature. It was there where she discovered ceramics and started exploring her sculptural work which would later become seminal in her oeuvre. On a formal level her sculptures, made of ceramic, bronze, clay or porcelain, often are pared down to their most essential, appearing minimalist while bearing the traces of the artist’s hand.
Her artistic alphabet is made up of organic shapes, humans and trees alongside architectural forms and household objects and are being repeated in manifold variations. These works have an ageless quality to them and are hard to place in time. Their inspiration is drawn from mythology and literature, from religious tales to the artist’s nostalgia for her homeland Syria. Not unlike an archeologist, Fattal explores the memory of a place she will never see again and yet it’s culture can be carried forward.
Biography
Fattal currently lives in Paris. She’s had solo shows at the Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Marrakech, MoMA PS1 and Kunsthall Bergen, amongst others. She has shown at Punta della Dogana, Venice, Palais de Tokyo, Paris and at the Sharjah Biennale.
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