AMALIA IN WONDERLAND
SEPTEMBER 10 - OCTOBER 15, 2011
Opening Reception, Saturday, September 10, 6-9 pm
Haley-Henman Gallery 2335 Hardwick Street, Dallas, Texas 75208
DALLAS, Texas (July 29, 2011)--Haley-Henman proudly presents Amalia Zelaya El-Masri’s solo exhibition entitled, Amalia in Wonderland. Her sculptures and paintings, inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass, are visions about the world around us and about our interior world of fantasy.
Ms. El-Masri had been reading “Alice” for many months and she was touched by the many different stories and eras for which it speaks. It was difficult for her to understand the complexity of “Alice” as the story touches the lives of so many people with different nationalities and cultures. She realizes that “Alice” is universal. And it is this universality that motivates her creative passion to explore the many worlds of “Alice”. Her vision takes the spirit of “Alice” and the many interpretations of “Alice” and allows them to evolve into new expressions. For Ms. El-Masri, being in Wonderland is the process of entering other worlds, personalities, and languages that reflect her multicultural experiences, particularly American, Hispanic and Arabian in general, and the particular overlay of Texan, Paraguayan, and Egyptian idioms.
She started this adventure in Texas by making sculptures with found and recycled materials, especially plastics. Then she went to Paraguay for six months. There she used common floor cleaning cloths, a recycled felt composed of many different threads, as her “canvas” to draw, paint and sculpt by embroidery, felting, and assemblage of found objects. She completed an on-site art installation as part of her process in developing the many different expressions of wonderland. Also in Paraguay, she felt the meaning of Alice in terms of freedom and liberation, both in personal and social ways.
Some of these works remained in Paraguay in private and public collections. Fortunately, the majority of these works are part of this exhibition. Returning to Texas, Ms. El-Masri continued creating her Wonderland by sculpting, painting, photographing, and writing poetry. These media are also part of the exhibition, but the emphasis is on her sculptures and paintings.
Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 5 pm, and by appointment. The gallery is located at 2335 Hardwick Street, Dallas, Texas. Heading west from downtown Dallas on Main/Commerce Street, take the third left after crossing over the Trinity River. The opening and exhibition is free and open to the public. Please call 214-749-1277 or www.haleyhenman.com or more information. ###
|
