Made up of paintings (starched canvases), reliefs (folded canvases) and objects (creased canvases) this exhibition demonstated that although these individual elements may differ visually, together, they provoke questions and comparisons which guide the viewer to the concept of ‘Transformation’. Displaying these elements together leads the audience to the understanding of the process of Rolled Canvases. The significance of Rolled Canvases is the integration of the two mediums of painting and object making, which Arabi has been working in for the last ten years. This exhibition is the crossing point of these two mediums.

Through the recycling of her old paintings/canvases, and by shaping and recomposing, she has transformed them into sculptures of new forms. Although they are newly created, traces of their original forms are still visible, like the memories within them and within the artist.

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Alchemy: Accidental Purpose: Shaqayeq Arabi

Maybe everything starts as an accident and then finds purpose, at least with Shaqayeq Arabi's works it seems that way. There is so much that looks "accidental" but is actually "refined" in her work. The rolled-up canvases accidentally hardening into sculptural reliefs; the paint spills becoming the shading and the finished "art" transformation takes place through observation and work.

​All artists are alchemists, they take ordinary base materials and they transform them into stimulating ideas. An exhibition is the sum total of its parts which compose a larger visionary whole. The exhibition space becomes a large canvas and the works the elements of its composition. Shaqayeq Arabi’s exhibition is an exhibition-becoming–an-installation. Her personal involvement in setting up her show constitutes the second step of the alchemy.

​- Fereydoun Ave