ADNAN: Colour and the Existence of Life

The Serpentine Sackler Gallery, hosts a very special exhibition this summer: The Weight of the World. The exhibition showcases a selection of work by the Lebanese-American poet Etel Adnan. Almost retrospective, it showcases her vast and versatile talent to work through multiple mediums effortlessly, including painting, poetry, film and tapestry. First and foremost her collection of thick and textural, heavily abstracted landscapes, in oil, are almost collages of paint. The canvases have been iced like cakes in warm, summery hues, often representing the area of where they were painted. At points her paintings, blocks of bold colours, are like scenes from a children's storybook, and most definitely a page-turner. 

Throughout the exhibition, the paintings are also juxtaposed with interludes of her own sketchy drawings, and illustrative scribblings which makes the exhibition importantly and equally both visual and verbal. The combination of the disparate forms of work is exciting. In the central room, a film recorded by Adnan plays on loop. The home-video aerial moving image gives a calm tranquil mood to vibrant a exciting show. A must see this summer. 

The show runs until 11th of September.