Bassmi Ibrahim

January 12 to February 9, 2017

Lilac Gallery New York is pleased to present “Essentially Bassmi” an exhibition of works by Bassmi Ibrahim, from January 12 to February 9, 2017.

Bassmi Ibrahim has chosen a life in abstract painting to give access to a space beyond words. Rather than representing the outer shape of the world, these paintings express the fluid dynamism of all life. His work is a dance in between the artist and the medium allowing both intuitive fluidity and disciplined control.

In the studio the white canvas is contemplated in meditative silence, enabling Bassmi to enter into a special plateau of his inner being. The image shows itself like a light unfolding over the surface of the canvas. Each work is totally spontaneous and usually made in a single session of several hours and then revisited numerous times to add layers of depth and tonal value. He uses diluted oils and synthetic varnishes to create moving forms in translucent layers of color. The painting is totally alive during its creation, combining freedom of movement with an innate sense of aesthetic balance. The beauty and subtlety of what takes shape can only come from deeper layers of the inner self.

As an Egyptian artist born in 1941 growing up in Alexandria, he got to know the Mediterranean of myth and legend. The sea, its ebb and flow and the waves themselves found as a constant in both, the life of the planet and in Bassmi's career. From the early phase of Bassmi's art career, he refused to paint in the traditional realistic style, and when he arrived in New York he was able to start working as an art restorer while allowing for adapting to the avant-garde art world of the 1960s. He started creating abstract paintings and after meeting with Mark Rothko whom he considers a spiritual and artistic mentor as a touchstone and constant inspiration. Bassmi certainly might share some of Rothko's darker moods but he doesn't show it, what he shares is the ability to make a striking and decisive composition.