Through paintings full of interwoven ideas and colours, Saudi visual artist Shalimar Sharbatly is participating in the “Venice Biennale”, which is currently being held and continues until September 18 in the city of Venice (Venice), through the “Harmony Shalimar” exhibition, coinciding with the launch of the activities of the “Contemporary Art Exhibition” accompanying the 61st session of the “Venice International Biennale of Arts”, and also witnessing the participation of artists Davey Mann and Rosa Mundi.
In her global participation, Shalimar Sharbatly is testing the aesthetics of artificial intelligence, within an event that brings together contemporary art, modern technologies, artificial intelligence, and live music, to highlight the intersection between arts and technology. She participates with 15 paintings and a new sculptural work that represents the first appearance of her sculptural model within her artistic project “Shalazm,” the features of which she is working on developing in parallel with her experience in “Moving Art.”
The Saudi artist said, in a statement, that her participation in the “Venice Biennale” represents an important and historical milestone and a qualitative shift in her artistic career, noting that presenting her new sculptural work in Venice represents the beginning of a different phase of her experience based on research and experimentation.
In her conversation with Asharq Al-Awsat, Shalimar Sharbatly confirmed that “the arrival of an Arab visual artist, specifically a Saudi one, in the stronghold of international arts in Europe, especially in Venice, is a strong and important achievement, because the administration of the Biennale is the one who chooses the participants, and their choosing me and naming the exhibition (Harmony Shalimar) after my name is an unparalleled artistic move, and something that came as a great surprise to me.”
She expressed her happiness and pride in this great achievement, explaining that her participation will add to her journey in fine art, and will contribute to placing her in a strong international position. She pointed out that Saudi Arabia’s presence in an international forum is an honorable matter and means a lot to her, noting that “the interest and praise for Saudi plastic art, the celebration of the exhibition, and the keenness to depict its details were clear.”
Shalimar Sharbatly considered her participation in Venice an important opportunity to enhance the presence of the Saudi artistic experience in international forums, and to introduce the potential of the Saudi artist and his ability to engage in multiple artistic experiences and be open to new fields and methods.
Regarding her move to the field of sculpture, she said, “This comes as an extension of a long process of research and experimentation during which she was linked to the Moving Art experience,” explaining that “the artist should not stop at one artistic style, but rather continue searching for new tools and spaces for expression.”
Regarding the details of her artistic project “Shalazm”, the Saudi artist confirmed that it represents a new direction in her experience, and that through it she seeks to develop a vision based on dealing with form, mass, space and movement, and building a different visual language.
Sharbatly revealed that she had received a new invitation from the Biennale administration to participate in a number of upcoming exhibitions and artistic events in several countries. It also received an invitation from the Italian side to carry out an artistic work, represented by drawing an “Italian gondola” to be displayed in a heritage museum, as well as to cooperate artistically with a number of Italian companies specializing in leather products to implement artistic works on their products.
A "cocktail party" was held at the "Pallet Donna Dalles Rose" Palace in Venice on Thursday evening, on the occasion of the opening of the art exhibition. The ceremony, in which Saudi artist Shalimar Sharbatly participated, witnessed a remarkable presence of artistic, media, and economic figures, including her husband, Egyptian director Khaled Youssef, Saudi radio director Soha Riri, economic expert Khadija Nahfawi, blogger Sultan Qasim, and Abdul Aziz Al-Sultan.
