Simone Fattal. Suspension of Disbelief

The multidisciplinary practice of Simone Fattal (Damascus, 1942) conceptualizes time as an elastic entity that transcends the distinctions between past, present, and future. Her work draws from mythology, spanning from ancient Egypt to Sunni mysticism and Greco-Roman tradition, creating archetypal figures that integrate historical narratives into the present.

Fattal’s work, predominantly sculptural, unfolds in a multicultural and nomadic space distinct from official history. This space transports the viewer to a “historical place” of an almost archaeological, multilingual, and polytheistic nature, which nevertheless exists and manifests in the present.

Through mediums such as sculpture, painting, and photography, Fattal explores the boundaries of figuration, inspired by historical figures from the Mediterranean, creating a cosmogony of resilient bodies and architectures. Her sculptures, made of bronze, clay, or stoneware, evoke literature, Sumerian tales, Arab epics, and Sufi poetry. Angels, centaurs, heroes, and gods mingle with architectural ruins and figures of fruits and animals, alluding to the loss of historical sites such as Palmyra or Aleppo. These works, timeless and simultaneously archaic and modern, reflect on humanity and its place in the world and history.

Fattal has been awarded the Julio González International Prize 2024 for her contribution to contemporary art. To mark the occasion, IVAM will organize an exhibition curated by Nuria Enguita and Rafael Barber, which will review the main lines of work of this Franco-Lebanese artist. A catalogue will be published in conjunction with the exhibition, including texts by the curators and contributions from professionals such as Jacqueline Burckhardt and Omar Kholeif.

Simone Fattal, born in Syria in 1942 and raised in Lebanon, studied philosophy in Paris and established herself as an artist in Beirut. After the Lebanese Civil War, she moved to California, where she founded The Post-Apollo Press. She resumed her artistic practice in 1988 at the San Francisco Art Institute, focusing on sculpture and ceramics. Her work has been exhibited internationally at renowned institutions such as MOMA PS1 (2019); Lille Métropole Musée d’Art Moderne (2019); Punta Della Dogana, Pinault Collection, Venice (2019); Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen (2020); Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (2021); ICA Milan, Milan (2021); La Biennale di Venezia, Venice (2022); 16th Lyon Biennale, Lyon (2022); 12th Berlin Biennale, Berlin (2022); TBA21 Academy, Ocean Space, Venice (2023); Portikus, Frankfurt (2023); Secession, Vienna (2024).