The Running Horse

A gush of water cleared the land is a group exhibition bringing together the works of Lebanese painter Talar Aghbashian, American fine artist Juan Fontanive, Lebanese photographer Karen Kalou and Lebanese fine artist Laura Pharaon. It is a sensory exhibition inspired by contemporary environmental traumas and alluding to the symbolism of water from subaquatic ecosystems and its mysticism to a psychoanalytic exploration of dreams and their inseparable association to art and life.

In this exhibition TRH introduces Talar Aghbshian's paintings that represent a new step in the artist's technical approach moving slowly away from the hyper-realistic representation to a more liberated style  with eights water landscapes depicting familiar scenes, eerie surrounding, bridged sceneris, and dark lakes in thick almost glaucous textured colours. Water as the common element in these works is treated in a dark way redolent of mythology and dreamland.

Juan Fontanive's Quicknesse is an agitated fluttering bird, the only representation of life in the show. Quicknesse is a small constantly revolving 'paper film' structured like a Rolodex made with a multitude of hand-watercoloured animation cards rotating to create a flick-book animation. The bird hovers helplessly, but the kinetics of the piece astounds to draw the viewer in to this visual/audible experience.

In the whirlwing of Lebanese winter rainstorms, Karen Kalou shows a series of photographs entiltes Post-apocalyptic Scapes, a more violent yet poetic take on the previous The Rain Series, reflecting a metaphorical state of being after unexpected heavy rain. Washed out vivid colours, sky reduced to cold whites, the landscapes are imperceptible from sea or sky and only abandoned bright plastic chairs and tables and parasols remain brutally scattered around.

A gush of water cleared the land is Laura Pharaon's first exhibition. With her works, Pharaon explores "the transient nature of life and material things" that translate visually into "figures of dissolution". Pharaon achieves striking works by using a broad palette of earthy and organic materials like gravel, coal, ashes and wax and mixes it with ink and paint to create strongly constructed pieces with process being at the heart of her work ans it "evokes visually the shape of struggle integrating land-like abstract structures."

In tune with the festive season and in memory of family and friends who lost their battle against cancer, The Running Horse has collaborated with Lebanese jeweler Joanna Dahdah to create limited edition bracelets that will be sold at the gallery in support of St Jude Children Hospital.