Figure 1.80

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Parliamentary Counsel, 1 Horse Guards Road

Mandy El-Sayegh explores the systems of order from which we derive meaning in our everyday lives. Her work is often steeped in an exploration of materials, which she layers with language, often collaging the two in a variety of media. She frequently uses newsprint, advertisements, maps, anatomy books and her father’s calligraphy. This screenprint incorporates 26 colours, many of which are evident in what seem to be brushstrokes or dabs of paint that partially obscure the figure of a young woman. The word ‘Prada’ suggests that beneath the paint is an advertisement for that brand. More prominence is given however to the word GØUCC, which is applied in gold foil, a material associated with value. The word is the call-sign for El-Sayegh’s father, a name he has always used in his amateur radio practice. A Palestinian calligrapher, his history and his work faces deliberate erasure. Here, El-Sayegh draws on what she terms ‘editorial aliases’ or ways of protecting your identity when the space to do so is not available. The figure number ‘1.80’ that gives the painting its title, and its caption, both also rendered in gold foil, point to the making of hierarchies. The work brings into play ideas of identity and of branding, to consider what is of value and what has meaning. It questions the values ascribed to cultural histories alongside those given to material goods in building identity, leaving us with questions as to what these mean to us, in our world.

Born in Selangor, Malaysia, Mandy El-Sayegh received a BA in fine art from the University of Westminster (2007), followed by an MA in painting from the Royal College of Art, London (2009). Her first solo institutional show was held at London's Chisenhale Gallery (2019). Her work has also been shown at Kunstverein Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany (2023); The British Art Show, Aberdeen, Wolverhampton and Manchester; Biennale Matter of Art, Prague (both 2022); UTA Artist Space, Los Angeles, US (2022); Busan Biennale, Busan, South Korea (2020); Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon (2019); SculptureCenter, Long Island City, US (2019); The Mistake Room, Guadalajara, Mexico (2018); Instituto de Visión, Bogotá, Colombia (2018); Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, China (2017); and the New York Art Book Fair at MoMA PS1, US (2016), among others. She was shortlisted for the biannual Max Mara Art Prize for Women in collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery, London in 2017.

Places

Subjects

Materials & Techniques

Artist

Mandy El-Sayegh (1985 - )

Title

Figure 1.80

Edition

28/75

Date

2023

Medium

26 colour screenprint and archival pigment print with gold foil

Dimensions

height: 76cm; width 60cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Counter Editions, January 2024

Inscription

REVERSE br: signature 2023 28/75

Provenance

Counter Editions, Margate UK; from whom purchased by UK Government Art Collection, 15 January 2024

GAC number

19250/7