For Abu Dhabi Art 2023 THK Gallery will be returning to present Abdus Salaam’s second solo body of work for the fair, titled ‘Efflorescence’ (نشوء ) meaning to blossom, emerge or evolve. Included are forms both new and established in the artist’s oeuvre, with the intention of invoking a sense of hope for our future, unity from our shared past, and gratitude/love for our natural environment and spirituality. The artist chose to focus on the profound beauty of ecology and primordial forms loaded with personal and societal undertones, hoping to light a spark within the origins of us all at the most foundational level. Tis body of work includes gem stone and foraged stone sculptures rooted in the primordial origins of sculpture as well as our use of tools.

The sculptural work titled 'Our last stone' is a reference to land art, and the origins of sculpture as used by our ancestors most often for memorial, burial, or navigation. In this case the artist is referencing all three connotations in that the work is a memorial of our past, our current state of planetary melting, thus a preemptive burial, and also a point of navigation and hope as the foundational stone of the sculpture has yet to reach its melting point. This is Abdus Salaam's first multi-piece stone sculpture and all of the stones were foraged from the beaches in Cape Town, South Africa, featuring Table Mountain sandstone and granite. Table mountain is known to be one of the oldest mountains on earth, putting these stones at around 240 million years old, according to geologists. Among the other primordial forms that inspire this sculptural body of work is that of the mortar and pestle. It is not uncommon to walk through prehistorically inhabited regions of the world and find large boulders of sandstone or granite that have been eroded by the hand of a human by the use of a denser smaller stone (pestle) for the purpose of grinding grains or pigments. Tis action and the resulting form directly inspired the sculpture 'Mother and son’. Te work is a reflection of the smallness and humility that one feels, no matter how old, in the presence of one's mother. It is a summation of the effect that a child has on their mother in softening but also strengthening her into universal motherhood as shown by the pouring over beyond her own child, as well as the protective nature that is awakened, undimmable. Te gemstone, Clinazoisite, was foraged in Namibia and the green quartz in South Africa.

The sculpture titled 'Fullness' is an homage to the vessel, an object deep within the art history of almost every civilisation. Vessels are bound by space, contain space and influence the space around them. Here, the artist carved a vessel with no opening and thus no closing. No vacuous emptiness inhabits this vessel thus no changing or shifting of its core, instead, it seems to be sculpted by time and from without, implying its contents are complete and its form an illustration of what is within, while from the back it appears as a person siting peacefully cross legged. Te gemstone is from a farm in Northern South Africa. Lastly among standing sculptures is 'Fall to Rise'. Tis conceptual minimal sculpture is hand bent brass and sculpted stone. It illustrates how the act of falling downward elevates the whole of an otherwise flat horizontal two dimensional plane. Te reflective qualities of the bend distort the viewers reality like pain or shame. Te work is foremost about the involuntary sacrifice of pain for the sake of wisdom, growth and upward movement, a poignant reflection in a time of growing political correctness intended to shelter us from triggers, hardship, and the emotional pain that inspires us to grow.

Also included are acrylic ink paintings that express not only the spiritual connection that the artist experiences with and beyond the earth, but also the sensation of moving through the Islamic calendar toward Eid al Fitr on the first of Shawwal, the tenth month of the Islamic calendar and its relationship to birth, earth and rebirth. Here, the artist paints nine waxing and nine waning moons in acrylic ink with a watercolour technique on canvas. Familiar forms include the artist's Heartwood Symphonic tree ring resin wall sculptures for the first time shown with a dual colour gradient, and his ‘Meaning’ performance works/action paintings in which the artist recites a particular Surah/Chapter from the Holy Quran while painting, in this case the work is a dual colour expression of Surah Al Fatiha (Te Opener), the most widely known foundational Surah/Chapter of the Holy Quran - one often taught to children among their first words.

Salaam’s “Heartwood” tree ring works are a meditation on the heart unseen via the poetic beauty of trees. By focusing on the natural formations within, Salaam refers to our capacity for abstraction, growth and our shared malleable form. Lastly, and most relevant to the title of this body of work, 'Efflorescence' are Salaam’s 'Seed Flowers’ and ‘Currently’ works which were made exclusively with a palette knife, and intersect the forms of sculpture and painting. Made during his three month residency at Te Institute for Public Architecture in New York City between June and August of 2023, these works are inspired by the seeds of the maple tree, and an experimentation of the artist’s ambidextrous abilities. Tese works are a folding of time and form as the artist presents a seed as a flower and a flower as a seed - an ancient sufic metaphor for life, death and our radiating efflorescent present while the ‘Currently’ works evoke the narrative of the Prophet Moses. The seeds of the maple tree also mimic the form of a water drop implying a spiritual and bodily transcendence, in this case referencing the biblical narrative of Moses and his miracles of parting the sea and the burning bush - both of which are timeless metaphors for our relationship to spirituality and overcoming impossible odds.

Spinning spiralled moments

Each seeded petal

Falling in its own time

Drifting from light

Earthing and covered in darkness of unnerving sight

Once again emerge

Move earth

We ascend

And flower into the light

Again

and again

-Abdus Salaam