Friedrichs Pontone is proud to present A Certain Rest, a solo exhibition of new works by distinguished artist, Henry Jabbour. Known for his evocative and poetic approach to painting, Jabbour’s distinctive, almost Neo-Expressionist style, draws on the vibrant colors and bold brushstrokes of the movement, while imbuing them with a deeply personal and idiosyncratic sensibility. His paintings burst forth with a flamboyant display of exuberance and creative fervor. Liberated from the constraints of representational accuracy, he fearlessly explores the entire spectrum of burnt oranges, fiery reds, cool blues, acid greens, citrus yellows, and opulent violets. It is in this kaleidoscope of color and expressive gesture that Jabbour entreats the viewer to enter into a cacophony of emotion and sensation that transcends the boundaries of language and culture.

At the heart of Jabbour’s oeuvre lies his exploration of the complexities of human identity, particularly as they pertain to issues of cultural heritage, social belonging, and personal transformation. Synthesizing the visual languages of abstraction and figuration, Jabbour creates powerful images that evoke the joys and struggles of a life lived between different worlds. In each of his paintings, Jabbour demonstrates a remarkable ability to create works that are both deeply personal and universally resonant. Some feature dynamic swirls of color, with the artist’s brushwork capturing the tension and flux of identity formation. Others are more restrained, featuring haunting, stylized figures that speak to Jabbour’s deep interest in the intersection of myth, memory, and identity. Taken together, Jabbour offers a powerful expression of the human condition and the complexity of the world we inhabit.

Schematic figures populate dreamlike landscapes, rendered with a luminous tactility. These vestigial and allusive characters engage in everyday activities, simply walking, standing, and sitting; they embody the mundane. However, as they are placed within shimmering fields and veils of paint, they undergo a transfiguration that elevates them to a heightened pictorial space. Imbued with a sense of gestural immediacy, every stroke, smear, clump, and cluster of paint demonstrates a profound engagement with the materiality of the medium. The texture itself is an integral part of the visual narrative, inviting viewers to not only see but to feel the fluidity and multiplicity of their presence. This approach creates vastly beguiling paintings, distant yet familiar, as though entering a half-remembered room. The canvas, then, becomes a liminal space between the past and the present, inviting us to linger in the haze of memory.