Wednesday 12 October 2011

Safari Opening Night

Lena's show opened with a roar.
 Friends, family and fun strangers climbed up the many stairs to share in the joy of the opening night. Some of her prints found new owners, with many proving to be very sought-after.
The show is on until the 31st of October, it's a must see!



      Artist Lena Abbas (right) with Lee Emmett, the inspirational poet.









Lena Abbas, ‘Safari’ opening
Being a scrooge and a curmudgeonly whimsy hater I do not often attend illustration exhibitions. But speaking as someone who would rather put a turd than a bird on it I can recommend the work of Lena Abbas. Just look at her drawings! Babies thrown out with bathwater, cats wondering how many ways they might be skinned, elephants being eaten one mouthful at a time, people wearing the wrong shoes. Horrible!
I love it. Now, recently (while working on the concept of “the underfed model as prey”) Lena happened upon ‘Like Gazelles‘, a poem by Melbourne writer Lee Emmett. The result is Safari - a bird-free meeting of twisted minds.

Lena Abbas - Safari

Lena Abbas is an illustrator from Edinburgh, UK.  With roots in Africa and now living in Melbourne, Lena finds herself exploring our commonalities: frailties, triumphs and the seemingly universal need of all cultures to produce patterns.  This collection is less an illustration and more a serendipitous meeting of minds.  Lena had already begun to work with concepts of the underfed model as prey, broken like a hunted gazelle, when she found Lee Emmet’s poem 'Like Gazelles', which seems similarly to explore the safari of the city. 














 See more of her work at lenaabbas.com