ZOLOTAS × KALFAYAN GALLERIES PRESENTS FARIDA EL GAZZAR

As part of ARTROVE Athens’ first edition, curated and directed by Tatiana Gecmen-Waldek, Farida El Gazzar’s small paintings settle into Zolotas’ jewellery house on Panepistimiou, a fitting match of scale. Each canvas is intimate, no larger than a hand’s span, set inside gilded, vintage-style frames the artist chooses herself, the gold edge as much a part of the work as the paint inside it. The colors are dense and velvety, verging on kitsch, a deliberate excess that plays against the smallness of the object, drawing the viewer in close rather than keeping them at a distance. Placed among Zolotas’ own gold and gemstones, El Gazzar’s paintings strike up a quiet conversation between two kinds of preciousness, one wrought in metal, the other in acrylic and cardboard, both asking to be looked at closely.