ASIF HOQUE & HIBA SCHAHBAZ

NOVA

April 24th, 3-8 PM

April 24th - May 22nd, 2022

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NOVA

The aroma of the celestial permeates “Nova,” a two person show at half gallery LA featuring Hiba Schahbaz and Asif Hoque.

While their iconography suggests the heroic laced with personal myth, the overlap of friendship is an undeniable spirit woven throughout the exhibition and most notable in the exchange of portraits each artist has rendered of the other. “I wanted to paint his hair long because that’s how he looked when we first met in 2019,” says Hiba. “A lot of us artists tap into the same collective consciousness so it’s easier to connect through shared experiences rather than words.” Elsewhere, Hiba reveals a self-portrait in the manner of Auguste Clésinger, whom she became acquainted with after a 2016 trip to Paris and then realized that Kehinde Wiley was referencing the same French sculptor for a massive painting of a reclined figure she’d seen at the Brooklyn Museum some time later.

For his part, Asif chose a different type of time travel by speaking to the history of the half gallery physical space in Los Angeles which is the former home of Hollywood’s first female director. “Nova is when two stars meet and clash together in a space and I think it’s very fitting for a space such as the Dorthy Arzner villa,” says Asif. “I wanted to recreate powerful female images from cinema.” To this end, the Columbia logo is re-imagined by Asif as well as Paramount and Tristar icons. Nothing speaks to the universe creation of America quite like the movies and yet his paintings presented here exist in situ under the shadow of the Hollywood sign itself. 

For inquiries email erin@halfgallery.com