EXHIBITION: Hiba Schahbaz, Garden

STONELEAF is proud to present Garden, an exhibition of works by Hiba Schahbaz, for UPSTATE ART WEEKEND,  August 27-29, 2021. The show will include a life size installation of painted paper cut outs, which Schahbaz started during her residency at STONELEAF in 2019, accompanied by new paintings. 

OPEN HOURS: Friday, August 27, 3-7pm (Opening Reception), Saturday, August 28 & Sunday, August 29, 11am-5pm.

Schahbaz’s lyrical depictions of women are interwoven with references to intimate self-portraiture and iconography drawn from her own personal mythology. Surrounded by nature, female figures recline in art historical references, reimagined and reclaimed through a lens of both loving gentleness and feminine power. A lush rose-colored palette dominates the exhibition, which also mirrors Schahbaz’s inner world as she moved from the vibrancy of red into the softer palette of pink that she imagined as a space of self-healing. The work is figurative, but beyond each individual narrative, the canvases themselves serve almost as emotional votives- through the pieces themselves Schahbaz creates healing objects that reflect a collective consciousness of women. “Painting has become a sanctuary,” says Schahbaz of her new work, “like a garden I’m growing in the studio. There’s so much suffering right now and to create a healing counterpoint to that- a healing space for that, has been part of my conscience during this time.”  (Text from Schahbaz’s 2020 show ‘Dreaming’ at DeBuck Gallery.)

If you are interested in learning more or wish to acquire works, please contact Helen at hello@stoneleafretreat.com and note that all sales directly support the artist and the residency program at STONELEAF.

Born in Karachi, Pakistan, HIBA SCHAHBAZ is a Brooklyn-based figurative painter who works primarily with paper, black-tea, and water based pigments. Her subjects, largely drawn from her lifelong practice of self portraiture, inhabit a dreamlike, all-female world. Schahbaz initially trained in Indo-Persian miniature painting at Lahore’s National College of Arts, and later earned a Master’s in Painting from Pratt Institute in New York. Her work addresses issues of personal freedom, destruction, sexuality and censorship by unveiling the beauty, fragility and strength of the female form. 

Her solo shows include In Solitude (De Buck Gallery, 2020), The Garden (Spring/Break Art Show, 2018), Hiba Schahbaz: Self-Portraits (Project for Empty Space, 2017), Hanged With Roses (Thierry Goldberg Gallery, 2015), and In Memory (Noire Gallery, 2012). Schahbaz has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including a recent show curated by Jasmine Wahi in Tokyo, “all the women. in me. are tired.”, at THE CLUB, as well as exhibitions at NiU Museum of Art, The Untitled Space, and Center for Book Arts; and has shown at art fairs such as Pulse Art Fair, Art Fair Cologne, and Vienna Fair. Her work has been written about in Vice, Hyperallergic, The Huffington Post, Coveteur, Vogue, NY Magazine, Art Critical, and others. Schahbaz has curated painting exhibitions in Pakistan and India, and she was an artist-in-residence at Mass MoCA, The Wassaic Project, Vermont Studio Center, and the Alfred Z. Solomon Residency at the Tang Museum. She teaches miniature painting at the Art Students League in New York, and her work is held in private collections around the world.

Schahbaz was a STONELEAF artist-in-residence in 2019.