Aspen Art Museum

Zeinab Saleh in the company of Katharina Fritsch

June 22 – July 22, 2023

The first presentation of A Lover’s Discourse features two new paintings by London-based artist Zeinab Saleh (b.1996, Kenya) exhibited alongside Katharina Fritsch’s sound work Regen (Rain) from 1987. Inviting focused contemplation, Saleh’s paintings combine charcoal, chalk, and acrylic into a soft palette where light and shade overlay and together give form to figurative subjects as well as more gestural abstract movements. They carry both the power and ephemerality of atmosphere. Shifts of perception and sensorial experience also pervade Katharina Fritsch’s Regen, which plays from a vinyl record in the gallery alongside Saleh’s works. The sound piece by the acclaimed German artist introduces into the gallery environment a looped recording of the sound of falling raindrops, soothing yet relentless. Together, the artworks build an environment in which gentleness and force revolve.

Zeinab Saleh’s presentation will be accompanied by a newly commissioned essay by Negar Azimi.

A Lover’s Discourse is a series of artist-led presentations at the Aspen Art Museum introducing unexpected dialogues between artworks from different generations. Each exhibition juxtaposes recent works by an early-career artist who also selects a companion piece borrowed from private collections in Aspen spanning historical and contemporary pieces across figurative and abstract painting, sculpture, video, works on paper, sound.

About Zeinab Saleh (b. 1996, Kenya)

Zeinab Saleh received a Bachelor of Fine Art at Slade School of Fine Art, London. Recent solo exhibitions include J~o~y r~i~d~e, Champe Lacombe, Biarritz (2022); Softest place (on earth) [Extended mix], Château Shatto, Los Angeles and Softest place (on earth), Camden Art Centre, London (both 2021). Select group exhibitions include Nour El Ain, curated by Mohamed Almusibli, Karma International, Zurich; after image, curated by Robert Spragg, MAMOTH, London; The Poetics of the Neighbourhood Rascals, curated by Amal Alhaag, Barbershop Mixed People, Rotterdam; A patch of green in London, Cookhouse Gallery, London; Of New Babylon, curated by Sara Gulamali and Samboleap Tol, Lethaby Gallery, London; Friday Late: Snap with i-D, with Muslim Sisterhood, curated by Jenna Mason, V&A, London. Saleh was the recipient of a 2021 Metroland Cultures Grant, and has presented lectures at de Ateliers, Amsterdam; UCL Art Museum, London; White Cube, London; Chisenhale Gallery, London; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; University of Cambridge, Cambridge; and Tate Modern, London. Saleh is a co-founder of Muslim Sisterhood, an arts collective based in London. Select public collections include Pitzer College Art Galleries, Claremont; The Perimeter, London; and Start Museum, Shanghai.