Mandy El Sayegh: Immersive Transformations

At ART SG '24 I was pleased to receive a double dose of Malaysian-born, UK-based Mandy El-Sayegh’s collage works in the booths of two heavyweights of the international fair circuit, Lehmann Maupin and Thaddaeus Ropac.

Now in her late thirties, Mandy El Sayegh assumed a worldly approach by default. Half-Malaysian, half-Palestinian, and with a formal education and upbringing almost entirely in the United Kingdom, she has earned considerable attention on the international art scene over the past half-decade with influential exhibitions on several continents. El Sayegh is an artist whose appeal started and will remain global rather than be confined to regional pockets of interest.

While El-Sayegh’s works are deadly serious, they can appear chaotic and anxious. Nevertheless, they refuse to scream at the viewer. Instead, their predominantly muted tones and intricacy draw viewers closer by creating ongoing discourse rather than stifling it. The approach is smart and sophisticated despite surfaces that might at first glance appear hectic or random, neither of which are true on closer examination.

I've often referred to the allure of controlled chaos or calculated randomness when discussing contemporary works that I admire, dating back to Rauschenberg and some of the German expressionists. El Sayegh has this in spades. Duality of intent and purpose — both visual and contextual — are evident in the processes and results of every layer of these complex pieces.

While the artist is not imposing her will or choices upon anyone, I see Mandy’s thoughtful visual decisions as a useful twofold reminder to certain artists who may not understand why success has not come naturally to their exquisitely crafted pretty pictures, or conversely, to their in-your-face naive snark: First, artists can and often should have strong arguments and statements to share, but they never need to be offensive or condescending in their approach. Second, the art that matters in the present and survives the test of time is usually much more than endless inner-journey kabobbles, desperately needy soul searching, or constant navel-gazing. From El-Sayegh’s first forays into visual art, it’s clear that the artist recognized a role that mattered to her and also resonated across the larger picture. Her explorations, while deeply personal, are also globally relevant and automatically scaled to matter even on the largest of platforms. Indeed, recent forays into large-scale, multi-faceted installations covering every surface of entire rooms affirm to me that she recognizes her talent and her potential role.

Mandy El Sayegh in Lehman Maupin Booth @ Art SG 2024 (Image courtesy of Art SG)

El-Sayegh cleverly employs delicately shifting dichotomies as exterior conditions change. It's easy to assume that the artist would prefer that these works continue to morph and mature with age similar to open-ended works in progress. I get the sense that El-Sayegh has a difficult time letting them leave her studio. Yes, they need to breathe, they need to be free, and there's no message if nobody sees it. But like life, there is always another chapter to add as conditions are affected by new events or new approaches to old issues.

Plenty is suggested but not everything is gifted in El Sayegh's layered surfaces. The works somehow manage to simultaneously appear brazen albeit reserved, thereby offering a push-pull between what we see, what we think we know but don’t, what’s actually happening, and what’s most likely to occur far beyond what we can comfortably fathom without careful consideration of each important element.

In a short period, El Sayegh’s works have already been mentioned alongside some of the great artists who incorporated collage techniques into their oeuvres, artists who, like El Sayegh, were able to create and continue conversations in endless loops by referring not only to their own previous work in new works but also by encompassing endless outside references to enrich shared narratives. Front of mind are Picasso and Man Ray in the early 20th century to Germans like Schwitters, Hoch, and Soltau, late 20th-century American icons Rauschenberg, Kruger, and Baldessari, UK's Hockney and Hamilton, and the recent black cut-outs of Kara Walker. Although wildly dissimilar visually, there is a common thread of story capturing and morphology that runs through these artists.

Mandy El Sayegh in Lehman Maupin Booth @ Art SG 2024, Singapore (Image/AF)

While the artist has recently developed tangents into writing, installations, and performance art that tend to be more singularly focused and trimmed of the collage complexity, they are easily as powerful and more so. Many of them juxtapose seemingly disparate elements into coherent final collections that initially defy the connection between the parts and the whole., the latter being a relationship in which the artist has stated she is profoundly involved. Equally important, most of these questions and concepts have readily identifiable roots in her two-dimensional collage work as El Sayegh continues to expand upon her fast-growing yet coherent and calculated canon of work.

Mandy El Sayegh has built respect and admiration by stitching the line between sociopolitical messaging and the values of aesthetic integrity. She has manifested her multiple identities into a truly global art form that defies human tendencies to pigeonhole art and artists for easier consumption.

1. https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/arts/mandy-el-sayegh-performance