Celestial Forms

Born 1942, Damascus

Straddling the worlds of visual art and literature, Fattal creates sculptures, nonfigurative ceramic forms, paintings, collages, and text-based works. Born in Syria, she studied philosophy at the École Supérieure des Lettres in Beirut and then at the Université de Paris–Sorbonne. She began her career as a painter in 1969 upon returning to Beirut, after completing her schooling in France. During this period she explored Sufi and other religious texts as well as the local landscape and developed a delicate, gestural style. In 1980 she moved to California with her partner, Leba- nese-American artist Etel Adnan. There, Fattal founded Post-Apollo Press, a publishing house dedicated to the dissemination of innovative, experimental poetry, prose, and works in translation. In 1989 she enrolled at the San Francisco Art Institute, turning her attention back to the visual arts, specifically ceramics and sculpture. Fattal and Adnan relocated to France in the early 2000s, and since 2006 Fattal has produced works in Hans Spinner’s ceramic workshop in Grasse while also making a return to painting. Her recent exhibitions include solo shows at the Sharjah Art Foundation, United Arab Emirates (2016), and at MoMA PS1, Queens, New York (2019).

This painting, created in the early 1970s, encapsulates the artist’s exploration of the body’s materiality. Titled Celestial Forms, it gently navigates the boundaries between physical and immaterial presence, its tender pink hues evoking a quiet sense of vulnerability.