Breaking Through by Omar Hassan, the sport and art show at (un)fair

Breaking Through by Omar Hassan, the sport and art show at (un)fair

He ended up knocked out without ever giving in to the temptation to hang up his beloved boxing gloves, instead making them an instrument of redemption. The parable of Omar Hassanof an Italian mother and an Egyptian father, today an internationally renowned artist (some of his works are in the homes of Spike Lee and Sharon Stone), embellishes the 3rd edition of (un)fair, the contemporary art fair-non-fair, scheduled from 1 to 3 March at Superstudio Maxi in Milan.

At just 19 years old, due to diabetes, Omar had to say goodbye to a promising boxing career, but he was able to reinvent himself in the artistic field, his second great passion. «I am very close to my family, to my parents, whom I will always thank because they are two extremely intelligent people. They left me free to make my own choices.” reread today, Omar Hassan's words, pronounced years ago when he necessarily had to change direction, are surprisingly a copy and paste of those released by Jannik Sinner during the Australian Open awards ceremony.

Some of his 121 paintings (121 are also the rounds that Omar Hassan played in his career before the forced stop), which make up the series of works “Breaking Through Black”, are exhibited at the Ferrero Gallery, one of the 60 present at (un)fair this year. Countries represented at the fair include Japan, Mexico, Iran, Turkey, Hungary and Spain.

The “Breaking Through” series is an expression of action painting: Omar Hassan physically hits the canvases (all on a white or black background measuring 1.6 by 2 metres) with boxing gloves soaked in paint. Omar physically fights with the canvas, capturing the energy of the creative gesture. His line leaps out of the canvas like a punch of color. «I do not strike to destroy, but to create» it is the synthesis of Omar's creed.

The power and impetus of boxing, the so-called noble art, combine with the delicacy and lightness of the sporting gesture, transferring sudden glimpses of light and energy onto the canvas. An image that evokes the famous phrase of Muhammad Ali “Sting like a bee, fly like a butterfly.”

For Omar Hassan, boxing is a metaphor for life itself. «We are all boxers. Everyone has their crosses. Everyone in the world is alone. When you fall you have to learn to get back up. You can find comfort with mom, dad, wife, children, but only for a minute. The same minute break you have between rounds, when you go to your team's corner. But then you're alone in the ring. This is the life”.

The key that animates Omar Hassan's art lies entirely in the desire for revenge, dictated by a sense of lack to be filled. And that's exactly it wishunderstood as an aspiration and feeling of passionate research, the dominant theme of the third edition of (un)faircreated by Manuela Porcu And Laura Gabellottoco-produced by Superstudio Events and created with the support of a scientific Committee made up of experts from the world of art and communication.

In the DNA of the contemporary art fair-non-fair there is the desire to convey strong emotions to its audience, stimulating everyone's curiosity, intellect and reflection through experimental and innovative sections and projects, as well as a series of talks, workshops for adults and children and collateral events.

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