RODEO London

June 25 – September 24, 2016

Fouad Elkoury

Blues for the Orient

Fouad Elkoury is a traveller and a time recorder. What is remarkable is not the extensive travels through the Mediterranean belt in between wars and periods of tremor; it is the coolness with which he frames situations of potential horror. Fouad Elkoury’s work is real optimistic and despite his fascination and obsession with ruins he looks at a dead swimming pool with tenderness and a sense of real humor.  It carries the dandyism the world used to have, not the one of fancy imperial follies, but the one that really embraces the everyday life in its entirety.

Blues for the Orient, the group of photographs shown at Rodeo, is an assembly of a very small selection of Elkoury’s big body of work; in colour and black and white and travelling through places the show is borrowing its name from Yusef Lateef’s song. Works from Lebanon, Turkey, Italy and Djibouti, all places Fouad has either spent a lot of time in or has frequented in his travels. The list of locations is endless, we have made a specific selection of places here and hoping there will be more to follow.

Fouad Elkoury, Land for sail, Pamunugame (2012). Inked print, 40 x 60 cm (15 3/4 x 23 5/8 in), 2012

Fouad Elkoury, Land for sail, Pamunugame (2012). Inked print, 40 x 60 cm (15 3/4 x 23 5/8 in), 2012

Left: Fouad Elkoury, The Waiter, Marmara Sea (2000). Inkjet print on baryte paper, 60 x 40 cm (23 5/8 x 15 3/4 in), 2000Right: Fouad Elkoury, Tarlabaşı, Istanbul (1999). Inkjet print on baryte paper, 40 x 60 cm (15 3/4 x 23 5/8 in), 1999Wallpaper: Fouad Elkoury, Yarze, Lebanon, (1974). Inkjet print on baryte paper, 50 x 75 cm (19 3/4 x 29 1/2 in), 1974

Left: Fouad Elkoury, The Waiter, Marmara Sea (2000). Inkjet print on baryte paper, 60 x 40 cm (23 5/8 x 15 3/4 in), 2000

Right: Fouad Elkoury, Tarlabaşı, Istanbul (1999). Inkjet print on baryte paper, 40 x 60 cm (15 3/4 x 23 5/8 in), 1999

Wallpaper: Fouad Elkoury, Yarze, Lebanon, (1974). Inkjet print on baryte paper, 50 x 75 cm (19 3/4 x 29 1/2 in), 1974

Fouad Elkoury, Avenue Brazzaville, Djibouti (1987). Inkjet print on baryte paper, 50 x 62.5 cm (19 3/4 x 24 5/8 in), 1987Wallpaper: Fouad Elkoury, Yarze, Lebanon, (1974). Inkjet print on baryte paper, 50 x 75 cm (19 3/4 x 29 1/2 in), 1974

Fouad Elkoury, Avenue Brazzaville, Djibouti (1987). Inkjet print on baryte paper, 50 x 62.5 cm (19 3/4 x 24 5/8 in), 1987

Wallpaper: Fouad Elkoury, Yarze, Lebanon, (1974). Inkjet print on baryte paper, 50 x 75 cm (19 3/4 x 29 1/2 in), 1974

Installation view, Fouad Elkoury, Blues for the Orient, Rodeo, London, 2016.

Installation view, Fouad Elkoury, Blues for the Orient, Rodeo, London, 2016.

Fouad Elkoury, Djibouti Palace Hotel,  Djibouti, (1987). Inkjet print on baryte paper, 40 x 60 cm (15 3/4 x 23 5/8 in), 1987

Fouad Elkoury, Djibouti Palace Hotel,  Djibouti, (1987). Inkjet print on baryte paper, 40 x 60 cm (15 3/4 x 23 5/8 in), 1987