Sandow Birk and Simeen Farhat

September 3-24, 2011
Opening reception Saturday, September 10, 6:30-8:30 pm

KHFA is pleased to announce a new project, Noted. Noted will be an "inside gallery" designated space to exhibit outstanding works of art in all mediums, and invites the public to view carefully selected and in some instances site-specific pieces made by a big array of Texas, national and international artists.

During the month of September, KHFA remembers the 10th anniversary of the Twin Towers terrorist attack and is proud to present the works of Los Angeles and Dallas artists Sandow Birk (in collaboration with Elyse Pignolet) and Simeen Farhat.

Los Angeles artist Sandow Birk is a well-traveled graduate of the Otis/Parson's Art Institute. Frequently developed as expansive, multi-media projects, his works have dealt with contemporary life in its entirety. With an emphasis on social issues, frequent themes of his past work have included inner city violence, graffiti, political issues, travel, war, and prisons, as well as surfing and skateboarding. He was a recipient of an NEA International Travel Grant to Mexico City in 1995 to study mural painting, a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1996, and a Fulbright Fellowship for painting to Rio de Janeiro for 1997. In 1999 he was awarded a Getty Fellowship for painting, followed by a City of Los Angeles (COLA) Fellowship in 2001. In 2007 he was an artist in residence at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, and at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris in 2008. "Sandow Birk's American Qur'an," his latest solo exhibition, is currently on view at the Warhol Foundation, Pittsburgh. Sandow Birk is represented by Kirk Hopper Fine Arts.

Elyse Pignolet is a Los Angeles-based artist whose works have been featured in several contemporary arts publications including the La Weekly, Juxtapoz Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times.

Simeen Farhat was born in Pakistan and has resided in the U.S. for several years. She holds a BFA. summa cum laude from Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona and an MFA, suma cum laude from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. The text in her sculptures and installations are revolutionary poems, appropriated mostly from famous Farsi and Urdu poets: Rumi, Saadi, Ghalib and Faiz Ahmed Faiz, whose powerful writing themes are about freedom of thought and speech. Farhat's work translates its poetic dynamism into visual energy. The artist's sculptural pieces pose questions for all cultures to examine from their own perspective pre-conceived notions about Islam, feminism and art itself.

Farhat has had solo exhibitions in Sharjah, UAE; London, England; Karachi, Pakistan; Istanbul, Turkey; Dallas and Houston, as well as Philadelphia. Her next upcoming exhibition, entitled "Union," will take place in Bahrain at La Fontaine Contemporary Art Center. Farhat work was selected at the Slick Fair in Paris, France as a finalist for the Art Prize. Her work is currently on view in a group exhibition in Munich, Germany. Simeen Farhat is represented by Kirk Hopper Fine Art in Dallas, Texas.