Attention

In these two charcoal drawings, our gaze moves from the more thinly-sketched scene of softness in a man’s catnap on a studio couch, to the deeper, darker scene of an artist peering down at their own work-smudged hands. From looking outwards to inwards, in a sense, a tenderness pervades these images, a tenderness from friendship. Yet also a feeling of something weightier, a slight heaviness of rumination, of stretches of thinking, watching, working, thinking again.

Khalid Asleep in Mamzar Studio
Charcoal on paper

Point of View - Coming To
Charcoal on paper

Saif Mhaisen’s work is rooted in attention and these drawings materialize a relationship he has with a friend. This (along with food, coffee, conversation, and everything a friendship comes with) is how he tends to his community.

Follow him on IG @saifmhaisen