Milan Malpensa, 01.07.2024 – Exit Lights, the solo exhibition by Omar Hassan, curated by Mariacristina Ferraioli, was inaugurated today in the presence of the artist, Anna Scavuzzo (Deputy Mayor of Milan), Maurizio Baruffi (Head of Public Affairs at SEA), and Mariacristina Ferraioli (curator of the exhibition), at La Porta di Milano in Terminal 1 of Malpensa Airport.
On this occasion, Omar Hassan (born Milan, 1987), one of the most innovative artists on the international art scene, presents Exit Lights, a monumental site-specific work created specifically for La Porta di Milano. This exhibition space, located in the heart of the airport and a strategic passageway for millions of travelers each year, is a symbolic and captivating location. Hassan’s project enhances its charm by blending tradition and modernity, creating an immersive and enchanting environment for visitors in transit.
A multifaceted artist whose work spans painting, sculpture, video art, environmental installation, performance, and writing, Hassan approaches contemporary art with a rare intensity of visual power. For the artist, La Porta di Milano serves as a stargate, propelling him beyond the boundaries of contemporaneity to elevate his artistic exploration to a new level of expression, engagement, and value.
The exhibition juxtaposes Hassan’s pictorial work—an ad hoc site-specific creation—with a video capturing the artist’s gestures in action.
"In the work created for La Porta di Milano at Terminal 1 of Malpensa Airport," says Mariacristina Ferraioli, the exhibition curator, "light emerges from darkness, as in the most classic tradition of painting, yet with an unusual expressive force heightened by the scale of the canvas. Illuminating the space through the light of art represents Hassan’s great challenge. Once again, he pushes his pictorial gesture onto a large-scale canvas with a brand-new work. This is a piece that speaks to each of us, as the artist delves into the complexity of the human soul and psyche, exploring that unique interplay of light and shadow that helps define our individuality and our experience as human beings."
The exhibition will be open to the public from July 3, 2024, to January 7, 2025.
Admission is free.
