DUBAI.- CARBON 12 and The Arts Club Dubai announce I Construct What I Want to Disrupt: Misaligned Enjambements, a solo exhibition by Emirati artist Sarah Almehairi. Marking a significant moment in her practice, this new body of work sees Almehairi take on her largest-scale pieces to date. Created specifically for The Arts Club’s six-meter-high walls, the exhibition brings together three monumental works, each measuring 350 x 200 cm, alongside a smaller 45 x 30 cm piece. This striking contrast in scale plays with perceptions of space, drawing attention to how size shapes our experience of art.

Responding to the architectural and aesthetic context of the Club, Almehairi thoughtfully integrates the deep maroon of the venue’s wallpaper into her compositions. Her palette featuring blacks, beiges, whites, and reds, echoes the tones of the space while maintaining a distinct visual autonomy. This careful balance ensures that the works exist in dialogue with their surroundings rather than being overpowered by them, fostering an interplay between artwork and environment.

This relationship extends to Almehairi’s exploration of positive and negative space. In her meticulously composed structures, the canvas itself becomes a site of negotiation. Cut-out sections expose the surface behind, allowing the Club’s walls to become part of the artwork. Negative space in one work influences the positive space of another, creating a rhythmic visual and conceptual exchange that unfolds across the exhibition.

Almehairi’s Off-Centered series, to which these works belong, has evolved significantly over the past two years, both in process and execution. Initially, the series began with hand-drawn diagrams, used as sketches to construct custom wooden canvases. The application of paint was purely intuitive, guided by the measurements and form of the canvas itself, one line informing the placement of the next. As the series developed, Almehairi’s process became more calculated, integrating digital tools to refine her approach. The custom canvases were designed with greater intricacy, and painting sketches transitioned into digital formats, allowing her to exhaust compositions until she found the right balance before translating them onto canvas. While precision now plays a central role, moments of intuition and unpredictability remain integral to the final execution. At the start of the series, there were no specific sketches in mind for the painting. Now, the digital sketches often act as near-replicas of the final piece. Despite this more structured approach, Almehairi continues to embrace moments of unpredictability.

This tension between precision and spontaneity is embedded in the works themselves. The bleeding edge of a painted line, the interruption of an incomplete grid, and the textured irregularities of gestural strokes introduce subtle disruptions. These nuances, both intentional and unexpected, invite the viewer to consider notions of completion, as structure and fluidity exist in a delicate balance.

The exhibition title, I Construct What I Want to Disrupt: Misaligned Enjambements, underscores Almehairi’s ongoing interest in poetry and linguistic play. The poetic device of enjambment—where a sentence spills over beyond the end of a line—mirrors her approach to composition, as forms extend beyond conventional boundaries to reconfigure spatial expectations. With this latest body of work, Almehairi continues to push the boundaries of material and form, offering a compelling investigation into the act of making itself.

Curated by Wedel Art