Berloni is proud to present the first London solo exhibition of Paris based painter Hani Zurob. Low Quality Love comprises of new works which deal with the alienation of both individual, and the masses – a canvased enquiry of a yearning for something more, in a languid world dominated by digital narcissism and wilful self-promotion. Whilst the artworks in this exhibition span the abstract to something more clearly figurative, they suggest a far wider remit employed by Zurob, an artist whose work prior to this series has taken an overtly autobiographical path led by multiple inequities.

It was famously predicted by Martin Heidegger that the breakneck pace of ‘technology’ and its impending omnipotence could lead to the downfall of humanity – Zurob here is identifying a loveless society obsessed with binary and the self, one that has the ability to take the blood from the very veins of life. As he said, “These days, we are living in a world defined by injustice. The situation where I come from is the best example of that”. His works although critical, remain hopeful. The ability of paint alone to decipher something far more universal lies at the core of Hani Zurob’s understanding of the world.

Zurob’s paintings move between the real and the metaphorical, the actual and the fictive. From the layers of paint and singular motives, we – the spectators – may be misguided in expecting a conclusion, as a narrative would most likely offer us. There is no end, just as there are no starting points in the stories we may interpret from reading the artist’s paintings. If they narrate anything, than it is only a single chapter of a much larger volume, telling an ongoing story that is far from being finished. Instead, dream-like realities, different material activations, and the questioning of premeditated compositions result in a cumulative expressiveness, which we – as the spectators – are invited to investigate.
- Dorothea Schöne

Hani Zurob is a Palestinian artist, born in 1976 in Rafah camp (Gaza). In 1994 he moved to Nablus, where he graduated in 1999 as a B.A. of Fine Arts at the University Al-Najah. He settled then in Ramallah until 2006, where he received a grant that allowed him to reside in Paris at the Cité Internationale des Arts. Hani was unable to return to his homeland. Today he lives in France, creating works that explore state of exile, waiting, movement and displacement - his work presents Palestine through a personal perspective and conceptual context that transcends borders and geography - concepts that remain close to the Painter’s heart. His work is found in private and public collections including Arab American National Museum (AANM), Dearborn, Michigan; WAH center (Williamsburg Art & Historical center), New York; Association Renoir, France; Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris; Mairie de Paris, Hôtél de Ville, Paris; Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah; Contemporary Art Platform (CAP), Kuwait; Ramzi Dalloul Collection, Lebanon, and George Michael Al Ama Collection, Palestine.

A monograph tracing the development of his work, “Between Exits: Paintings By Hani Zurob” by Kamal Boullata was published by Black Dog Publishing, London, November 2012.