The Primeval Forest

Time itself becomes pliant in the hands of Simone Fattal, who has spent six decades forging a singular project to bridge the ancient and modern. This joint presentation by Greene Naftali and kaufmann repetto spans two linked exhibitions—The Primeval Forest and The Hearth—and marks the artist’s return to New York following her acclaimed MoMA PS1 survey in 2019. Fattal’s work excavates the cultural mix of the Mediterranean basin, peopled by mythic, literary, and archaeological nods to shared narratives of human resilience. Sculptures in stoneware, clay, and bronze depict rough-hewn figures and architectural fragments; large-scale ink drawings and cut-paper collages pay homage to the natural world. The works on view depict elemental forces and our means of shelter from them: the fundamental drive to make a home, and to preserve what might otherwise be lost. Often using materials pulled directly from the earth, Fattal creates a ritual landscape suffused with belief in what can’t be seen. Simone Fattal (b. 1942, Damascus) lives and works in Paris. Recent solo and two-person exhibitions include IVAM, Valencia (2024–25); Musée du Louvre, Paris (2024–25); Secession, Vienna (2024); Portikus, Frankfurt (2023); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2021); ICA Milano, Milan (2021); and MoMA PS1, New York (2019). Significant group exhibitions include the 59th Venice Biennale, The Milk of Dreams (2022); Gropius Bau, Berlin (2022); Aïshti Foundation, Beirut (2022); 12th Berlin Biennale (2022); 16th Biennale de Lyon, France (2022); Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris (2021); Punta Della Dogana, Pinault Collection, Venice (2019); New Museum, New York (2014); and Sharjah Biennial (2011). Her work is in the collections of the Aïshti Foundation, Beirut; Block Museum of Art, Evanston, IL; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Kunstsammlung NRW, Düsseldorf; mumok, Vienna; Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris; Musée Yves Saint Laurent, Marrakech; National Museum of Qatar, Doha; Sharjah Art Foundation; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Sursock Museum, Beirut; and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, among others.