La Serpiente, 1982-1983
Tabbaa’s time in Spain (1980–1983) was pivotal to his artistic career. There, he spent most of his time in the studio, developing new works inspired by the city around him. Despite having little to no grasp of the Spanish language, he managed to surround himself with fellow artists, fostering a creative environment that deeply influenced his practice. He focused on sculpting in his studio, while his late-night waves of inspiration took shape within the pages of his notebooks and on canvases at home—a habit he would carry throughout his career.
In the sculpture studio, Tabbaa explored the limits of minimalism. He carved, cut, and fused surfaces together, striving to achieve the barest possible version of each new form. At home, he delved into pattern and motif-making, creating abstract, monochromatic worlds on paper. As a minimalist and abstract artist, flattening form became a central focus of his work, challenging the boundaries between surface and depth.
During this period, Tabbaa developed a recurring snake motif that appeared in only three works from this era: two paintings and a sculpture. The snake motif, or spiral, was his attempt at translating movement and depth onto flat surfaces. To him, the infinite loops of the spiral introduced a dynamic sense of depth within minimal, flattened forms.
For the wooden snake sculpture, Tabbaa carved triangular shapes along the edges of the flat wooden piece, covering the surface in black tar while highlighting the triangular spaces with bright red for a stark contrast. On the back, he engraved snake-like S-shapes, adding another layer of intrigue to the piece.
The sculpture has since been displayed twice: first at Tabbaa’s 1994 exhibition at Darat Al Funun, and again 30 years later at MMAG Foundation’s Vitrina. In both cases, the flat wooden snake sculpture was suspended from the ceiling, just 30 cm from the ground, and hung at an angle that allowed viewers to move around it, observing the work from all sides.