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Art Dubai: Our Favourite Bits
Art Dubai is the largest event in the UAE’s arts calendar, and this year certainly did not disappoint. This is my first Art Dubai so I have been extremely excited about seeing all there is on offer, and have spent the weeks leading up to it planning what talks I have to attend, and which artists I am desperate to see. Now that I have finally had the chance to go around and try to absorb as much as possible, I can share some of my best bits with you.
When you first enter the Madinat Arena area where Art Dubai is held, immediately to your right is the Bidoun Projects-curated exhibition ‘A New Formalism’. This collection of artists is a show which requires a degree of contemplation; it is much more understated than some of the much more ‘statement’ work to be found in the Exhibitor Halls. The introduction to the exhibition states that the artists ‘together pose and expanded understanding of formalism’. The form of an artwork is something which is impossible to ignore, though it is constantly being redefined and re-articulated, so this provides an interesting jumping-off point for the artistic exploration to be found in this exhibition.< /p>
The unveiling of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize (ACAP) winners was something I had been waiting for with bated breath. The prize provides a chance for artists to really push themselves and create artworks they might not otherwise have been able to. Take for instance the outcome of Marwan Sahmarani. About three years ago, when in Dubai for a holiday, I visited an exhibition of his work at The Third Line. Whilst I enjoyed the show, I was hardly blown away. Jump forward to his installation for ACAP, ‘The Feast of the Damned’, and it is a completely different situation; now I consider his work perhaps the most powerful at Art Dubai.
Entering a room with black walls you are confronted with panels of long vertical paintings which draw your eyes up to the ceiling. In place of the heavenly skies and cherubs you would typically find in the art historical paintings many of the motifs in this work point to, you are confronted with a hellish inferno burning away the blue skies until it is pushed into the corners of the room. It is like being at a giant occult celebration populated with animal-headed figures. The bugles of angels, which in Michelangelo’s famous drawing ‘The Dream’ gently wake a man from his slumber, here become more akin to rifles and spears. At the head of the room a creature who appears half horned gorilla, half female, proposes a toast to the whole chaotic and gory banquet.
Down in the Art Park there will be lots of talks and video programmes which I will be attending, all listed for you in the fair guides available, and don’t miss the re-staging of seminal American sculptor Alice Aycock’s 1971 installation ‘Sand Fans. Also top of my list is Daniel Bozkhov’s tour of the whole of Art Dubai, which promises to be the fastest tour of the 10,000 square metres of creative production; better bring your running shoes for that one!
And now to the fair itself, which features a grand total of 71 galleries from 31 different countries? There is such a lot of work and it’s is near impossible to provide you with all the ‘don’t misses’ without writing a short novel. Inevitably it is up to you to discover the treasures of the fair and make up your own minds, why don’t you let us know what your favourite bits were by emailing info@artinthecity.com.
In the very first stall I walked into, the Leila Taghinia -Milani Heller Gallery (B7), I found the work of Parastoo Ahovan. These beautifully fragmented sculptures layer glass sheets and a smattering of rubble like miniature explosions divided neatly. Another artist I felt corresponds with Ahovan is Parul Thacker, to be found in Galerie Christian Hasp (A23). Using plastic thread she builds up incredibly complex, web-like structures that resemble both astrological charts and geographical terrain. Tangled within the layers, crystalline rocks glisten, creating a dark and forbidding alien landscape.
I cannot fail to mention the truly spectacular ‘In the World but Don’t Know the World?’ from El Anatsui. Draped across a wide stretch of wall at October Gallery (B22) is a huge sculptural installation. The information beside it reveals that the artist sees the free flowing form, which presumably means it would different each time it is exhibited, acts as a metaphor for the human mind’s creation of meaning, a fluid and ever-changing exercise. This piece is overwhelmingly luxurious, made all the more profound when upon closer inspection you discover it is made up of bottle caps and other such aluminium shards stitched together to create this ‘armour’. I love this macroscopic/microscopic element of the work: in order to take it all in you must stand back, but to fully appreciate the intricate detailing you must stand close and immerse yourself in the folds and creases. Make sure you see the artist in conversation with curator Okwui Enwezor at GAF at 3pm today.
On a lighter note, I really enjoyed the installation/proposal Fair Skies® Corporation at Agial Art Gallery (A41). Artist Mahmud Obaidi tackles the problems Middle Eastern people face today in airports as targets of searches, but in a way that is always humourous and enjoyable rather than preachy. Perhaps one day his vending machines to supply kits that transform you from a terrorist suspect into a blonde haired Aryan who breezes through security checks will one day come to fruition!
Next door is Glamoury in Laleh June Gallery (A31), which I’m not sure whether I love or hate, I suspect I will swing between the two feelings with each visit to this tacky-tastic installation. I’ll let you see this one for yourself, all I’ll say is if you love glitter and kitsch, this might just be your dream booth.
In Chemould Prescott Road’s (A22) booth they show ‘Open Windows, Closed Boundaries’, a collection of artworks from Gigi Scaria. ‘Islands Are Forever’ is ghostly, eerie and light-hearted all at the same time. Boxy modernist buildings stack up like tetris blocks to form a pyramid in the inky blackness that surrounds. All ready a little strange you might think, but things go much more awry when investigation of what appears to be this structure’s reflection reveals a separate structure all together, something akin to an Aztec temple. Next to this is ‘Inbearable Heaviness of Being’. The buildings return but are now somewhat humanised through being candy coloured. They hang above terraced plateaus threatening to drop down into a jumbled pile at any second.
Kate Eric, actually a collaborative pair of artists, create fantastical paintings which could be set anywhere from the realms of outer space to the interior of your body. Luscious biological forms twist and act out epic battles against saturated backgrounds, recalling Hieronymus Bosch’s ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’. Catch their work at Frey Norris Gallery (B11).
A few other quick mentions go to the ‘Pioneers of Modernism’ show at the Art Majlis, which brings together some of the lesser know Middle Eastern masters from the period of modernism. For the Avatar fans out there, and I’m sure there are lots of you, visit Horrach Moya booth (B15) where you are greeted with Jorge Mayet’s miniature floating tufts of land. Nicky Nodjoumi is sneakily making off with the moon in Barbarian Art Gallery (B14) and in Traffic’s booth (B23) is the fantastic series of new work from James Clar. For those of you familiar with his work and who have seen his previous Dog work which featured a sleek white designer dog that could easily be the new object of lust from Apple wrapped in green netting, this is your chance to see the next instalment: ‘Got Recession’.
That’s all from me, so have fun today sifting through the mass of art, and don’t forget to visit some of the fantastic talks and events on offer!
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