Selections #29

ART ISSUE

LBP 15·000 / AED 37 / QAR 37

• THE EVOLUTION OF DUBAI DESIGN DISTRICT • THE MANY WOMEN OF NAJLA EL ZEIN • IN THE LIBRARY WITH SAMIA HALABY •

•SHEIKH SULTAN SOOUD AL QASSEMI AND THE RECOGNITION OF ARAB ART • AN UNTAMEABLE PASSION OF AMAL AL AATHEM •

ISSUE # 29

ARTS / STYLE / CULTURE FROM THE ARAB WORLD AND BEYOND

Sadik Kwaish Alfraji

Driven by Storms (Ali’s Boat) 9 March - 30 April 2015

Take Your Boat and Abandon Your Home from Ali,s Boat series, 2014, Indian ink, charcoal on canvas, 270 x 678 cm

Unit B11, Alserkal Avenue, Exit 43 SZR, Street 8, Al Quoz 1, Dubai T: +971 4 3236242 dubai@ayyamgallery.com www.ayyamgallery.com

HUGUETTE CALAND (Lebanese, B. 1931)

Untitled signed and dated ‘H. Caland 1973’ (on the reverse) acrylic on canvas · 47 1/4 x 47 1/4 in. (120 x 120 cm.) · Painted in 1973 US$60,000–80,000 · AED220,000–290,000

Modern and Contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish Art Dubai · 18 March 2015

Viewing 15–17 March Godolphin Ballroom Jumeirah Emirates Towers Dubai Contact Hala Khayat hkhayat@christies.com + 971 (0) 4 425 5647

This season, Christie’s Dubai is pleased to present an exceptional sale bringing together some of the fnest works of art from leading collections in the region. Notably, Christie’s will be offering 14 outstanding examples from artists Paul Guiragossian, Farid Aouad, Aref Al-Rayess and Ayman Baalbaki from the prestigious Mokbel Art Collection of Lebanese art.

For the frst time, the sale will also include a focus on Palestinian art, led by the most iconic composition in Palestinian cultural and artistic history, Jamal Al Muhammel II by Suleiman Mansour. Further highlights include masterpieces by Hamed Ewais,Tahia Halim, Shafc Abboud, Huguette Caland, Fateh Moudarres, Shaker Hassan Al Said, Mahmoud Sabri, Monir Farmanfarmaian and Charles Hossein Zenderoudi. Alongside these Modern gems, seminal examples from contemporary artists such as Timo Nasseri, Hayv Kahraman, Abdelnasser Gharem, Farhad Moshiri, Ramazan and Murat Pulat will also be featured.

The Art People christies.com

EDITOR’S LETTER

ART ISSUE

It has certainly been a very

Further

busy and interesting start

up with Shirin Neshat and

to the year. Recently I had

her show in Baku, and our

the pleasure to attend the

curiosity leads us to the

first

retrospective

library of Samia Halaby in her

for renowned artist Samia

New York apartment to reveal

Halaby, Five Decades of

her favourite writers and

Painting

and

Innovation,

inspirations. All this and much

at

Beirut

Exhibition

more besides are waiting to

Center, and the honour of

be discovered in this issue.

being invited to talk about

And, when not browsing our

Selections on LBC’s B Beirut

pages, we’d love you to check

major

the

afield

we

catch

show along with Samia herself and Nadim Karam as

out our new website www.selectionsthemagazine.

guests. On-air these two impressive yet down to earth

com. Till the next issue when we will be sharing the

and sincere artists, who have both made recent covers

dynamic energy of Art Dubai, happy reading and don’t

of Selections, delved deeper into their projects and

forget to share your comments with us.

their collaborations with Selections.

This issue we turn much of our focus to the Gulf with our hand-picked selection of eight of the many artists who are forging a burgeoning arts scene in this part of the world. The Dubai Design District is also explored with a special question and answer session with Dr Amina Rustamani. We are particularly honoured to have H.E. Sheikh Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi sharing his favourite artworks and thoughts in our ‘Curated by’ section.

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Untitled - detail, 2014, Oil on canvas, 150 x 200 cm

Afshin Pirhashemi Femafia

16 March - 30 April 2015

Gate Village Building 3, DIFC, Dubai T: +971 4 4392395 difc@ayyamgallery.com www.ayyamgallery.com

CONTRIBUTORS

Danna Lorch is a Dubai-based writer focusing on art and pop culture from the Middle East. She blogs at ‘Danna Writes’ and serves as Contributor to ArtSlant.

Recent publications include The National, Jadaliyya, Contemporary Practices, Canvas, and VOGUE (India). Danna holds a graduate degree in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University.

Nadine Khalil When she is not managing, editing or writing for luxury, food and art magazines based in the Middle East, Nadine loves to go on short trips in order to work on that book of short stories she keeps promising herself. Trained as an anthropologist at the American University of Beirut and in cultural studies at New York University, she tries to bridge journalism with the social sciences and cultural theory whenever she can.

Arie Amaya-Akkermans is a writer and art critic based in Beirut. His writing has appeared in Canvas, Artsy, Hyperallergic and RES Art World. Formerly assistant curator at Albareh Art Gallery in Bahrain, his current research concerns visual culture in Turkey and Lebanon, aesthetics of technology, and representations of political violence.

Maria Cristina Didero is an independent design curator and journalist contributing to Domus, Vogue Casa, Flair, Loft, and Apartamento. She has been in charge of the Vitra Design Museum for Italy for more than 10 years and sits on the board of Veritas auction house in Lisbon, is a patron of Design Days Dubai, and curates Design Talks for Miart Milan. She has been Director of Fondazione Bisazza since 2011.

Maymanah Farhat is a New Yorkbased art historian and the Artistic Director of Ayyam Gallery. Her writings have appeared in anthologies, artist monographs, and exhibition catalogues in addition to Art Journal, Callaloo Journal, and Apollo magazine, among other publications. Farhat is also a curator whose exhibitions include Samia Halaby’s first retrospective, Five Decades of Painting and Innovation, and the recent group show, Syria’s Apex Generation.

Dr. Zoltán Somhegyi is a UAE-based Hungarian art historian, holding a PhD in aesthetics. Besides being an Assistant professor at the University of Sharjah, he is a curator of international exhibitions, a consultant of Art Market Budapest – International contemporary art fair and author of books, artist catalogues, and more than two hundred articles, critiques, essays and art fair reviews.

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CONTRIBUTORS

Marwan Naamanw Over the course of a 20-year career, Marwan Naaman has written for the likes of Fodor’s, Businessweek, Monocle, Harvey Nichols and eHealth Insurance, in a variety of fields that range from lifestyle, travel, design and art to finance and medicine. He spent 12 years as Editorin-Chief of Aïshti Magazine (later renamed A Magazine), which he launched, transforming it into the most successful luxury lifestyle publication in the Middle East.

Kasia Maciejowska is a London-based writer and editor who spent a year with us in Beirut editing Selections and the Art Paper. She has an MA in Design History & Material Culture from the Royal College of Art/V&A Museum, and a BA in English Literature from the University of Oxford. Her regular subjects are the visual arts, interior design, and contemporary culture. She has previously written for The Times and Ibraaz among others.

Sophy Grimshaw is an arts, lifestyle and comment journalist based in Waterloo, south London. She has written for magazines and newspapers including The Guardian, The Independent, Elle, Clash, Metropolitan and many others. As well as a freelance writer, she is the deputy editor of High Life magazine and has edited magazines including Hotline and The London Magazine.

Marina Iordan is a contemporary art consultant and writer based in the UAE. She regularly contributes to a number of publications, which all have Middle Eastern culture as common thread. Her most recent articles were published in Harper’s Bazaar Art Arabia, Aesthetica Magazine, Contemporary Practices, and The Mantle.

In her blog, My Velvet Instant, she explores the art scene in and out of Dubai, focusing on contemporary art from the Middle East and Arab world.

India Stoughton graduated from the University of Edinburgh with an MA in Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies. During her course she spent a semester studying in Damascus, where she developed a deep interest in Syrian, Lebanese and Iraqi art and culture. Having travelled extensively in the Middle East, spending time in Morocco, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Qatar, as well as Syria, she is currently based in Lebanon, where she works as an art and culture reporter.

Nicole Anderson is the associate managing editor at The Architect’s Newspaper in New York City. Her stories, covering urbanism, design, architecture, and the arts, have appeared in Modern Magazine, The New York Times, A Magazine, DAMn, and Architectural Record, among others. Previously, she was the editor of GreenSource, a publication on sustainable design and building.

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CONTENTS

48 THE ART OF MY EYE

48

54

UNBRIDLED GROWTH: ART IN THE

GULF REGION FROM THESIGER TO TODAY

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TRACES OF TRADITION

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ARCHITECTURE IS THE SPACE INSIDE

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AN UNTAMEABLE PASSION

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THE MAJESTY OF MOROCCO

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KNOCKING ON HEAVEN’S DOOR

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THE ART OF PERFORMANCE

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HEAVY IS THE HEAD

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A MUSEUM FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

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SOUNDS OF THE UNIVERSE

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AN EYE ON DESIGN

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AN AUDIBLE EXCEPTION TO A RULE

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THE MANY WOMEN OF NAJLA EL ZEIN

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ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE FUTURE-NOW

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CHAMPAGNE, DESIGN AND THE

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A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS

BEAUTY OF NATURE

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FROM TALLINN WITH LOVE

102

RADICAL MAYFAIR

108

CHARBEL SAMUEL AOUN:

THE ARTIST WITH A CONSCIENCE

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CONTENTS EDITORIAL MASTHEAD Editor-in-Chief Rima Nasser Editor Iain Akerman Responsible Editor Fatma Koteich Designer Genia Kodash Pictures Editor Rowina Bou Harb In-house Illustrator Yasmina Nysten Contributing Writers Avril Groom, Sheyma Buali, Maria Cristina Didero, Rajesh Punj, Arie Amaya-Akkermans, Kasia Maciejowska, India Stoughton, Anya Stafford, Jad Sylla, Nadine Khalil

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Editorial enquiries info@citynewsme.com +961 (0) 1 383 978 SALES & DISTRIBUTION Commercial & Marketing Rawad J. Bou Malhab

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IN THE LIBRARY WITH SAMIA HALABY

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A CHILDREN’S TALE REBORN

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A BREATH OF BEJEWELLED ART

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THE DIARY OF NICHOLAS CHRISOSTOMOU

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THE GLAMOROUS WORLD OF LOULOU DE LA FALAISE

CURATED BY SHEIKH SULTAN SOOUD AL QASSEMI 131

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IN CONVERSATION WITH

SHEIKH SULTAN SOOUD AL QASSEMI

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HOW THE FUTURE WILL REMEMBER

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SUBTLE CHANGES

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Advertising Inquiries sales@citynewsme.com +961 (0) 1 383 978 Distribution Lebanon Messagerie du Moyen Orient de la Presse et du Livre s.a.l.

Qatar City News Publishing U.A.E. Jashanmal National Co., L.L.C. Printing Chamas for Printing & Publishing s.a.l. info@chamaspress.com www.selectionsthemagazine.com BPA Worldwide Consumer Magazine Membership Applied for December 2014

Painting behind Samia Halabi, Jerusalem, My Home, 2014, acrylic on cavas

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Ayyam explores artistic evolution

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The fine art of construction

40

Samia Halaby as she sees herself

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Art and architecture in an era of change

34

Looks are deceiving

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35

Taking calligraphy to another dimension

Rafik Majzoub’s moving interior landscapes

36

His and hers

42

A mountainside haven for Syrian artists

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Ginane Makki Bacho uncovers lost stories in Memento

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Samia Halaby: Palestine’s pioneer of abstraction in Beirut

Art Along the Atlantic

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Bridging cultures through art

Beirut Contemporary takes giant step towards reality

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Eye on Design

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Best of Britain

31

Reflections on identity

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Starbrick, by Olafur Eliasson. The Starbrick is an experiment with light modulation and space, for Zumtobel projects

NEWS

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Ayyam, L.A show

LOS ANGELES

DOHA

Ayyam explores artistic evolution

Art and architecture in an era of change

Ayyam Gallery made its West Coast debut at this year’s LA Art Show

by India Stoughton

This year marked Ayyam Gallery’s West Coast debut, when it participated for the first time in the LA Art Show, the 20th edition of which ran from 15 to 18 January.

The gallery chose to exhibit contemporary painting and photography from the Arab world and Iran, showcasing work by eight artists who are innovators in their respective fields in the Middle East and are also active internationally.

Contemporary trends in abstract painting were explored through the work of Palestinian artist Samia Halaby and Syrian artist Thaier Helal, both leaders in the field.

Known as a pioneer of abstraction in the Middle East, Halaby worked as an associate professor at the Yale School of art from 1972 to 1982. Helal remains influential both in his native Syria and in the Gulf, where he has lived for over two decades.

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Reflective approaches to figurative paintings were exemplified by the work of Safwan Dahoul and Sadik Alfraji, who began their careers in Damascus and Baghdad, respectively, and are considered among the region’s foremost artists now working in exile. Iranian artists Farzad Kohan, Afshin Pirhashemi and Alireza Fani, as well as British-Iraqi artist Athier Mousawi, in turn demonstrated the ways in which Middle Eastern art is now entering uncharted territory as traditional approaches are increasingly challenged.

Kohan’s sculptures, paintings and installations often include appropriated media and found objects, used to create works inspired by the artist’s personal history.

Pirhashemi’s photorealistic portraits bleed into expressionist compositions, while Fani creates surrealist photographs inspired by the writings of Iranian intellectual Shahrokh Meskoob and Mousawi employs unique systems of scale and colour in his work.

Ayyam’s booth showed that whether through figuration or abstraction, realist, metaphysical or surrealist work, today’s regional artists and those in the Middle Eastern diaspora are reshaping the contemporary art map.

The inaugural Art for Tomorrow conference in Doha offers a critical analysis of the regional art scene

by Iain Akerman

Renowned architects Jean Nouvel and Rem Koolhaas are among a host of big names set to deliver talks at The International New York Times Art for Tomorrow conference in Qatar.

Taking place from 14 to 16 March in Doha, the conference will explore the changing dynamics of art and architecture and their potential to change people and places. Guests drawn from the arts and public and private sectors are attending the event, as well as tourism experts, city planners and business developers.

Her Excellency Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, a global advocate of art and culture, will open the inaugural event that features global leaders in their fields; from artists and architects to museum and gallery directors, cultural ministers and financial experts.

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Speakers include Al-Thani, chairperson of Qatar Museums; Arthur Sulzberger, chairman and publisher of The New York Times Company & The New York Times; Savita Apte, director of Art Dubai; Ali Güreli, chairman of Contemporary Istanbul; and Victoria Siddall, director of Frieze Art Fairs.

Amongst the 24 speakers is Nouvel, who designed the upcoming Louvre Abu Dhabi and received the Lion d’Or at the Venice Biennale in 2000. He is also the man behind the design of the National Museum of Qatar, which is currently under construction at a cost of $434 million.

Koolhaas, who is also a professor at Harvard University, is globally renowned as an architectural theorist and urbanist famous for works such as the Casa da Música in Porto and the Seattle Central Library.

NEWS

Amongst the keynote addresses will be a discussion of the Bilbao Effect, with Bilbao a watchword for urban, social and cultural regeneration driven by the arrival of a global art institution housed in a piece of signature architecture. A generation has passed since the Bilbao Guggenheim opened. What has Bilbao learned, and what can we learn from it?

Cultural Districts and how a city redefines itself will also be discussed.

Cities across the globe — 90 of them in the US alone — are creating ‘cultural districts’ that are characterised by mixed-use building types and high concentrations of cultural facilities such as museums, galleries, studios for art, music, dance or moviemaking, libraries and public spaces.

But there is “necessarily an imposition, a sense of ‘importing’ the cultural content that might sit uneasily with existing assets.

‘Gentrification’ may be seen as a negative.

What are the key factors in establishing a successful cultural district and minimising such backlash?”

The Miraculous Journey, public art commission by British artist Damien Hirst, Statue 10, Qatar.

Photo by Nadine Al Koudsib

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NEWS

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Michael Jeha, Managing Director of Christie’s Dubai

BEIRUT

Beirut Contemporary takes giant step towards reality Christie’s has gone from strength to strength in the 10 years since it opened in Dubai, and is now helping APEAL make Beirut Contemporary a reality

by Alia Fawaz

It is thanks to the efforts and generous patrons of the Association of the Promotion and Exhibition of the Arts in Lebanon (APEAL) that Lebanon may one day see its first and long overdue large-scale modern and contemporary art museum – Beirut Contemporary.

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Established in 2008, APEAL is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to showcasing and supporting Lebanese artists by taking their work beyond their shores. In 2013 it pioneered Lebanon’s participation at the 55th Venice Biennale in Italy and each year its honours an individual for outstanding achievement in promoting the country’s art and culture with its APEAL Pride Award.

When the association decided to prepare for an art auction to help raise a significant sum towards making Beirut Contemporary a reality, it went straight to the experts: Christie’s. The art auction powerhouse did not hesitate to give its support and do what it does best, which in this case is to help sell an impressive collection of Lebanese modern and contemporary artworks at a gala dinner in Lebanon, which took place on January 30th.

While the artworks, ranging from Paul Guiragossian, Shafic Abboud, Michel Basbous and Nabil Nahas to Ayman

Baalbaki, come with impressive price tags already on the benefit auction catalog, Michael Jeha, the managing director of Christie’s Dubai, is pretty confident the final purchase will well exceed the asking price.

“It is more about the cause,” he explains.

“We encourage people to bid not just for the actual pieces themselves but also to contribute towards this worthwhile cause.”

These kinds of charity auctions – along with exhibitions, educational seminars around the Middle East, and four major auctions a year in Dubai – certainly keeps the Christie’s Middle East headquarters with its hands full. In fact, the trajectory of Christie’s Dubai office is quite remarkable considering it was only set up a decade ago and the original business plan did not even include an auction, thinking that there was not enough interest. “Ten years on and we have had 19 sales seasons, over 35 auctions and over 300 million dollars worth of art sold in Dubai.”

Today its private sales business (mainly jewellery) is growing fast and its on-line art business, which has caught on in the region, has also helped to attract a younger clientele. And while the company can’t deny that the art it mainly sells is the modern masters – or the ‘blue chip’ in the business – it has quite a large representation of young contemporary emerging artists in their Dubai auctions. “The expectation frankly, over the next 10 years, is that this section will really strengthen,” says Jeha.

A total of $1,057,000 was raised by the auction, which was attended by key members of the art scene in Lebanon as well as the Minister of Interior Nouhad Mashnouk, and Lord Palumbo, an avid art collector and art patron.•

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PREVIEW

Art Dubai Marker, Leonel Pinola, Le musée c’est moi, 2013, variable sizes, courtesy of Museo de Arte Latinoame

DUBAI

A cosmopolitan philosophy Art Dubai’s ninth edition features a roll call of more than 90 galleries from across the world and the largest single showcase of Arab artists of any art fair globally

by Danna Lorch

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PREVIEW

The ninth edition of Art Dubai runs from 18 to 21 March with an impressive line-up of more than 90 galleries from 40 countries spread across three programmes — Contemporary, Modern, and Marker.

Although it is grounded in the Middle East and represents the largest single showcase of Arab artists of any art fair worldwide, Art Dubai appears to be pushing for recognition as an international fair with a foot in East and West, a position that can only ultimately help the region’s art market to grow.

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Art Dubai Marker, Felipe Salem, Giant, 2011, 84 × 32 × 37 cm, Courtesy of Museo de Arte Latinoame

This cosmopolitan philosophy is most evident in the Art Dubai Contemporary section, which is guest-curated by Kate Fowle and will bring together a wonderfully eclectic mix of 70 galleries, including newcomers from the rising art cities of Baku, Cape Town, Abidjan and Budapest, anchored by strong returning galleries, including Victoria Miro (London), Leila Heller Gallery (New York), and Isabelle Van Den Eynde (Dubai).

The Art Dubai Modern section returns for its second year at the fair, with a focus on work from the Middle East, South Asia and Africa conceived by noteworthy 20th century artists before the year 2000, with the debate towards defining modern art for these regions remaining fluid. Participating galleries will be exhibiting either a solo show or two artists at most, allowing for an immersive experience for visitors. This year’s decidedly masculine stable includes the late Lebanese painter Shafic Abboud (Agial Art Gallery, Beirut), the abstract painter Mohsen Vaziri Moghadam (Gallery Etemad, Tehran), and legendary self-taught sculptor Shahid Sajjad (ArtChowk, Karachi).

Refreshingly, this year’s Marker section exposes Art Dubai visitors to contemporary art from Latin America, a region that has yet to make a significant entrance into the Middle East art scene. Perhaps we are witnessing that moment. The section will examine the interconnectedness between Latin America’s art and the Arab world through a fresh multidisciplinary approach, including a salon-esque group exhibition and a performance directed by Maria José Arjona, who will lead a group of UAE students in re-enacting key works of art from the fair.

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The intellectually curious who might like to remove their collectors’ hats for a few hours can attend a rigorous talk, panel, or book signing at the Global Art Forum, all orbiting around this year’s theme of Technologies. The Abraaj Group Art Prize has been awarded to a single artist this time around (with others shortlisted), with the 2015 honour going to Yto Barrada, whose prints, films, and sculptures poetically wrestle with the notion of borders.

Art Dubai Modern, Shafic Abboud, Season II, 1959, 130 × 130 cm, © Succession Shafic Abboud

PREVIEW

Those who are ready to understand how Dubai’s art scene weaves into the city’s bustle can take a trip to Al Fahidi Historical Area to view work by six artists in residence installed in a traditional Emirati home.

Curated by Lara Khaldi, the A.i.R programme runs alongside a number of commissioned projects set to dapple Madinat Jumeirah, including an intervention

by Brazilian artist Maria Thereza Alves, who will cultivate a garden from reclaimed dormant seeds in the UAE. Overall, it appears that Art Dubai has planted solid roots and is positioned to grow in strength and scope this year.

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DUBAI

Eye on Design This year’s Design Days Dubai will have the highest number of exhibitors to date, with the fair cultivating recognition and awareness for design in the region

by Iain Akerman

On 16 March, the fourth edition of Design Days Dubai kicks off with an international line-up of 44 exhibitors from 20 countries.

Running for five days, the event is the Middle East and South Asia’s only collectible design fair and will present works of modern and contemporary design. This year’s fair sees 22 returning exhibitors, including Carpenters Workshop Gallery (Paris/ London), Southern Guild (Cape Town), Artfactum (Beirut), and Broached Commissions (Melbourne), alongside 11 first-time participants. These include the regional premiere for David Gill Galleries (London) and Gallery FUMI (London), as well as Gallery ALL (Beijing/Los Angeles), Chamber NYC (New York), Galerie Silbereis (Paris), and designer and personality Fiona Barratt-Campbell’s Privé Collection (London).

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“As the event grows year on year, Design Days Dubai continues to cultivate recognition and awareness for design in the region, serving to establish Dubai as a global cultural hub,” said Cyril Zammit, director of Design Days Dubai. “The 2015 edition will exhibit the world’s most diverse collection of exhibitors and designers from 20 countries, and ground-breaking works for the audience to further enhance their experience around the subject of design.

The fair offers design enthusiasts the opportunity to not only meet international designers, but also acquire collectible design and enhance collections for private and corporate use.”

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PREVIEW

Held at ‘The Venue’ in Emaar Boulevard, the fair will showcase desirable, rare and unique design creations, with this year’s event representing the highest number of exhibitors to date, with participation from Australia, China, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, the Netherlands, South Africa, and Taiwan, as well as Europe, and the Americas.

The event’s support of the Middle East design industry will also see a record number of 16 design studios, galleries, and design professionals from the Emirates and the wider GCC participating. These include the first participation of 1971 (Sharjah), and 19th Century Antiques (Dubai), as well as the launch of Aljoud Lootah Design Studio (Dubai).

opposite page : Chamber NYC Studio, job spectable lamp polished and patinated bronze, brass, aluminium, hand blown glass and LED. Edition of 25, 2014

below : Twist Bar, Fadi Sarieddine, flexiwood, solid wood, steel, paint, 2013

top : Cyril Zammit, Design Days Dubai Director, photographer: Abdullah Touk

Other highlights of the 2015 programme include a 10th anniversary celebration of Lebanese designer Nada Debs, as well as the regional opening for a new series of vases presented by Wiener Silber Manufactur

by Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, who will also have distinct ‘liquid’ table works shown by David Gill Galleries (London). Additional Middle Eastern representation can be seen through the participation of Authentique Art Gallery (Dubai), Cities (Dubai & Riyadh), Naqsh Design House (Amman) and Nakkash Gallery (Dubai), together with Tashkeel (Dubai), Fatima bint Mohamed bin Zayed Initiative (Dubai & Abu Dhabi), Faddi Sarriedine (Dubai), and jewellery from Shamsa Alabbar (Dubai).

Dubai in particular is seeking to become a hub for design, innovation and creativity, with design a central pillar of that goal. There is often a clichéd perception of what Middle Eastern design is, but a different perspective has emerged, with contemporary design mixing with regional traditional influences and replacing foreign concepts of Orientalism.

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REVIEW

LONDON

Best of Britain The London Art Fair shone the spotlight on British contemporary art for five days in January

by Sophy Grimshaw

October’s Frieze may be the best-known and influential of London’s art fairs, but it’s not the only major fair in the calendar. January saw the return of one of the bigger and well-established fairs, with the 27th edition of the London Art Fair. Billed as a fair for “modern British and contemporary art,” the event highlighted galleries and dealers that were primarily British and showing British work. That said, there was some international gallery presence — from Milan, Paris, Toronto and New York — while this year’s film programme included a partnership with Amsterdam’s excellent LIMA media art collection.

As is typical with art fairs of size — during its five days the 2015 London Art Fair was home to 128 exhibitors — many of the visitors who passed through the two monumental Eduardo Paolozzi sculptures at the door of this year’s event weren’t collectors. The curious came in part for the cultural programme: this year the main exhibition within the fair’s Art Projects section was ‘Dialogues’, overseen by Anna Colin, who is also to be a cocurator of the next British Art Show (which takes place every five years and is among the United Kingdom’s most high-profile contemporary art exhibitions). As hinted by the name, ‘Dialogues’ was a series of curatorial collaborations between galleries. Another exhibit, ‘Photo 50’, showcased contemporary photography.

The London gallerist Matthew Flowers, of Flowers Gallery, which has locations in West and East London, has been exhibiting at the London Art Fair since 1989. “I was brought onto the steering committee in the early years to help put the event on the map,” he said. “It has developed an interesting mix of contemporary and modern British art, together with a dynamic photography programme. It’s completely different to Frieze and sits comfortably in January as a great way to kick off the New Year.” At the 2015 fair, Flowers exhibited work by Patrick Hughes and the portrait artist Tai-Shan Schierenberg, as well as photography by Simon Roberts and Nadav Kandar.

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left: Susie MacMurray, Medusa, 2014, courtesy of Ben Blackall

REVIEW

above :

Angus Fairhurst, proposal for a public space, 2006 , courtesy of Paul Stolper Gallery

below : Jess Wilson, Postcodes, 2012, courtesy of Jealous Gallery

In another corner of the fair, Edward Clark, founder and director of art consultants Rowntree Clark, held his fifth show as one of the three dealers in the Museum Pavilion space. “I recreated the Venice Biennale British Pavilion of 1966,” he said, showing work by artists like Anthony Caro and Robyn Denny, “but with work from the exhibiting artists from the late 1950s, when their work was more expressionistic and less hard-edged.”

Clark regularly sells out his stand at the event to “high-profile, but very private clients,” he said, adding that “it’s important for each fair to have an identity in the market and to know what level it is aimed at. While Frieze Masters is tailored to

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REVIEW

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right:

Lucian Freud, Self-Portrait with Hyacinth in PoT, 1947– 48, crayon on paper, courtsey of The Lucian Freud Archive and Pallant House Gallery

below : Graham Sutherland, Thorn Head, 1947, oil on canvas, Pallant House Gallery — Hussey Bequest, Chichester District Council, 1985

the ultra-high end of the market, the London Art Fair is centred toward 20th century British art, which is an undervalued market internationally, and fledgling contemporary.”

Coline Milliard, European Market Editor for the global newswire artnet News, and who sits on the jury of the Art Project Artist’s Award, was another returning visitor. “I look for the artist’s commitment to in-depth research,” she said of the judging process.

“Something that feels like part of an ongoing inquiry and — even if it’s in very modest ways — offers an unexpected take on the world we live in.”

While Milliard emphasised that the London Art Fair has achieved a loyal following of both dealers and buyers, in market and creative terms, she also saw it as “increasingly attracting younger London galleries and collectors, who feel a little overlooked by the behemoth that Frieze has become. This, and a longstanding commitment to modern British art, has made it the place to head to for those looking for a more specifically British flavour.”

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REVIEW

BEIRUT

Reflections on identity Milia M’s exhibition ‘Now/Here’ at the Beirut Art Center explored identity constructs and fashion

by India Stoughton

“Everything flows, nothing stands still” runs the aphorism often used to characterise the philosophy of Heraclitus of Ephesus. Panta Rei, the Greek for “everything flows” was the name fashion designer Milia Maroun gave one of the two works in her recent show at the Beirut ArtCenter. Entitled ‘Now/Here’, the exhibition aimed to explore the idea that imaginary objects, time and values are all a matter of perception.

Maroun’s Beirut-based fashion label, Milia M, is known for its trademark feather top, a simple white blouse that comes in U-neck or V-neck and forms a permanent staple of the women’s ready-towear collection. For Panta Rei, Maroun used 96 of these garments to form an enormous optical illusion.

Printing each with a unique pattern of coloured dots, she strung them up to form a huge canvas, covered in a seemingly abstract polka dot pattern.

Up close, the dots appeared merely decorative, but from a distance — or when viewed on the screen of a smartphone — they resolved themselves into a message. “Everywhere” was inscribed onto one side of the display and “Nowhere” on the other. As visitors to the show purchased the garments, they were taken down one by one, causing the work to gradually disappear.

A second work played with perceptions of the components versus the whole and handmade versus machine made. Entitled ‘Common Thread’, the performance piece consisted of a machine-knit dress, displayed on a mannequin atop a table. Two women, Amale Sibai of the International Rescue Committee and Hala Halabi of the Milia M studio, sat patiently beside the table. Taking strands of wool from the dress, they gradually unravelled it, using the material to knit new, handmade garments.

A fashion-driven display with a deeper message, Maroun’s exhibition invited viewers to explore the relationship between the individual and the masses. It was a reflection on identity that knit nicely with the purpose of fashion: to allow us to express our individuality.

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BEIRUT

The fine art of construction Emerging artists based in Lebanon were showcased by the Beirut Art Center in ‘Exposure’

by India Stoughton

Stuck to the wall of Nour Bishouty’s studio is a collection of photographs of a woman the artist has never met. Dark haired and slender, she is captured at dinner with friends, alone at a table, visiting an archaeological site and seated on a surfboard in the middle of a calm sea. The mystery woman and her unknown story were the inspiration behind the work Bishouty created for part of the Exposure exhibition at the Beirut Art Center this winter. Dealing with memory, narratives and material traces, Bishouty’s work fitted neatly with the theme of the exhibition, ‘Under Construction’.

Using the physical traces left by a departed person, she constructed a series of works based around the idea of materiality and absence. Bishouty used the sticky paper from lint roller to pick up the hair and loose thread left on a coat each day for a month, cutting it into segments to create a calendar charting the overlooked traces of day-to-day activity.

A second work consisted of a sheet of paper that from a distance appeared blank, but was in fact perforated by a series of tiny holes: the punctures created by a sewing machine without thread. A thought-provoking and strangely visceral project, her work tied together several of the sub-themes that emerged during the sixth edition of the annual show.

Designed to showcase work by emerging artists based in Lebanon, ‘Exposure 6’ was curated by the BAC’s new director, Marie Muracciole. A four-person jury selected the nine proposals that resulted in the works on display.

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Like Bishouty, Palestinian artist Mirna Bamieh chose to deal with construction as it relates to the intangible. Her installation piece, entitled ‘A Manual: How to Preserve Memory’, was a bleakly humorous, mock guide to remembering. Three video screens played rotating film clips, purporting to share stepby-step instructions for how to memorise everything from a dead person to the meaning of life. Shelves of objects, mislabelled with the text or titles of books, enabled viewers to “practice” their newfound skills, while highlighting the absurdity of political rhetoric based on a fabricated or misremembered past.

A film by Roy Dib explored the construction and perforation of borders as they appear in romantic relationships and between enemy states. Photographer Tanya Traboulsi likewise interpreted the theme as it relates to love and war, creating an installation piece centred on audio interviews with single women over 30, focusing on their perceptions of marriage.

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Tanya Traboulsi, Something Borrowed, Ghida Y., 44, 2014

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Mirna Bamyeh, A Manual: How to Preserve Memory, 2014

right:

Nour Bishouty, Process: Inventing and distancing, 2014

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Jessika Khazrik chose to focus on reconstruction, uncovering the history of a mountain village that became a storage point for thousands of barrels of imported waste, using archival materials to create a large-scale installation.

British artist Arjuna Neuman also focused on the environment, constructing a large concrete platform dotted with neon lightbulbs in the shape of flowers, which encouraged reflection on physical and mental horizons.

Hiba Kalache, meanwhile, focused on physical constructs and the barriers they pose to movement.

Enormous, intricately detailed paintings explored the fabric of Beirut, mapping roadblocks and charting their influence on urban circulation to create stunning abstract patterns. Georgette Power, the pseudonym of Lebanese-French artist Benjamin Moukarzel, created a video work relating to identity, movement and language, while Tala Worrell also explored two constructs we live by as though they were immutable: time and language.

Although a little rough about the edges, ‘Exposure’ served to highlight work by some of the region’s more promising young artists. Several of the projects — Dib’s film, Bamieh’s video installation and Traboulsi’s audio installation among them — held their own as finished works.

Others hinted at good things to come from artists who are still cementing their practice.

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BEIRUT

Looks are deceiving House of Today’s second biennial exhibition took a peek behind the mask of social media

by Iain Akerman

Delving beneath the façade of people’s curated social media worlds was the intention of House of Today’s second biennial exhibition, which was held in Beirut between December and January.

Bringing together the work of 30 acclaimed Lebanese and international designers, ‘Naked: Beyond the Social Mask’ exhibited a wide range of work that interpreted the exhibition’s title theme, with the show following on from the success of House of Today’s inaugural exhibition, ‘Confessions’, held in 2012.

Held at Le Yacht Club in Zeitouney Bay, the invited designers included Marc Baroud, Sarah and Malak Beydoun, Valentina Carretta, Karim Chaya, Rami Dalle, Najla El Zein and Christian Haas, while a number of winning participants selected from an open call also contributed work.

“Through their inspiration, personality and expertise, all the invited artists and designers are giving the world a part of themselves, offering an overview of today’s creativity in Lebanon and beyond,” said French designer Sam Baron, the exhibition’s ambassador.

“This collection of pieces with different dimensions, materials and functionalities all embrace creativity as a common language based on passion and originality.”

Amongst the exhibited work was Michele and Georges Maria’s ‘Showdown’, a meeting table that delves into hidden agendas. Made of steel with a gunmetal finish, it looks like a regular table until you notice that a set of weapons has been stuck to the underside of the table within reach of each of the seated guests.

David Raffoul and Nicolas Moussallem’s ‘Alter Ego’ offered a twist on the traditional coat hanger, while ‘Full Moon’, a console table by Italian Valentina Carretta, was a tribute to vanity and beauty, comparing the everyday makeup routine to the complete, fullmoon transformation that is at the heart of the werewolf myth.

The brainchild of Cherine Magrabi Tayeb, House of Today is a non-profit organisation that identifies, showcases, nurtures, and connects emerging Lebanese designers to a regional and global design network.

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Tamara Barrage, Second Skin

Najla el Zein, Sweep

Tala Hajjar, Key Chain

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el Seed, from his first Solo exhibition “Declaration” at Tashkeel Studio and Gallery

DUBAI

Taking calligraphy to another dimension Calligraffiti artist eL Seed’s first solo exhibition paid homage to his older pieces through reinvention

by Iain Akerman

“I write on walls, I write messages that talk to people.

The wall is a pretext to open conversation with the public,” says French-Tunisian artist eL Seed. “After a wall is complete, the conversation exists only between the viewer and the art piece.”

Combining a love of street art with traditions of Arabic calligraphy, eL Seed’s star is on the rise.

A proponent of ‘calligraffiti’, which merges Arabic calligraphy with graffiti art, his work utilises monumental surfaces that act as canvases for his take on Arabic text.

At Tashkeel in Dubai at the tail end of last year, however, he took his art to another dimension, releasing letters from their two dimensional surface and creating three-dimensional words and shapes that cascade down walls and curve around corners.

The result of a year-long residency at Tashkeel studio hub, his first solo exhibition, called ‘Declaration’, paid homage to his older pieces through reinvention.

“The essence of my work is rooted in the ancient art of Arabic Calligraphy,” he says. “The piece for this exhibition is inspired by a poem from Nizar Qabbani.

The poet is describing the beauty of his lover despite her age, and I am in turn, by using this poem as the basis of the work, declaring my love for the ancient art of calligraphy.

“My messages, adorned on public walls all around the world, were created with the intent to communicate. Each stroke of a letter or word seeks to build an affinity with with each person. In this closed space, I built a sculptural work for the first time. It is a conversation between the poem, the language, the form and me and I invite the viewer to walk through this exchange.”

Born to Tunisian parents in the suburbs of Paris, eL Seed’s work often discusses politics and art, although part of his drive derives from a desire to reclaim the Arabic language for his generation.

One of his most famous pieces is the painting of the minaret of a mosque in Gabes, Tunisia, completed in 2012, with the mosque bearing a verse from the Quran encouraging the celebration of the differences between people.

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His and hers An exhibition of work by Raouf Rifai and Hilda Hiary embraced emotion and expression in almost equal measure

by Iain Akerman

The works of Lebanese painter Raouf Rifai and Jordanian artist Hilda Hiary provided two distinct perspectives on humanity and women at Al Markhiya Gallery’s recent exhibition in Doha.

For ‘He & She’, which ran until 17 January, Rifai’s characteristic ‘darwiche’ (‘darwiche’ in Arabic means a simple-minded person) was very much at the forefront, giving his personal take on what symbolises the common man in the Levant. Using dark, earthy tones, as well as splashes of vibrant colour, Rifai’s darwiche are all rooted in human existence and feature implicit symbols of Middle Eastern life.

There’s the fez and the Damascene sabot, while the predominantly head and shoulder paintings provide a myriad emotions and expressions.

Rifai, who lives and works in Beirut and is a lecturer at the Lebanese University’s Institute of Arts, once said that “art is the mirror of reality” and that “art and nature are inseparable”. Both of these beliefs were evident in the selection of his work exhibited alongside that of Hiary, whose vibrant mixed media on canvas depict confident, beautiful and strong women.

above : Hilda Hiary, The hand, acrylic on canvas, 100 × 90 cm

left: Abdul Raouf El Rifai, Darwich Clown, acrylic on canvas, 150 × 180 cm

Born in Amman, where she also resides, Hiary’s large female figures utilise strong, forceful colours and patterns, among them ‘The rocks’, which features two pregnant women in profile. The women in her work reject the tyranny of men and resist it, although many appear harsh in their representation. They are the women who Hiary says are “the producer and the life partner, a factory worker, a farmer, a mother of the martyr, an intellectual, a politician and an artist”.

Hiary’s work is abstract and figurative, a patchwork of textures, patterns, colours and dripping paint that has a luxuriant effect. Both hers and Rifai’s art proves how contemporary painters from the Levant are at the top of their game.

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DOHA

Ginane Makki Bacho uncovers lost stories in Memento A new series of work by Ginane Makki Bacho invites viewers to explore their own inner worlds and shared memories of time, space and place

by India Stoughton

In the summer of 2013, veteran Lebanese artist Ginane Makki Bacho presented a highly personal selection of paintings to the public in a solo show at Ayyam Gallery in Beirut. Entitled ‘Afterimage’, the exhibition reflected on her life, capturing scenes from her childhood, the early years of her marriage, her time in Lebanon during the Civil War and her later years in suburban America, where she raised her four sons.

This spring, Makki Bacho is presenting a new series of work at Al Markhiya Gallery in Katara Art Center. Running until 6 March, the exhibition is the result of the artist’s brave willingness to once again lay bare her own past. Memento features tender, colourful portraits of famous Arab women the artist idolised as a young woman. Among them are Asmahan, Hind Rostom and beloved Egyptian actress Faten Hamama, who passed away days before the exhibition’s opening.

above :

Memento 1, Asmahan, mixed media, acrylic on canvas, 90 × 70 cm, 2014

left: Memento 14 , War’s Stories, mixed media, acrylic on canvas, 150 × 130 cm, 2014

Makki Bacho pairs these portraits with more personal tableaux, which combine photographs and paintings to create highly textured, collage-like scenes in colour and black-and-white. Stamps, clock faces and airmail envelopes are recurring motifs, symbolising the passage of time and an attempt to bridge distance that hark back to Makki Bacho’s tumultuous past, which has taken her from Lebanon to the Gulf, to the US and back.

“I endeavour to escape this suffocating reality by dwelling on a simpler time when I was young, free and full of optimism — even if much of it was an illusion,” the artist writes of her work. “The result is an unresolved conflict between my desire to return to what once was and the constant, jarring realities of the present... Although this new body of work stems from a deeply personal place, it is my hope that I can invite viewers to explore their own inner worlds and shared memories of time, space and place.”

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MIAMI

Art Along the Atlantic Art Basel Miami, the largest art fair in the United States, was a glittery highlight of the winter season

by Nicole Anderson

Jeff Koons Courtesy of David Zwirner

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Gallerists, curators, art dealers, critics, scenesters and collectors embarked on their annual pilgrimage last December, to the palm tree-lined beaches and Art Deco-filled city of Miami to attend Art Basel, the largest art fair in the United States. Now in its 13th year, Miami Basel has morphed into a cultural side show where glitzy parties, new luxury hotel openings (like that of Ian Schrager’s Miami Beach Edition)

and exclusive performances can distract from the intended main attraction: that is the art! But, if patient and willing, one can wade through all the riffraff and spectacle, and uncover an impressive selection of work from over 260 top international galleries. The fair was, in many ways, the icing on cake after a strong year for the art market — one last opportunity before 2015 for buyers to take a final sweep of the landscape and bulk up their personal collections with pieces from both established and up-and-coming artists.

Whether hung in booths at the Miami Convention Center, in a museum or staged offsite, the work on display offered new forms of experimentation in mediums such as painting, sculpture, multimedia and performance. And in the case of acclaimed Chinese choreographer and artist Shen Wei, two art practices came together in a symbiotic unity at his first museum exhibit, entitled “Shen Wei — In Black, White and Gray,” at the MDC Museum of Art + Design. Though his award-winning choreography has been performed all over the world, this solo series of painting is the debut for the artist, embodying the movement, dynamism and fluidity of his staged work. In addition to the paintings, site-

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Shen Wei performance

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specific performances took place in the galleries where dancers, dressed in the corresponding colors, responded to the canvases on the wall. Another much talked about performance was Ryan McNamara’s updated version of his “ME3M Miami: A Story Ballet About the Internet,” at the once swanky and now outdated Miami Grand Theater at the Castle Beach Resort. This staged work, intended to be interactive, successfully probed and also mimicked the chaos, information overflow and stratified communication channels of our digital age.

Of course, there was no dearth of work from the usual suspects — Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor, Nick Cave — whose art fetches millions and who have become their own glossy brands in themselves. Koons’ slick and undeniably iconic aesthetic (whether you love it or hate it) was in full form at the Gagosian Booth, with the provocative reclining woman sarcophagus piece based on an ashtray his father once owned. The story goes that the legs are supposed to move up and down as they did with the original object.

Departing from the traditional booth design, Zurich-based Galerie Gmurzynska took a creative approach with their “A Kid Could Do That” sign scribbled on a chalkboard, poking fun at the common retort made by viewers at museums or galleries.

Galerie Gmurzynska transformed their booth into a schoolroom setting, with thick anthologies on contemporary art resting on tables nearby. Inside this faux classroom, the gallery exhibited work that could easily school any snarky visitor by artists such as Joan Miró, Cy Tombly and Francis Bacon, among others.

Australian director Baz Luhrmann and costume designer Catherine Martin created a film in honor of the gallery’s 50th anniversary, showcasing great works by these modern artists.

Some the most compelling art could be found outside of the Miami Beach Convention Center in Wynwood. Mana Contemporary — a multipurpose arts center with exhibition spaces, art services and diverse programming in Chicago and New Jersey — opened its first Miami location in December in time for Miami Art Week. Large-scale works by artists such as David Salle and Julian Schnabel populated the sprawling new warehouse. A highlight of the exhibition was actually

by Mana founder and president Eugene Lemay, who is of Canadian, Lebanese and Syrian descent. In his installation, “Nights in Beirut,” he created a yellow sand desert with miniature soldiers, recalling the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Lemay has explained that he was inspired to make his own artwork to contemplate this “troubling experience.”

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I Found Myself Growing Inside an Ancient Olive Tree in Galilee, Surfing the Golden Dome in Jerusalem, Inside a Tunnel in Gaza, 2015, acrylic on canvas collage, 76 × 61 cm

NEW YORK

Samia Halaby as she sees herself An exhibition at the National Academy of Arts in New York explores the urges that drive artists to create self-portraits

by India Stoughton

For millennia, humans have been creating likenesses of themselves through art. Since the Renaissance, these have taken the form of the self-portrait as we know it today, in which the artist reflects on his or her own visage as the primary subject of a painting, sculpture or photograph. This year Palestinian artist Samia Halaby is showing one of her self-portraits at the National Academy of Arts in New York City, as part of the collective exhibition ‘Self: Portraits of Artists in their Absence’.

The exhibition, which runs until 3 May, aims to explore the urges that drive artists to create selfportraits, thereby ensuring their presence even when absent, and the ways in which self-representation has changed over the past two centuries. The millennial obsession with the concept of ‘selfies’ makes this a timely show, and one with which a large audience is likely to identify. It is no longer only artists who have a relationship with their image and the way it is crafted for public consumption – social media profiles mean that billions of people are daily inventing and reinventing their own portraits, striving to control the way in which they are viewed.

Born in 1936, Halaby is recognised as a pioneer of Arab abstract painting, despite having lived in the United States since 1951. From 1972 to 1982, she was the first full-time female associate professor at the Yale School of Art and has exhibited throughout the Middle East as well as overseas. As an academic, she has made notable contributions to the study of art from Palestine, from which country her family was forced to flee in 1948. Her inclusion in the exhibition, alongside artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Ai Weiwei and Shirin Neshat, marks a deserved renewal of interest in her work in recent years.

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BEIRUT

Rafik Majzoub’s moving interior landscapes The raw, sarcastic and tense paintings of Rafik Majzoub were recently exhibited at Art on 56th in Beirut

by India Stoughton

far left:

Mirror, acrylic and pastel on canvas, 145 × 145cm, 2014

left: Umbrella above the rain, acrylic and pastel on canvas, 140 × 140cm, 2014. Photos courtesy of Art on 56th

below : My lungs are fine, acrylic on canvas, 180 × 200cm, 2003

True to form, Majzoub exhibited a series of harrowing self-portraits, which cast light on his inner turmoil. His angular features were reflected back at the viewer from all sides, picked out in vicious strokes of pastel or smeary acrylic paint, over which the artist had thrown water, causing his image to melt and deform.

Mazjoub’s paintings are not portraits as much as they are interior landscapes, conveying the artist’s pain and self-loathing. Disturbing to look at, they are also powerful and deeply moving, displaying a rare willingness to lay bare the most private emotions and experiences. A talented autodidact, Majzoub has been creating figurative portraits for three decades, and his work retains its rawness and energy as it matures. It’s to be hoped that we won’t have to wait another half decade to see more.

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In ‘Rafik Majzoub: Memoirs of a Screw’, the Beirutbased artist recalls his childhood in Amman. His parents led a whirlwind social life, he says, and as a child he would hide under the table when they threw parties. Often, he recognised the figures dancing in his house from seeing them on the television. Later, it was he himself that danced and partied among the bohemian crowd of artists living amid the carnage of post-war Beirut.

A frank interview with Majzoub, who has been based in Beirut since 1991, soon after the end of the Civil War, forms the backbone to the five-part documentary by Australian-Egyptian filmmaker Ann Megalla. The film, which throws light on the struggles the artist has faced ever since his isolated teenage years, was recently screened at Art on 56th, where Majzoub held his first solo show in Beirut after a hiatus of five years. Entitled ‘Rain on me’, it paired a series of paintings completed last year with older works that shared the same thematic approach.

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ALEY

A mountainside haven for Syrian artists Art Residence Aley provides a safe space in the Lebanese mountains for artists to escape their troubles and focus on their creativity

by India Stoughton

In late 2011, as Syria’s bloody civil war took a turn for the worse and weekly demonstrations were replaced by an ongoing cycle of violence, Syrian civil engineer Raghad Mardini decided she had to do something to help some of those impacted by the war. A member of the close-knit community of artists in Damascus, she noticed that more and more of Syria’s artists were fleeing the country or were unable to continue their work.

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On a visit to Aley, a small village in the mountains above Beirut, she came across some old Ottoman stables, vaulted stone structures dating from more than 200 years ago. They had been badly damaged during the Lebanese civil war and were standing derelict, full of dust and rubble. The owner of the property gave her permission to use the space in return for undertaking the restoration. Mardini decided to turn the stables into a haven for Syrian artists.

“Lots of the Syrian artists had moved to Lebanon because of the situation and the idea of the project came out spontaneously,” she says. “They were taking jobs in restaurants or as construction workers to make a living. They were sharing rooms in houses, four or five to a room. They hardly had space to live, so they were not doing any art. I believe that it is important to protect art and artists in times of war, because they are the conscience of society.”

Since opening in May 2012, Art Residence Aley has served as a peaceful escape from the violence in Syria. An expanse of green lawn abuts the stables, now outfitted with a bedroom, a small bathroom, an open plan kitchen and a fireplace.

Each month, Mardini invites two artists to take up residency in the mountaintop stables. Some are displaced artists now living in Beirut, others cross over from Syria to enjoy the peace and quiet in which

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to work. “We offer them full board accommodation and materials for work, plus a small stipend to help them to solve all their financial problems,” says Mardini. “We want them to be completely relaxed in this space and to regain their self-confidence and a feeling of security, which is very important if you want to produce art.”

In the past two and a half years, Art Residence Aley has hosted more than 40 artists, working in diverse media, from sculpture, painting, lithography and photography to theatre, dance, digital art and animation.

Each artist leaves behind one work at the end of their stay, which is archived and placed into a burgeoning collection that shows the diversity and progression of post-war Syrian art.

“The collection enables us to see where Syrian art is going and how much it has developed in the past three years,” Mardini explains, “because the past few years have had a big impact on everybody. I am not placing a burden on art... I don’t want to give it a mission. The artist is free when they come here to draw whatever they want. It’s freedom of expression that we emphasise.”

Recently, Mardini has also been inviting select nonSyrian artists to visit, with the aim of building up crosscultural ties. In December, performance artist Marta Jovanovic spent two weeks in Lebanon. She spent the first week in complete silence, before giving a three-day workshop for seven artists, hailing from Lebanon, Syria and Italy. The visit culminated in her own site-specific public performance, entitled ‘Secret’, based on her experiences in Lebanon.

The artist, who was born in former Yugoslavia and lives between New York and Rome, invited audience members to approach one by one and whisper a secret to her. She then wrote each confession on a piece of paper and sewed it onto a simple black dress. After everyone had unburdened themselves, she took the dress outside and set fire to it, symbolically exorcising the secrets and freeing her audience from their weight.

“The first week was really powerful for me, not saying a word,” she says. “I think when you speak you occupy space… so my silence actually came as a purification, in order to be able to welcome all these new things. I spent a whole day at the Shatila camp with Syrian refugee women in a workshop organised by the NGO Basmeh and Zeitooneh, and they taught me how to do needlework. That’s why I used it in my performance...

I made them laugh so much. They thought I was the most hilarious thing that ever happened, but it was so beautiful to see how united they were in that room. That camaraderie moved me.”

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One of Mardini’s aims is to connect artists with gallerists, patrons and overseas institutions that might be able to further their careers once the residency is over. In 2014 alone, she organised exhibitions in Berlin, Washington, Amman and Kuwait, as well as five in Beirut. Four artists were also invited to undertake residencies overseas.

“We have to spread their work to a wider audience,” says Mardini, “and show the world that the Syrian people are not only numbers of coffins or refugees. They are a living nation with a lot of talent and creativity, and despite all the difficult times nowadays they are still resilient and they can rebuild themselves, their lives, their future and their country.”

At Art Residence Aley artists are given the freedom to put their problems aside and focus on their work.

Photo: Courtesy of Art Residence Aley

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BEIRUT

Samia Halaby: Palestine’s pioneer of abstraction in Beirut

by India Stoughton

Samia Halaby, Takheel II, 122 × 167.5 cm, acrylic on linen canvas, 2013

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Born in Jerusalem in 1936, Palestinian artist Samia Halaby has been based in the United States for over 60 years. Her family was forced to flee Jaffa in 1948 and spent three years in Beirut, before moving to the U.S. in 1951. A pioneering abstract artist, one of the first to use computers to generate digital art, and a passionate activist and advocate for Palestinian rights, Halaby was the first woman to serve as a full time associate professor of art at Yale, where she taught from 1972 to 1982.

She has exhibited extensively in the U.S., as well as closer to home in Amman, Damascus, Aleppo, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Beirut. This February, the Beirut Exhibition Center is hosting the first major retrospective of Halaby’s work, curated by

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art historian Maymanah Farhat. Entitled Samia Halaby: Five Decades of Painting and Innovation, the exhibition includes more than 50 pieces, among them paintings, drawings, hanging sculptures and computer-generated kinetic works. It aims to provide a comprehensive overview of Halaby’s ongoing mission to further abstraction, which she considers to be materialist, a different way of capturing reality.

Organised chronologically, the exhibition includes some of the innovative artist’s most experimental work, beginning with pieces from the 1960s reflecting postwar American trends, among them paintings exploring abstract expressionism and Joseph Albers’ studies of colour relativity. Through her chronological arrangement and subdivision of the work according to specific series, Farhat aims to emphasise Halaby’s radical approach to formalism.

Perhaps most interesting, in light of contemporary technology and the ever-expanding world of digital art, are Halaby’s kinetic paintings, designed to convey sound as well as visuals. These works were created using computer programs that artist designed and wrote herself in the late 1980s, long before digital art became a recognised medium.

Halaby’s bold lines, striking compositions and stunning eye for colour ensure that her work is accessible and aesthetically engaging, but there is a depth and complexity to her themes and approaches that merits a more profound reflection.

Taking her inspiration from nature or the urban environment, Halaby is able to employ colour, form and light to encapsulate a sense of motion, space and time, creating works that appear to move beyond the standard three dimensions. While teaching at the Kansas City Art Institute in 1964, Farhat explains in the monograph that accompanies the show, Halaby decided to abandon the abstraction she had developed at university. When she stumbled across a 15th century painting by Flemish artist Petrus Christus, Virgin and Child in a Domestic Interior, it captured her imagination and changed the direction of her work. A tiny detail -- an orange resting on a windowsill near the subjects -- caught her eye and inspired her to devise a formal change. Using geometric models, Halaby painted whole series of works in which an object was captured from all possible angles, sliced open and reshaped on the canvas.

Halaby’s ground-breaking fusion of pre-modern abstraction -- particularly geometric motifs found in Islamic art -- with modern figuration and abstraction, and her innovative approaches to material and technology have deservedly earned her a reputation as one of the region’s foremost contemporary painters.

This timely retrospective serves as a fitting tribute to a prolific and ceaselessly inventive talent.

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Samia Halaby, Standing Blue Pair, 86 × 34.5 cm, acrylic on canvas, 2003

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DOHA

Bridging cultures through art An exhibition of work by Qatari and Brazilian artists is seeking to promote emerging talent via the exchange of ideas

by Iain Akerman

above : Aisha Al-Suwaidi, Concretoys 01, 2013, concrete & plastic toy, 25 × 13 cm

below : Untitled, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 250 × 150 cm, Anita Schwartz, Galeria de Arte, Rio de Janeiro

If you visit QM Gallery Al Riwaq before the end of March, you’ll be greeted by an exhibition space that has been split completely in half.

On the one side is a showcase of work by artists from Qatar, on the other, those from Brazil, with the ‘Here There’ exhibition as a whole attempting to bridge cultures with a celebration of art from both countries.

The exhibition, which is presented by Qatar Museums, is part of a strategy to nurture emerging talent by offering local artists the opportunity to develop best practice via the exchange of ideas.

The vibrant body of work from 42 artists (19 Qatari and 23 Brazilian), ranges from pieces produced in traditional media such as paintings, drawings and printmaking, through to digital art, installations and interactive works. The group of artists includes firsttime exhibitors through to more established and wellknown figures.

“The variety of works explores thoughtprovoking and challenging themes that people of both countries will understand and relate to,” said Alanoud Al Buainain, artist and Qatari curator of ‘Here There’. “This reflects Qatar Museum’s focus on nurturing local talent whilst also reflecting the global importance and role for art in helping exchange ideas, cultures and dialogue.”

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The exhibition brings to an end the Qatar Brazil 2014 Year of Culture, with the initiative a key part of Qatar Museums’ vision of establishing cultural ties between Qatar and countries around the world. ‘Here There’ explores the environmental, cultural and social experience of life in Qatar and Brazil as presented through the eyes of each country’s most promising and talented young artists. It also builds on a legacy of artistic exchange between the two nations in a celebration of their combined spirit.

“It is my hope that the display of Brazilian creativity, diversity and innovation presented in Here There helps to enhance Qatari audiences’ perception of Brazil’s arts and culture,” said Gunnar B. Kvaran, curator of the Brazilian part of Here There.”

•

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ART

THE ART OF MY EYE

by Nadine Khalil

Iranian visual artist Shirin Neshat’s latest commissioned work is to be exhibited in Baku, where her powerful black-and-white photographs will pay tribute to the different communities of Azerbaijan

If there is one sense you get from Shirin Neshat’s

This kind of urgency in Neshat’s audiovisual work

photographic works, it’s that they don’t sit quietly.

is often amplified by climactic music and repetitive

Stark in their black-and-white poignancy, they are also

refrains. Her photography, on the other hand, has

melancholic. If you were to embody her work in sound,

moved in another direction in recent years. It is anti-

it would be a loud whisper, both intimate and jarring.

climactic. There’s a raw barrenness to it, as it zeroes in

Yet unlike her video installations, which are strikingly

on the transparency of the skin and its transformations:

replete with trance-like song, chanting and often,

age spots, wrinkles and tattoos, in the raw, human

prayer, still photography is silent.

element of portraiture.

I remember the first time I saw one of her videos. It was 10 years ago, in New York and ‘Passage’ (2001), a collaboration with Philip Glass, was filmed among vast, sweeping stretches of desert with groups of men and women, all in black, who cast dancing shadows against the gleaming ochre sand. The men were carrying a shrouded body and the women were kneeling in a circle, bobbing up and down frantically. They looked like they were praying until the camera zoomed in on their hands, scraping at the sand to collectively dig a hole. The image was as stunning as it was disturbing.

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Shirin Neshat, Gizbasti, from The Home of My Eyes series. Courtesy of the artist and Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels

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As I discuss this with her, Neshat’s dramatic eyes,

“It’s true that I constantly seek to be challenged and

outlined in black, and her beautiful, ornate jewellery

pushed to the limits of what I’m comfortable with, I need

remind me of when I first met her all those years ago.

to experiment. It’s a process that brings me outside of

“There’s something disturbing about the passage of

cultural norms and my own identity. One example is

time and my new work has to do with this, with humanity.

how for the past five years, she’s left her comfort zone

Aesthetically, they are similar to what I’ve done in the

to work on a documentary about Umm Kulthum, both

past in that they retain a certain spiritual, emotional

a completely different medium and area of the world

element,” she says. Her latest commissioned work will

than she’s used to. “You just have to be courageous

be exhibited at the inauguration of the new, exciting

enough to take the leap,” she explains.

YARAT contemporary art space in Baku, Azerbaijan this March, meant to showcase the country’s nascent

She then points out a photograph of a young Azeri girl.

art scene.

Even though the image is black and white, you can see the wisps of her hair are blonde, so light that her

I cannot help thinking back to her ‘Women of Allah’

eyebrows are barely visible, and deep brown eyes

series (1994-7) in comparison, which very few people

contrasting against baby skin. She has her hands

in the art world have missed, given the deeply political

folded against her chest. It is interesting that Neshat

and provocative images of veiled women against

chose this image to examine, given that it couldn’t be

barrels of guns, their hands and faces emblazoned

more different from the dark, older and more Middle

with calligraphic poetry. There was so much defiance

Eastern-looking women that normally dominate her

and desire in their postures. “These were women

pieces. “The girl has an aura about her, it’s fleeting,

committed to the revolution,” Neshat recalls.

uncanny and haunting. Sometimes it’s due to the magic of the camera, the moment, but I also like to

Now, if her references are less political, they are no less

engage with my characters on a deeper level, which

personal. In Baku, she was reminded of Iran. “I went last

comes from my filmmaking background.”

March to accompany my husband, who is a filmmaker and I’ve been back twice since. Like the Iranians, the Azeris celebrate the first day of spring and in some areas, they still speak Farsi. We look so much like each other,” she breaks off, a bit emotional — 1996 was the last time she had been back to Iran after the revolution, forced into exile in the US since, where her father had initially sent her to study. “This series is a tribute to the different communities in Azerbaijan, I wanted to work with the idea that the country is at the crossroads of different nations and people, from the Turks and Armenians to the Georgians and Persians,” she continues. opposite page: Shirin Neshat, Alison 1, from the Toledo series, 2013, silver gelatin print.

Copyright Shirin Neshat.

Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels

right: Shirin Neshat, Javid, from The Home of My Eyes series, 2015, silver gelatin print and ink.

Copyright Shirin Neshat.

Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels

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I FIND COLOUR IS SEDUCTIVE BUT DISTRACTIVE. I LIKE TO WORK WITH BLACK AND WHITE FOR THE CONTRAST, SINCE MY WORK IS ABOUT CONTRASTS, BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN, VIOLENCE AND SPIRITUALITY. IT HELPS BUILD THE NOTION OF OPPOSITIONS. AND IT’S MORE MINIMALIST TOO

The most haunting vision in this series though, which

Also in a similar vein to her signature photography,

Neshat has called ‘The Home of My Eyes’, must be that

she has cursive Farsi superimposed on their bodies,

of a mature woman, who could be in her 60s, and can

but this time, it has a fade-out effect that almost

only see through one eye. The other is barely open.

makes it look digitised, rather than hand-written

Her hands are placed firmly on her sides — perhaps

calligraphy. It’s a wonderful contrast, the body that

haunting is the word I’ve been searching for from the

goes through its process of ageing, the body that

very beginning. What adds to it is the way these 63

dies, juxtaposed with writing that is timeless. “It is

portraits will be installed.

an approach that is ingrained in my practice,” she admits, “though the decision wasn’t strategic. The

“I will have them on two opposite walls — you also need

handwriting was lighter this time, because I find it

to think about the architecture of the space, it looks like

tends to overpower the image.”

a chapel inside — like a collage, to create this tapestry of different looks and generations of people that I cast.

“Writing is integral to Persian art, which incorporates

They’re putting their gazes on you. There’s something

both text and image, such as in the miniatures or

chilling about that, their gazes haunting you.”

Islamic architecture, which often has Qur’anic texts next to decorative motifs. And the writing is actually

So Neshat has succeeded in redirecting the gaze

made up of answers to the same set of questions I

toward the art from the viewer. “It’s like a conversational

asked all my Azeri characters, related to what home

piece with the characters,” she adds. Interestingly, she

meant to them, mixed with poetry by Nizami Ganjavi.”

never says subjects. Maybe it is because no matter

Ganjavi was a great romantic Persian poet who lived

how bare their appearances and expressions are,

in Azerbaijan.

staunch even, their gestures aren’t. Staged and at times seemingly rebellious, Neshat experiments with

I ask Neshat if she thinks she will ever move to colour

different hand postures. “I’m interested in how these

in her photography. “I find colour is seductive but

bodily gestures express emotions, even a patriotic

distractive. I like to work with black and white for the

or religious element. It comes from my residency

contrast, since my work is about contrasts, between

in Toledo, when I discovered El Greco’s paintings

men and women, violence and spirituality. It helps build

and studied them, how he exaggerated gestures by

the notion of oppositions. And it’s more minimalist too.”

elongating the hands. I brought a few back and had my characters pose like in the paintings.”

Stripped down in this way, her subjects may have the sober, almost naked look of minimalism, but the

Shirin Neshat, Nazakat, from The Home of My Eyes series, 2015, silver gelatin print and ink. Copyright Shirin Neshat. Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels

work, as a whole, is packed with dynamic, complex meanings, notions of power and antagonism, the strength of humanity and the frailty of our existence.

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ART

UNBRIDLED GROWTH: ART IN THE GULF REGION FROM THESIGER TO TODAY

by Danna Lorch

As the gentleman adventurer Wilfred Thesiger trekked

When the conceptual artist Hassan Sharif founded

across the Arabian Peninsula from 1945-50 he shot

Emirates Fine Art Society in Sharjah in the 1980’s, art

portraits of many of the people he met along the

from the Gulf beyond traditional Arabic calligraphy was

way. For decades afterwards, there was a prevailing

not yet valued as an asset by the general public. Some

Orientalist idea that inhabitants of the Gulf should

affluent individuals imported European masterworks,

serve as subjects of art rather than artists themselves.

but these were two-dimensional landscape paintings

Noor Ali Rashid, the self-taught photographer who

set in gilded frames. Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim recalls

captured the discovery of oil in film and served as

the Society’s 1986 group exhibition, when authorities

royal photographer to Sheikh Zayed for many years,

cordoned off his abstract paintings because they were

was perhaps the best-known and best-loved artist

considered so shocking.

through the 60’s and 70’s.

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Gathering at the Emirates Fine Art Society, 1984. Image courtesy of Hassan Sharif

Christie’s opened its doors in the region in 2006 with the first sale of Arab, Islamic, and Iranian art, setting the baseline for pricing and big names in the market.

Today Sotheby’s and Bonhams also have a presence in the Gulf, with local auction houses like Arabian Wings in Saudi Arabia beginning to bring in consistent results as well.

Beginning in 2007, the Alserkal Family in Dubai

As there were not yet university programs dedicated

repurposed a former marble factory into gallery

to arts in the region, the majority of the artists of

spaces and incubated fledgling galleries like Ayyam

this earlier generation grew their practices simply

and Gallery Isabelle Van Den Eynde, which today are

through community and instinct, supplemented by the

respected names known around the world. The area

occasional art history book brought back from a trip

is set to double in size in 2015. Art Dubai debuted the

overseas. An exception is Dr. Najat Maki (whose work

same year as the first major art fair in the entirety of

will be featured in the 2015 UAE Pavilion at the Venice

Asia, opening with 40 galleries and 8,000 visitors.

Biennale) who was the first woman in the UAE to

Today, the fair enters its 9th edition, with more than 90

receive a scholarship to study art abroad back in 1977.

galleries and 25,000 anticipated visitors, numbers that are symbolic of its role as a connector for regional and

The late 90’s and early 2000’s saw the establishment

international artists, collectors, and galleries.

of galleries, which not only introduced visitors to art from the Gulf, but also served as community hubs for

Sharjah Art Foundation has become known as a

discussions, film screenings, and other events that

powerhouse for meticulous curatorial practices and a

celebrated Arab culture and laid the groundwork for a

meeting place for artist residencies and collaborations,

growing appreciation for regional art and artists. These

while in Jeddah, Athr Art, which held its first young artists

pioneering gallery directors paved the way for the

exhibition in 2011, has served as part gallery, part artist

Middle East’s art market that we know today. Among

incubator and education space. Sheikha Al Mayassa

the strongest of these spaces still in operation are

bint Hamad Al Thani, who serves as Chair of Qatar

Dar Al Funoon (Kuwait), Al Bareh Art Gallery (Bahrain),

Museums Authority has helped to put Doha on the map

Green Art Gallery (Dubai), and The Third Line (Dubai).

as a hub for cutting edge contemporary art and helped to introduce the region to public and street art.

Art is always a reflection of the times and art in the Gulf has expanded as audaciously and rapidly as the region

The younger generation of artists are grounded in

itself in the 21st century. Powerful collectors such as

the Gulf culturally, but are also citizens of the world.

Qatar’s H.E. Sheikh Hassan bin Mohammed bin Ali Al

They have grown up with access to strong university

Thani (whose private collection formed the basis for

programs, galleries, residency funding, patronage

Mathaf), Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi (Sharjah) and Ramin

opportunities, and a thriving press. To recognize the

Salsali (Dubai) began to support the establishment of

rich, multi-faceted climate of art in today’s Gulf region,

museums and foundations while nurturing patronage

Selections has profiled 8 of the many contemporary

relationships with artists.

artists in practice in the pages to follow

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ART

TRACES OF TRADITION

by India Stoughton

One of Qatar’s most prominent artists and mentors, Ali Hassan creates thoroughly contemporary work rooted in ancient traditions

Prominent Qatari artist Ali Hassan has a special

Hassan’s calligraphy is a celebration of the beauty

relationship with the flowing curve and staccato dot

and flexibility of the Arabic script. Whether executed

of the Arabic letter ‘noon’. For decades, the simple

in colour or black and white, ink, paint or ceramics,

form has featured again and again in the artist’s

it evokes traditional Islamic art while retaining a

paintings, sketches and even sculptures, a repetitive

contemporary twist, a freedom of line and informal

motif that ties together an extraordinarily broad body

flexibility that conjure up graffiti as readily as they

of work. Hassan is a self-taught artist who works in

do Quranic illumination. His unusual technique of

a wide variety of media. He studied history at Qatar

combining calligraphic and figural forms to create semi-

University, but began producing fine art related to

abstract compositions also helps to set his work apart

his love of calligraphy, which he first learnt from his

from more traditionally-inflected decorative pieces.

Arabic teacher.

“The East is beautiful, with its sun, nature and colours,” ‘Traces’, a solo show of Hassan’s latest work, runs

Hassan says of his inspiration. “These things are stuck

at Anima Gallery from 15 February to 30 April. It’s a

in my memory. I watch and observe them. I store them

chance for local audiences to enjoy work by one of the

in my memory. When I come to my studio, I record and

most influential figures on the local scene. Alongside

document these observations and transfer them with

his innovative work as an artist, Hassan has served as

my style and feelings.”

a mentor for generations of local youngsters. He was founder and chairman of both Doha’s Youth Creative Art Center and the Girls’ Creativity Center.

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Ali Hassan, Village of the Poets II, 2014, acrylic on canvas, 216 × 164 cm

ART

Working in acrylic, watercolour, ceramics, wood,

more complex calligraphic pieces, Hassan produces

pastels, pencil, collage and mixed media, and most

bold figural paintings and mixed media works. These

recently also creating multimedia installations, Hassan

bear little resemblance to the controlled detail of his

is unusually flexible when it comes to material, but his

calligraphic compositions. Vivid colours and bold,

themes remain focused on the Arabic language. As

blocky forms evoke modernist European painters,

well as the beauty and spirituality of Quranic passages,

while bright collages capture Eastern scenes in highly

he takes his inspiration from traditional folk tales, such

textured cutouts, some marked with traces of the

as the One Thousand and One Nights, using extracts

Arabic alphabet.

of the texts in his work.

Hassan’s constant drive to experiment and his habit The thematic consistency helps to make his work

of working in multiple media simultaneously ensure

identifiable in-spite of his versatility. As well as

that his work continues to boast a breadth and

depictions of the letter ‘noon’ in seemingly every

freshness that often elude artists with his decades

conceivable shape, size, colour and medium, and his

of experience.

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ART

AN UNTAMEABLE PASSION

by Iain Akerman

Qatari artist Amal Al Aathem is inspired by the greatness of our feelings, with women placed at the centre of the world

Amal Al Aathem once said that “the brush is my

as she is the pillar of every house, the shade under

scream, my silent and my peaceful battle”. It was her

the heat, the moist in the drought and the light in the

way of expressing dreams of personal liberty within

dark,” says Al Aathem, who studied interior design in

a complex cultural tradition; of passing a critical eye

Kuwait before taking on a number of governmental

over the fate of women in the

positions. “We should see society

Middle East.

as a mechanism that enables us to reach our goals in the right way

Born and raised in Qatar, the mixed

and not as an obstacle or a hurdle.”

media artist places the ‘woman’ at the centre of the world, and it is

In her work the woman takes

through the image of that woman

many nuanced forms, but usually

that questions of individualism,

as a silhouette, while Al Aathem’s

conflict,

and

paintings are dominated by earthy

society can be confronted. Women

tones and dramatic moments of

and

hidden

colour. There is an emphasis on the

“distance,

abaya and symbolism, although her

avoidance and weakness”, says

art remains cryptic and enigmatic.

Al Aathem, with her paintings

Often abstract and devoid of

expressing her “burdens as a

realist representation, she leans

woman and as a human”.

towards

inner

femininity

behind

curtains

negativity remain of

works

of

installation

and the contemporary, with her “My brush spreads its way through

2013 exhibition ‘A Bridge to the

the canvas to light up certain aspects that could be

Moon’, exploring old philosophies that link the moon

ignored or neglected by society, therefore we set up

with women. In a series of 20 paintings, the moon

solutions and modern techniques to overcome battles

represented the centre of the universe, women the

and I use the woman as a sign of strength and power,

centre of society.

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“The feelings now are much stronger,” she replies. “I feel that a volcano has started to erupt inside me and I have to get these feelings across through my paintings, after all my passion cannot be tamed. There are by all means many challenges as I am a woman from the Gulf trying to send my message across globally. And the cases I display are brave yet not controversially odd and it is within the limits of society.”

“Painting represents a summary of my dreams and my aims,” she adds. “It also represents a beautiful barrier against defeat. That is why every painting represents an initiation of a new light and dream that guides the soul in ways that accomplish my being and a contribution to building the universe.”

MY BRUSH SPREADS ITS WAY THROUGH THE CANVAS TO LIGHT UP CERTAIN ASPECTS THAT COULD BE IGNORED OR NEGLECTED BY SOCIETY

Currently working on the production of a solo exhibition and another show alongside an unnamed global artist, she is experimenting with new media and different concepts, although she will continue to deal with self-dialogue, dreams, the universe and femininity.

Are her feelings of female liberty as strong today as they were when she held her first exhibition in Bahrain in 2000?

opposite page: Amal Al Aathem

top & right: Mixed media, 130 × 130 cm

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ART

KNOCKING ON HEAVEN’S DOOR

by Maymanah Farhat

The work of Jeddah-based artist Rashed Al Shashai examines societal shifts and the crisis of spirituality in the modern age

A significant conceptual art movement has emerged in

For Jeddah-based artist Rashed Al Shashai, found

Saudi Arabia over the past 10 years, specifically among

objects and appropriated imagery can be reconfigured

young artists who seek to explore the transformation

in ways that allow the viewer to identify societal shifts,

of local society due to the onslaught of globalisation

providing a ‘semantic field’ through which to navigate

and the rise of new media and mass consumption.

the potency of such phenomena in daily life. Although

Employing alternative forms of art despite Saudi

Al Shashai addresses local audiences by situating his

Arabia’s dominant history of painting and sculpture,

works within a familiar context through recognisable

many seem to be asking: How does visual culture

elements, the philosophical underpinnings of his

reflect such changes? As artists capsize the art object,

installations relate to universal themes such as the

they question its status and function in the 21st century.

intensifying role of media as a socialising agent or the crisis of spirituality in the modern age.

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In ‘The View’ (2013), for example, partially open

choices that might lead to certain futures, such as

shutters reveal a newscast that occupies the span

professional careers or levels of political militancy.

of a large window. The dim picture of a screen

As viewers are shown the steps that result in various

appears between its slates, as the soft glow of a

paths by selecting sections of each piece, an

television has replaced the scenery of the exterior

emphasis is placed on how minor decisions can result

world and the hum of an anchor’s broadcast stands

in considerable consequences. In ‘Shortcut’ (2014) and

in for the ambient sounds of an interior setting. The

‘Inevitable’ (2014), the artist compares the origins of

artist’s commentary is twofold as he recreates the

Muslim theology with the diverse interpretations that

sensations of transmitted images that now define

have characterised the evolution of Islamic thought

ordinary experience while also scrutinising the

and governance since the founding of Islam in the

veracity of compiled narratives.

seventh century. The mounted works are composed of the covers of Islamic books against which LED

Although similar in its physical structure, the large-

light displays are placed. The illuminated, centralised

scale work ‘Heaven’s Door’ (2014), presents a counter

symbols of the works are attributed to the Prophet

vantage point. An elaborate aluminium light box

Mohammad, who utilised simple sand drawings to

contains arched stained glass windows, the ornate

demonstrate the teachings of Islam to his followers.

forms of which are made from kitchen tools such as

‘Shortcut’ shows a direct path to spiritual fulfilment

pots, colanders, and baskets. Replicating a facet of

while ‘Inevitable’ outlines the many shortcomings of

religious architecture with cooking objects, Al Shashai

deviating from piety. As he adopts the technology

prompts the viewer to reconsider the definition of

and format of a commercial advertisement, Al Shashai

sacred space by pointing to the moments of divine

advocates a return to basics despite the purported

evocation that can be found in everyday acts, the

growth of ideas and the ideological offshoots that can

preparation of food serving as an analogy for the

inadvertently produce divisions. At the same time, the

sense of spiritual sustenance that can be obtained

artist’s use of the historic symbols draws a powerful

through religious beliefs and practices.

connection between art and social development in terms that resonate with his audience.

Al Shashai’s latest body of work, ‘Section 11’ (2014), indicates a continued investigation of social themes

In Saudi Arabia, artists have found that viewers have

with the added component of a pedagogical approach

been slow to respond to new forms of artistic media,

to engaging viewers. Inspired by his work as an arts

and often remain skeptical of conceptual art in

instructor at a school for gifted children in Jeddah, the

particular. Through his work as an artist, arts educator,

artist has created several new installations that tackle

and the former founder and director of the Tasami

such issues as religious tolerance and free will through

Center for Visual Arts, Al Shashai has approached his

the assemblage of popular objects and imagery.

audience in ways that integrate contemporary art as a

Stacked coffee cups, Looney Tunes characters,

vital aspect of local visual culture.

ancient pictographs, and other disparate items are brought together to underscore the complexities of maintaining traditions in a society that must adapt to a swiftly changing world. ‘I Chose’ (2014), a series of origami fortune-telling games, contrasts the life

Rashed Al Shashai, Heaven’s Doors, 300 × 400 cm, aluminum lightbox, strainers and plastic plates, 2014

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HEAVY IS THE HEAD

by Marwan Naaman

Saudi Arabian artist Abdullah Qandeel mixes passion, power and scandal on his expressive canvasses

Abdullah Qandeel made international headlines at the

Hotel scandal aside, Qandeel, now in his late 20s, is

end of last year when he was arrested in New York

one of Saudi Arabia’s most promising young artists.

for vandalising his hotel room. The Saudi Arabian

In September and October of last year he had a

artist ended up spending the night in jail, but was

successful solo show, ‘The Scrutineer’, at Manhattan’s

unapologetic about his behaviour. “I don’t think they

Judith Charles Gallery, and that same October, his

like art,” Qandeel said of the managing staff at 6

brilliant painting ‘The Enemy Within’ sold at Sotheby’s

Columbus hotel where he was staying.

for $209,000.

What happened went something like this: On Halloween night, Qandeel and his friends — many of them dressed up in costumes — were celebrating the ghoulish holiday in Qandeel’s hotel room when the artist spontaneously decided to paint a large mural on one of the room’s walls. The next day, 1 November, Qandeel went down to the reception at 1pm to extend his stay — in a paint-splattered bathrobe — prompting the alarmed hotel staff to call the police.

Upon his arrest, Qandeel’s lawyer Sal Stratzzullo made the following declaration: “If a mural by my client is vandalism, then Michelangelo is guilty of defacing the Sistine Chapel!” The artist himself estimated that his mural was easily worth $1.5 million, revealing that it was still adorning the walls of his former hotel room.

“They have not repainted it because it is so beautiful,” Qandeel said.

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MY ART IS AN EXTENSION OF MY CURIOSITY. I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING WHERE IT TAKES ME NEXT

The paintings that Qandeel creates are big and bold,

The painting that recently sold at Sotheby’s, ‘The

and they often explode with overpowering colours. With

Enemy Within’, is a rare self-portrait in which Qandeel

each of his emotional strokes, Qandeel lays bare his

peers out at the viewer with the naive curiosity of a

raw feelings on canvas. In fact, to understand Qandeel’s

young artist in the early stages of his career, exploring

paintings, it’s important to look at the struggles within

his artistic talents, questioning his belief system and

contemporary Saudi society, and the tension between

acknowledging his own limitations. In another painting,

Saudi Arabia’s ancestral heritage and the current,

‘Heavy Is The Head’, the crown seems to nod to the

seemingly unstoppable trend of globalisation sweeping

privilege and responsibility Qandeel feels as an artist

the desert kingdom. These tensions are expressed

and as a proponent of cultural change.

in Qandeel’s recent work, most notably in ‘The Race’, which explores the multiple metaphors of race between

“My eyes are yet eager to see more,” Qandeel says. “I

individuals and nations as well as the wider concept of

shall continue to wander the earth seeking inspiration.

race and nationality. Another large-scale work, ‘The

My art is an extension of my curiosity. I look forward to

Brave Game Changer’, is described by the artist as “an

seeing where it takes me next.” And this writer looks

exploration of degenerative honesty”.

forward to seeing how Qandeel will express new emotions and experiences in his upcoming work.

Qandeel himself embodies the duality within Saudi society. He was born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and he moved to the UK at age 10 to attend boarding school, completing his A-Levels at London’s Mander Portman Woodward. He then enrolled in the prestigious Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in September 2006, before going to college in Lawrence, Kansas, in the US. After university, Qandeel moved to New York, and he eventually set up his painting studio in Soho, before returning to Saudi Arabia to reconnect with his roots.

His time at Sandhurst appears to have left a particularly strong imprint on Qandeel: he always stands upright, seemingly at the ready, and possesses a strong, direct,

opposite page: Abdullah Qandeel

top: Abdullah Qandeel, You Can Give But You Cannot Take Love, 2014, oil, gesso and acrylic on Belgian linen, 74 3/4 × 145 3/4 in, 189.9 × 370.2 cm

right: Abdullah Qandeel, FU Type of Humility, 2014, oil, gesso and acrylic on Belgian linen, 31 1/2 × 31 1/2 in, 80 × 80 cm

quasi-military gaze.

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ART

SOUNDS OF THE UNIVERSE

by Iain Akerman

Emirati conceptual artist Mohammed Kazem explores abstract ideas about the body, movement, space and sound

It was once said of Mohammed Kazem that he wishes

Alongside artists such as Hassan Sharif (a mentor to

to “capture the intangible and make it tangible”.

Kazem) and Abdullah Al Saadi, Kazem is considered

Light, movement — but none more so perhaps than

one of the ‘Five’ — an informal group of Emirati artists

sound — are recreated in a way that gives them

at the forefront of conceptual and interdisciplinary

structure and dimension.

art in the UAE. His work explores abstract ideas about the body, movement, space and the elements,

For Kazem, there is such a thing as the sound of an

while he remains fascinated by the collection

angle, or the sound of light as it passes through a

and documentation of seemingly unimportant

room. Sound is even, as Christopher Lord, the artistic

objects — objects that reveal “traces of our present,

director of Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde, wrote:

within a particular environment”.

“Kazem’s self-made catchall term to describe some

His ‘Directions’ series

otherwise hidden, inner

explores

kernel of his experience.”

human

issues

of

relationships,

identity and alienation, It is within his ‘scratch’

both from a geographic

paintings

and

that

sound,

a

psychological

light and movement are

angle, with ‘Directions

embodied on the page,

2005/2013’,

with

example, recreating the

his

exhibition,

most

recent

‘Sound

of

Objects’, realised during

experience

for of

being

lost at sea. Based on his

his residency at the Watermill Center in New York.

own experience of falling from a boat whilst fishing

Given access to an extensive collection of Indonesian

with friends, he was “powerless against the might of

masks, African figurines and other ethnographic

mother nature” until he was eventually rescued after

objects, he produced braille-like, figurative scratches

an hour-and-a-half alone in the sea. The immersive

within simple silhouettes. Scratches that describe what

installation featured a 360-degree projection of the

Kazem refers to as the ‘sound’ of the object.

sea and GPS locations within an enclosed chamber, ‘symbolically breaking down geographical borders and intangible barriers between people’.

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opposite page: Mohammed Kazem, 2013

above: Directions 2005/2013, 2013 (detail). Video installation, approximately 400 × 900 × 900 cm

He adds: “Art can be a message of peace. Selecting elements from nature and others that are man-made to produce a work of art is an act of freedom we engage

“The elements of time and location play a major part

in to rid ourselves from the prejudice and narrow-

in determining our personalities and identities, but

mindedness of a particular way of thinking. Amongst

is the human being destined to belong to a certain

other things, art is way to understand others across the

geographic location?” asks Kazem, who represented

barrier of language. We can put our faith in a shared

the UAE at the Venice Biennale in 2013. “Are we

human essence to overcome the dilemma of doubt

beings capable of change, crossing borders, and

and fear of others. Through art, all languages can be

becoming global and universal citizens? Are we

one, new, ever-changing language.”

able to communicate and adapt to other people even if they were different in shape, skin colour, or

‘Sound of Objects’ will be at this year’s Art Dubai,

culture? By also exploring the state of someone who

while the curator of Sharjah Biennial, Eungie Joo,

wants to remain unmoved, the work in fact posits

has selected two series of Kazem’s scratches — his

a rather alarming proposition: that clinging to stale

recent ‘Sound of Angles’ and a 10-metre roll fully

ideas leads to conflict and violence.”

scratched — for this year’s event.

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ART

AN AUDIBLE EXCEPTION TO A RULE

by Arie Amaya-Akkermans

Bahraini musicologist and artist Hasan Hujairi experiments with the boundaries between traditional instruments, contemporary sound and immersive environments

The beginnings of sound art in the West were modest

In the Middle East, few artists have been attracted

but influential: an interdisciplinary practice born out of

to the format due to the problematic nature of the

artists’ interest with the aesthetic possibilities of sound,

medium, preferring to work with more conventional

as opposed to music. Names like John Cage and

tools. The Bahraini musicologist/artist, Hasan Hujairi,

Nam June Paik resonate today as pioneers in a world

is the audible exception to the rule. Since he first

where the boundaries of art were dissolved and the

exhibited his complex sonic installations at Al Riwaq

interest of a whole generation shifted

towards

experience

and ordinary objects.

Sound art, however, remained in the background of other artistic

practices

such

as

sculpture, video, performance and conceptual art, as the

WHILE SOUND ART HAS STILL NOT REACHED THE MAINSTREAM COLLECTING AUDIENCE, A NUMBER OF RECENT MAJOR MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS AND PRIZES HAVE BEEN DEVOTED TO SOUND ARTISTS

ephemeral notion of sound

Art Space in Bahrain, Hujairi has experimented with the boundaries between traditional instruments, sound

and

contemporary immersive

environments. In his ‘Manama and Other Spices’, the artist set to record a sonic map of the old souk in Manama intertwined with traditional oud

resisted commercialisation. While sound art has still

being played over street noise, but stayed away from

not reached the mainstream collecting audience, a

a compositional structure. That was the beginning of a

number of recent major museum exhibitions and prizes

question which has dominated his practice, and now

have been devoted to sound artists, attempting to

his research at Seoul National University in Korea: is

stretch the already porous limits of the contemporary.

there such a thing as a non-Western contemporary?

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Investigating the work of Arab composers, contrasted against the notion of sound in art derived from live sculpture and post-industrial music, Hujairi’s sound sculptures postulate — or attempt to — a model for postOriental sound (art), articulating the social, ecological and architectural concerns that motivated sound art in the first place. The artist’s participation in the Sharjah and Vancouver biennials attest to the interest of the art world in this practice, strongly driven by art from alternative geographies seeking to decentralise art from the hegemony of visual culture and the history of the image, which is largely dominated by Western methods and prejudices. How to negotiate between tradition and the global aesthetic? Re-enacting the sounds of the Arab world from a meticulously conceptual perspective, Hujairi approaches a local modernity from the vantage point of its own future.

Where to locate the boundary between music and sound? A question that did not trouble the early sound artists, returns in sculptural form in the subtle works of a Bahraini artist. While translating into Arabic the work of John Cage, the godfather of sound art and the minimal movement, Hujairi carves out a place beyond public art to explore what it would mean to be a sound artist in the Arab world. A question still remains: is this collectible? If so, what exactly is? The same question was addressed a decade ago to performance artists who now have their own segment at the newly established ‘Live’ section at Frieze Art Fair.

Will sound art become the new readymade? It is too early to tell, but the South Korea-based Bahraini artist will certainly be among early pioneers in a region still struggling to dig out of the future the impetus of a modern project that will radically change a tragic past.

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Mohammed Al-Kouh, The Rolls Royce Bulding

ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE FUTURE-NOW

by Arie Amaya-Akkermans

Through hand-coloured gelatin prints Mohammed Alkouh presents the early modern architecture of Kuwait City as future monuments for a distant past

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Mohammed Al-Kouh, Cinema Qarnata

ART

The modern history of the Arabian Gulf is said

Driving around Kuwait with his camera, Alkouh’s

to have begun with the independence of the

project ‘Tomorrow’s Past’ places the experience of

small tribal confederations at the end of the

the present not in a grand past or in a remote myth of

colonial period in the 1970s, followed by rapid

foundations. This subtle archaeology digs out the past

modernisation propelled by the oil economy.

as something familiar, tangible, fresh and warm. The

However, this region — consisting largely of port

cinematic treatment of colour allows for the imagination

cities — played an important role as a crossroad for

to evoke the spectacular, hidden behind layers of

trade between East and West since antiquity, and

dust, fragmentation and ultimately oblivion. The focus

began articulating its modern project coeval with

here is not in physical structures but in personal and

the height of the industrial era; the age of concrete

national experiences of particular sites and how this

and steel and grand scale utopian architecture.

experience transformed the local consciousness. The shocking contrast between Alkouh’s coloured prints

The work of Mohammed Alkouh, a self-taught

and the state of the buildings today — some of them

Kuwaiti artist, aims to present the early modern

already demolished — is a visual document that links

architecture of Kuwait City as future monuments for

different eras in a continuous flow.

a distant past. The ‘modern’ is viewed here not as a starting point, but as a relic or a ruin.

THE SHOCKING CONTRAST BETWEEN ALKOUH’S COLOURED PRINTS AND THE STATE OF THE BUILDINGS TODAY — SOME OF THEM ALREADY DEMOLISHED — IS A VISUAL DOCUMENT THAT LINKS DIFFERENT ERAS IN A CONTINUOUS FLOW. The hand-coloured gelatin prints appear spurious and

While the technique is not new, and it has been at the

nostalgic, almost apocryphal, reconstructing untold

centre of artistic interventions looking into the recent

stories that remain suspended through derelict and

past of the Arab region — reconstructing forgotten

abandoned structures from Kuwait’s Golden Age

images from Egypt and the Levant in order to present

of the 1950s and 1960s, when several architectural

alternative versions of the 20th century in a region

landmarks were erected, not as monuments but as

beset by internal turmoil and disappointment with

functional structures that played a key role in the

the modern era — Alkouh’s interest lies in an specific

country’s social history. Theatres, cinemas, stadiums,

subject matter: the untold urban history of the Gulf,

commercial alleys in the style of Levantine architecture

showcasing the transition into the modern state not as a

and blocks of apartments shaped after the ideas

single interruption in a world pre-modern and obsolete,

of architects such as Le Corbusier and Niemeyer.

but as an organic development. The curiosity of the

For Alkouh, the neglect of these now monumental

artist turns our gaze towards this transition, neither

buildings demolished an important part of the country’s

backwards nor forwards, but moving simultaneously in

heritage and left a vacuum of identity in which young

different directions. These monuments of the present

generations find themselves stranded between an

constitute an archaeology of the future-now.

ancient past and an uncertain future.

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A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS

by Danna Lorch

The work of Emirati artist Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim is rooted in the geography of Khorfakkan

As a land artist, Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim is deeply

Although the forms Ibrahim employs might be simplistic,

grounded in the geography of his native Khorfakkan,

his work itself is far from basic. As the entirety of his

a mountainous coastal region that is part of the

practice is interconnected with the changing UAE

emirate of Sharjah. His home is the constant, silent

seasons and natural topography, there is an inherent

subject in every work he conceives, a practice that

state of listening that accompanies everything he

grows increasingly challenging as rapid development

creates. Ibrahim’s works on paper are often compared

changes the country’s physical landscape each day.

to the American artist Keith Haring’s characteristic use

Born in 1962, he is a founding member of the Emirates

of symbols in murals, and he is sometimes referred to

Fine Art Society, a collective established in the 1980’s

affectionately as “Keith Haring in the desert”.

at a time when there was neither money nor audience

His work is terrifically primal,

to support the growth of art in

dancing and darting within a

the UAE, still decades before

trope

the region’s entry into the

and indecipherable codes that

global art market.

frequently allude to tensions and

of

archetypal

shapes

dichotomies. In no other piece Ibrahim works from a home

is this more evident then ‘Male,

studio space in Khorfakkan

Female’ his six-foot tall 2001

which includes a garden

clay sculpture that examines the

where he follows the growing

interconnectedness of the sexes.

season with the intuition of a farmer, planting indigenous seedlings, watching for them to sprout leaves, waiting for the leaves to fall to the ground, then fermenting the yield into tan clay to be sculpted and baked. When viewed in a gallery or museum context, his sculptures might give off the appearance of archaeological relics.

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Mohammad Ahmed Ibrahim. ‘Male, Female’, clay, paper, leaves, and glue, 2001. Image courtesy of the artist and Cuadro Art

ART

In 2014 Cuadro Art in Dubai presented ‘Primordial’, a landmark solo show of Ibrahim’s work which introduced a new audience to ‘Stones Wrapped in Copper Wire’, a 2007 installation which brought portions of the mountain that sits beyond the artist’s studio into the traditionally sterile and largely artificial gallery space.

To construct the installation, Ibrahim made a ritual of taking an early evening hike up the mountain to select a rock, then would carefully wrap it in copper wire, as though sealing the history and collective consciousness of the changing land into its form.

In other cases he has painted rocks and then returned them to their original position in nature, quietly constructing monuments to memory without the need for external documentation or validation. This attitude is consistent with his stubborn insistence on keeping his day job as a hospital technician regardless of his artistic successes.

Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim’s work was showcased top: Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, ‘Khorfakkan’, wood, paper, and glue, 2007.

Courtesy of the artist and Cuadro Art

above right: Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, ‘Stones Wrapped with Copper Wire’, stones and copper wire, 2007.

Courtesy of the artist and Cuadro Art

at the 2009 Venice Biennale and was awarded the first prize for sculpture at the Sharjah Biennial in both 2001 and 1999. He is participating in the 2015 A.i.R programme in affiliation with Art Dubai and has a solo show opening at Cuadro Art in Dubai in March, 2015.

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FROM TALLINN WITH LOVE

by Arie Amaya-Akkermans

The young Estonian gallery Temnikova & Kasela is to make its Gulf debut at Art Dubai, bringing with it the work of post-conceptual painter Kaido Ole

With so little known about the Baltic region in the wider art world, the visionary Olga Temnikova, one of the partners at Temnikova & Kasela, a young gallery founded in 2010 in Estonia’s capital Tallinn, took her curiosity about the Middle East one step further and it is now slated to be present at the region’s leading fair, Art Dubai. Temnikova & Kasela will be bringing work by the prolific Estonian post-conceptual painter Kaido Ole, playing around in slightly surreal visual context this time, producing work to be showcased exclusively at Art Dubai. Selections spoke with Temnikova about her interest in the Middle East and the meeting points between Eastern Europe and the Arab world in contemporary art.

It was September 2013 when the young Estonian gallery Temnikova & Kasela appeared for the first time in the Middle East, almost casually, at the inaugural edition of Istanbul’s young fair, Art International. With a display of colourful paintings, objects and artist’s books by Merike Estna, one of Estonia’s leading painters, its booth was an informal affair that took the public by surprise. With the expansion of international institutions and the growth of a collector base more and more interested in a global, borderless art speaking to a cosmopolitan audience, there is a meeting place for art from the most distant corners of the world.

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above left: Olga Temnikova

opposite page: Kaido Ole, Small Still Life with Flabellum, 50 × 88 cm

ART

OLGA TEMNIKOVA TOOK HER CURIOSITY ABOUT THE MIDDLE EAST ONE STEP FURTHER AND IT IS NOW SLATED TO BE PRESENT AT THE REGION’S LEADING FAIR, ART DUBAI

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above: Still Life in Memory of C.L., Carl Lewis, 100 × 90 cm

opposite page: Kaido Ole, Social Still Life in Darkness II, 190 × 160 cm

SELECTIONS: Where did your interest in Art Dubai start?

Olga Temnikova: I always looked at the Middle East as a natural partner for Eastern Europe as the artistic practices from our region share an ubiquitous position in relation to the hegemony of Western art history. With the geographical shift of the contemporary art map, we have a variety of exciting content and our regional stories are still in wait, in store, yet to be told.

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LOOKING AT ART IN ESTONIA OR THE WIDER BALTIC REGION — OR EVEN WIDER, THE WHOLE OF EASTERN EUROPE — IS TO SEE THE DIVERSE HISTORY OF A REGION ACTIVELY DEPLOYED IN THE PRESENT TENSE, THE PRIVATE AND PUBLIC REALMS INTERTWINED

S: What do you think would interest a Middle Eastern public in art from the Baltic region?

OT: Our collector base is still in development and a whole new generation of young collectors is being formed in the context of an art world without borders, therefore I am sure there is curiosity. At the same time, we are a relatively small country with a very young collecting tradition, but hopefully this is just the beginning.

S: What do you find exciting about coming to the Gulf for the first time?

OT: Every aspect of our presence in Art Dubai seems to be exciting. I am very curious as to how your public will react to the art that we are bringing, and how Kaido Ole’s art will work in the context of this art fair in general. I am very excited to meet new colleagues from the region, old dear friends I have in Dubai, to get to know more artists, visit the Sharjah Biennial, and feel the vibe of the city and the art scene.

S: What should Middle Eastern collectors expect from art in Estonia?

OT: It is very hard to generalise and create particular expectations, but as I have mentioned before, I think we have a particularly interesting opportunity to look at each other’s art without the burden of colonial prejudice. Looking at art in Estonia or the wider Baltic region — or even wider, the whole of Eastern Europe — is to see the diverse history of a region actively deployed in the present tense, the private and public realms intertwined. And this is certainly the way I am looking at the art from the Middle East.

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ARCHITECTURE IS THE SPACE INSIDE

by Arie Amaya-Akkermans

A solo presentation by Brazilian artist Marlon de Azambuja will be part of Art Dubai’s ‘The Marker’, which this year curates a programme of art from Latin America

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ART

As part of Art Dubai’s curated section ‘The Marker’, which focuses on specific geographies, this year’s edition of the fair, curated by Luiza Teixeira de Freitas, brings art from Latin America and its connections to the Arab world through hundreds of years of migration.

Alongside the section’s programme of exhibitions, publishing, performance, video and sound, art from Latin America is spread throughout the fair in the contemporary halls in different galleries. One of them is Madrid’s Sabrina Amrani, participating for the third

left & opposite page: Edicto, Space Inside, 2014, black marker on crystal

time and more conventionally known for its solid roster of artists from South Asia and the Arab world. Now it

or system, visible and legible only in relation to your

brings to the fair a solo presentation of Brazilian artist

position in the world, using the crystal as a structure

Marlon de Azambuja.

of knowledge and possibility. It is the language of networks and systems of the new urban condition:

Obsessed with modern architectures, de Azambuja’s

unstable, liquid, permeable. Transient and fragile as

starting point is not the grand structures and squares

our built structures, pronouncements also become

erected but the weight of the ideologies deployed

fluid as the human fields that utter them. De Azambuja

with them, shaping the contemporary notion of habitat.

seeks to locate in this language our contemporary

This habitat is no longer conceived as an ecosystem

discontinuity between technology and history.

in terms of ‘places’ animated by a familiar relationship between the landscape and human needs, but as a

While his inspiration is drawn from Brazilian cities

network of disjointed coordinates in a viscous space.

as the laboratories of modern mega-structures

For the artist, the solidity or fullness of these new

adorned with slums at the bottom of the slope, he

spaces of concrete and aluminium evaporated into a

has previously turned his attention to Dubai as one

volatile substance that redefines the cityscape not as

of those laboratories of utopian drive and progress

a place but as a condition. The works from the series

outside Western hegemony; like Brazil, continuously

‘Edicto’ (edict), on show at his solo presentation in

plagued with paradox. In the previous edition of Art

Dubai, operate as a pronouncement for these new

Dubai, de Azambuja presented his ink markings on

grammars of dwelling.

photography of Dubai’s skyline, sketching out sites as a void or a mere vague presence, reading in

The edicts are text sculptures, constructed in crystal

those silhouettes the advent of a new world; driven

using notions of foundation and distribution borrowed

by economic power and optimism but suspended

from architecture, inscribed with apocryphal statements

in an uncertain age. A question remains for him

such as “Architecture is the space inside”, establishing

about the social impact of architecture: can we

the primacy of empty space and functional relations

move away from solid to solidarity? The final edict

over the built material. The text functions as a code

or pronouncement is another question mark.

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ART

THE MAJESTY OF MOROCCO

by Iain Akerman

The largest ever exhibition of contemporary Moroccan art at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris revealed a country embracing its diversity

Portes de l’enfer, Faouzi Laatiris

On the left bank of the Seine, not far from Notre-Dame,

Featuring art in all its forms — from paintings to drawings,

lies the Institut du Monde Arabe. Situated on Rue des

videos to photographs — ‘Le Maroc Contemporain’

Fossés Saint Bernard in the fifth arrondissement, its

thrived on the artistic creation of modern Morocco,

mission is to raise awareness of the contribution of the

with the exhibition stretching across four floors of the

Arab world to global civilisation.

institute’s temporary exhibition space. Inside as well as out — a giant traditional tent designed by Tarik Oualalou

No one would’ve doubted Morocco’s contribution to

and Linna Choi sat outside the main entrance — were

that civilisation, had they wandered into the institute’s

400 pieces of work by 80 Moroccan artists, each of

largest ever exhibition of Moroccan contemporary art

whom had been handpicked from 300 applicants by

over the course of the past two months.

the curators Jean-Hubert Martin and Moulim El-Aroussi.

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above: Sans titre #5, Randa Maroufi, 2013, Série “Reconstitutions: Gestes dans l’espace public “ below: Anes situ n°17, Hicham Benohoud, 2012-2013

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this page: Main, Farid Belkhaia, 1980

opposite page: Jeux d’enfants n°1 , Yassine Balbzioui, 2013

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Martin noted that even “until quite recently it would

Then there was the work of Younès Rahmoun, whose

have been impossible to put on an exhibition on

monumental ‘Zahra Zoujaj’ features 77 blown glass

Morocco without showing the work of Matisse, Klee,

flowers suspended upside down from the ceiling.

and other European artists” inspired by Moroccan

Made during the artist’s residency at the Centre

themes. “However, Morocco has a history of modern

International d’Art Verrier de Mesenthal, each flower is

art that goes back to the 1950s, and the exhibition is

installed in a cupola around seven concentric circles,

important not only because it presents the work of 80

with the flowers symbolising the 77 branches of the

Moroccan artists, but also because it indicates a new

Muslim faith.

interest in new artistic scenes.”

More risqué perhaps was the work of female artists Amongst them was Amine El Gotaibi, whose ‘The

such as Fatima Mazmouz and Nadia Bensallam, who

Submission Ring’, a mechanically programmed

filmed herself walking along the streets of Marrakech,

installation symbolising man’s struggle, operated

her face hidden by the niqaab but her black abaya cut

a perpetual loop: that of a body mould filled with

in half at the waist, revealing a skirt, bare legs and high

water, frozen, then placed in a boxing ring where it is

heels. The camera filmed the ensuing reaction.

exposed to the world, before gradually melting and being replaced by another.

The pioneers of modern Moroccan art — figures such as Farid Belkahia, Mohamed Melehi, and El-Khalil El-Gherib — were also there, but this painstakingly organised exhibition thrived on its increased diversity, with women making up 25 per cent of La ronde de nuit, Mohamed El Baz, 2014

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the artists, while youthfulness and hope gave the exhibition a shot in the arm.

ART

THE ART OF PERFORMANCE

by Iain Akerman

The Delfina Foundation in London is undertaking groundbreaking research into performance art in the Arab world, with an exhibition to present the results of that research in July

“The genealogy of performance art is complex,” says

“We are currently in the process of gathering archival

Aaron Cezar, director of the Delfina Foundation in

materials to inform the research for our first exhibition

London. He is a busy but happy man.

of this project in summer 2015,” says Cezar. “Most of the footage will come directly from artists and, in

Having successfully raised in excess of $22,000 for an

some cases, institutions or festivals. It is difficult to

artist residency programme and subsequent exhibition

get hold of some materials mostly because of poor

on performance art in the Arab world, he now has

documentation or the fact that the performances

the challenge of bringing everything to life. Artists,

were intended as ephemeral experiences and

curators and historians are

therefore, were not formally

to document and compile a

documented in video.

history of performance art from the Arab world, with

“For the exhibition, we aim

the first presentation of that

to

research to take place in

how artists have turned to

July in collaboration with

performance art as a way

Shubbak, London’s festival of

to respond to situations and

contemporary Arab culture.

conditions that are difficult to

All of this has been made possible by the Art Basel

THE GENEALOGY OF PERFORMANCE ART IS COMPLEX

focus

specifically

otherwise

on

articulate;

this perhaps best sums up the

role

of

performance

Crowdfunding Initiative, with

art.

‘Staging

want to acknowledge the

History’

featured

Furthermore,

we

on Art Basel’s curated page on Kickstarter and the

constellation of individuals, ideas and influences, both

target of $22,000 reached on 28 October last year.

past and present, and create a specific narrative — a

The money is funding a curator and two artists under

story that has not been told before.”

Delfina’s residency programme to undertake the research over six months, with the ensuing exhibition also funded by the initiative.

above: Aaron Cezar, Photo by Tim Bowditch

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above: Open studio at Delfina Foundation, ©Tim Bowditch

below: Panel discussion at Delfina Foundation, ©Tim Bowditch

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Since Arab performance art has historically been embedded within dance, music, theatre and visual arts, Cezar argues that its evolution has not been

container and attempted to stand, leaving traces

as understood — or visible — compared with other

and smudges on the glass with her body and hands.

cultures. “What we are finding through our research

Revolutionary songs in Arabic, French and English

is that one cannot consider performance art from

were played within the room, as were news reports

the Arab region in isolation from the rest of the

relating to the political situation in the Middle East.

world. There were global influences, from political to cultural developments.”

In a leaflet accompanying the performance, she wrote: “As a Palestinian woman this work was my first attempt

But why has performance art in the Arab world been

at making a statement about a persistent struggle to

overlooked in the past?

survive in a continuous state of siege... As a person from the ‘Third World’, living in the West, existing on

“Performance art has not necessarily been overlooked,”

the margin of European society and alienated from my

replies Cezar. “Artists like Mona Hatoum and Walid Raad

own… this action represented an act of separation...

are international figures in the art world known for their

stepping out of an acquired frame of reference and

performative practices. Performance art in the region

into a space which acted as a point of reconnection

has been misunderstood because it has emerged

and reconciliation with my own background and the

from, and lies on the fringe of, other disciplines. It has

bloody history of my own people.”

not existed as a discipline in its own right in the Arab region as it has in other parts of the world. There is not

The work of Hatoum will undoubtedly be part of the

a word for performance art in Arabic, for example.

exhibition in July, as will that of Tashweesh, a sound and image performance group from Ramallah. Formed

“The ephemeral nature of performance has also meant

by installation artists Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-

that it has been under-appreciated, particularly without

Rahme alongside musician Boikutt, Tashweesh’s

proper documentation, which is a challenge for this

performances combine sound, music and image. The

medium overall.”

result is an “exploration of the collision between sound and video field recordings, archive material, vocals,

Hatoum, a Palestinian who was born in Lebanon but

breaks and soundscapes”.

has spent most of her life in London, began her career in performance art but has since moved towards

Palestinian Jumana Emil Abboud, as well as other

video and installation art. Her earlier performance

artists, including Alvaro Ugarte, Yasmin Jahan Nupur

work focused on political statements, largely about

and Oscar Santillan, will take up residency at Delfina

Palestine, where she used her body as a means of

under the ‘Performance as Process’ programme,

making those statements. In ‘Under Siege’, her debut

with Abboud to use her residency for a period of

performance piece at the Aspex gallery in the UK

reflection on her practice and the creation of a live

in 1982, she covered herself in clay inside a glass

art performance.

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DESIGN

A MUSEUM FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

by Iain Akerman

The finalists in the Guggenheim Helsinki Design Competition have been tasked with developing their concepts, as the Guggenheim Foundation searches for a proposal that responds poetically and dynamically to the city of Helsinki

In mid-January, the six finalists in the Guggenheim

“This competition marks a new milestone in the

Helsinki Design Competition arrived on site to receive

Guggenheim Foundation’s long engagement with

further briefing. Flown in from Europe, but also from

architecture, design, and urban life,” says Nancy

Australia and the US, they walked down to Eteläsatama

Spector, deputy director and Jennifer and David

and to a prominent waterfront location close to the

Stockman chief curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim

city’s historic centre.

Museum in New York. “The aim of the competition is to inspire us to build an exemplary museum for the 21st

It is there that the proposed new Guggenheim museum

century, one that would be a meaningful addition to

will be situated. Immediately visible to visitors arriving

the city of Helsinki.

by sea, if all goes according to plan the winning design will be a stunning new addition to the Guggenheim Foundation’s already impressive array of architectural masterpieces across the world.

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DESIGN

“The open, international nature of the competition was intended to draw submissions from a wide range of firms and individuals — emerging and internationally known — from Finland and around the world and to open up important dialogues about design, urban infrastructure, culture, and even climate change. In the case of the Guggenheim Helsinki competition, it also brought up important discussions around museum typology and function that will cause us as curators to rethink how we will program in the future.”

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DESIGN

The Guggenheim Helsinki Design Competition is the first of its kind to be organised by the foundation, with the initiative reflecting the Guggenheim’s “long history of engagement with architecture and design and its belief that outstanding original design can speak across cultures, refreshing and enlivening the urban environment”.

Humbled by the sheer volume of submissions — there were 1,715 in total — the foundation is now into the second stage of the competition, with the six finalists each developing their concept designs with the aid of the site visit.

“Each of the finalists offers a distinctive and original concept to create new public space for Helsinki, and each challenges the Guggenheim to develop unprecedented models for museum programming beyond the requisite exhibitions (which are, of

finding a proposal that will help catalyse us to think

course, still important),” says Spector, who is also

about new ways in which museums can respond to, if

is a member of the Guggenheim Helsinki Design

not encapsulate, what is new in contemporary culture,”

Competition jury. “All of the shortlisted designs

adds Spector.

represent a compelling first step, and we look forward to seeing how they are more fully developed

“I am personally interested in how museums can

in the next stage of the competition.”

become active agents in their communities for education, social change, and aesthetic enlightenment.

The finalists are London-based Asif Khan; Zurich (and

I believe that art and architecture have the capacity to

Los Angeles)’s AGPS Architecture; US-based (plus

both motivate and respond to their audiences. For me,

Barcelona and Sydney) Fake Industries Architectural

this translates into a building (or complex of buildings)

Agonism;

Stuttgart’s

Haas

Cook

Zemmrich

that are less monumental than they are porous and

firm

Moreau

Kusunoki

flexible. But because locality is always important in

Architect; and the Australian studio SMAR Architecture

our increasingly globalised world, I am also looking for

(plus Madrid).

submissions that respond poetically and dynamically

STUDIO2050;

Parisian

to the specific site in Helsinki.”

“Having worked at the Guggenheim for many years as a curator and having been involved with the opening of the Guggenheim Bilbao and the former Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin and now with the planning for the future Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, I am most interested in

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DESIGN

AN EYE ON DESIGN Dubai Design District will provide an ecosystem for global design and creative minds. Zoltán Somhegyi talks to Dr Amina Al Rustamani, group CEO of TECOM Investments, about the bold new development

Zoltán Somhegyi: Dubai Design District is a much-

thriving on creativity. The master plan ensures that

awaited development in the city. According to the

d3 leverages the cluster effect, appealing to creative

website of d3: “The District is an unprecedented

nomads allowing a true community to develop and

combination of form and function.” Thus, it

making the most of the natural features of the site.

seems that the District itself – just like the goods

By bringing together ideas and inspiration garnered

promoted there – will have all the features of

from the industry directly, we are proud of the plans

a well-designed product. How are the general

we have in place and believe it will appeal to all our

structure and display planned to be connected

clients and visitors.

to the main function of the venue? Are there any models or previous examples that inspired the

ZS: In the contemporary world it is especially

evolution and arrangement of d3, or will it really

characteristic

be ‘unprecedented’ from all these aspects?

between fine arts and design is blurred. How will art

Dr Amina Al Rustamani: We want d3 to by a ful-

appear or even be integrated in d3? For example,

ly-functioning home of design, built by the commu-

are you planning to have fine art galleries and

nity, for the community. Therefore, it was vital that

studios too in the district?

we spoke directly with the designers themselves,

AR: It’s interesting to see how the art industry has

to ‘crowd-source’ the master plan concept and to

grown in Dubai over the past few years, mainly in part

ensure that d3 provides the right facilities and infra-

to the success of events such as Art Dubai. There

structure for both international brands and emerging

is evidently a cross-pollination between the art and

regional designers.

design worlds as proven by the success of Design

that

the

traditional

distinction

Days Dubai, which d3 will continue to support, so At TECOM Investments, we’ve had continual success

yes, art will appear in the spaces of d3 whether that

in building creative clusters for Dubai’s emerging

be through regular programmes in gallery spaces in

industries such as Media City, Internet City, Knowledge

both our Pocket Park development or in the recently

Village and the like. Building on this success, d3 will

announced Creative Community, or through street art

be our first project to holistically develop a creative

programming to tap into the urban art movement.

community that can not only work together, but also live and play together in a truly unique and well planned environment. We have come up with a way of allowing emerging regional designers to sit alongside internationally leading brands to create an ecosystem

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Dr Amina Al Rustamani, Group CEO TECOM Investments

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We have recently collaborated with Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), the Emirate’s dedicated entity for culture, arts, and heritage, and Design Days Dubai, to launch ‘Urban Commissions’, a new project inviting designers, architects, engineers, researchers, students and professionals, to design innovative public installations for the city of Dubai. This is an excellent example of how d3 is integrating arts in its

ZS: What forms of collaboration will you establish

DNA and in its overall mission. It also showcases how

with major ‘factors’ in the global design world? For

d3 plans to combine innovation, arts, and functionality

example, with high-impact museums, specialised

to create a home for creativity designed by the

design fairs, well-known academies with a long

community, for the community.

history of design education, etc?

AR: Collaboration is at the very heart of the d3 brand.

ZS: What possibilities will young, emerging and

Last year we worked with Wallpaper* magazine on a

early-career designers have in the initiative?

unique curated exhibition at London’s Design Festi-

Besides the leading brands, how can fresh start-ups

val at which we showcased a dozen of the Middle

find their public in d3?

East’s brilliant creative talent. This year, we’re already

AR: d3 is being created for young, emerging design-

looking at partnering with Salone del Mobile in Mi-

ers as well as established designers and brands.

lan as well as other fairs across the world, whilst not

It’s by fusing this spectrum of talent together that d3

forgetting our own grass roots talent here in Dubai

will truly create a thriving creative environment that

– we’re currently working on a project with American

will encourage the emerging design scene to grow.

University of Sharjah students as part of their curricu-

Within both phase one of our development, due for

lum for example.

completion by the summer, and also within the creative community project due to go on line by 2018,

ZS: Apart from the creative and commercial aspects,

we will be providing both facilities and spaces that

will d3 also have an emphasis on education and

enable young start-ups to establish and grow. Re-

on the wider dissemination of knowledge and

sources such as our dedicated business centre, flex-

appreciation of contemporary design?

ible working spaces and access to research through

AR: Yes. d3 will be home to a design school as well

the support and publication of industry studies will

as being home to the recently announced Dubai

provide a unique reference point for those starting

Design and Fashion Council. Both these elements

out in the industry.

provide extraordinary credibility to d3’s promise to not only provide a home for the design industry, but also a framework to educate those who want to enter the industry through the plethora of channels within design. With a commitment to igniting the world’s design community by engaging, inspiring and enabling, d3 is perfectly positioned to help support Dubai’s strategic objectives whilst also providing a home for

opposite page top: D3 master plan

opposite page bottom: D3 project render

the region’s growing design industry.

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DESIGN

THE MANY WOMEN OF NAJLA EL ZEIN

by Nadine Khalil

Lebanese designer Najla El Zein creates objects, spaces and installations that are intimate and push the boundaries between conceptual art and design

With your eyes closed, how would you know that you

A lot of the young designer’s work is about creating

were moving from an inside space to an outside one?

these kinds of sensorial moments and encounters.

Meaning, if you just walked through blindly, how could

She also experiments playfully with the viewer, not

you distinguish the inner from the outer? According to

only through interactivity, but also by evoking intimacy

Najla Zein, it would be through airflow.

in her work. Take her latest contribution to House of Today’s collective exhibition in Beirut, themed ‘Naked’.

“You’d feel the wind, kind of like when you’re getting

She created a series of what she calls body brushes,

out of the metro and you can unconsciously feel it a

which are meant to cause different sensations when

few metres before,” she says. “Or when you smell the

used on the skin. They come with titles like: Blink,

bread before entering a bakery.” She is explaining

Tickle, Stroke, Scratch and Sweep. “I tried to combine

to me why she decided to install 5,000 spinning

each of these feelings with materials. They’re all made

paper windmills in her fabulous 8-metre high arched

from marble produced by the Lebanese-owned Marm

passageway — the ‘Wind Portal’ — at the V&A museum

group and the shapes are intuitive, you’ll instinctively

during the London Design Festival in 2013.

understand how to use them.”

Serving as the transition to the new extension of the

She uses brass for nails, shaped in the form of

museum, which is part of the medieval Renaissance

concentric gleaming teeth attached to a smooth black

collection, it is a sculpture powered by a complex,

handle that looks like a shower head, as well as pins, a

integrated system of motors, programmed to provide

large feather and actual hay for bristles, all paired with

wind, light and sound at different speeds, leading

beautifully hand-sculpted stands or grips. “So Blink is

to pulsating movement. “The gateway focuses on

supposed to be an interpretation of a butterfly kiss,

the action of transitioning through two spaces while

you know from eyelash to eyelash,” she continues,

exaggerating the sensorial experience, through the

“and there’s a touch of surrealism to its form because

use of wind, sound, and memories.

you have this elongated stem attached to a small tip that’s framed with synthetic eyelashes.”

“I think the V&A team found it interesting that I embraced the space so much. The museum is huge and there

opposite page & left: Sensorial brushes, Picture by Karen Kalou

were so many spaces I could have worked with but I was interested in this one. It was originally the area between two separate buildings and now incorporated into the museum’s structure in its expansion, covered with a glass roof. I wanted to prepare the visitor for the transition between the old space and the new.”

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DESIGN

“There’s also something related to gesture,” she

In the third adjoining room, I can see blocks of

reflects. Although that is true, it’s actually her use of

Himalayan salt, used to frame food trays she created

everyday materials in unusual contexts that’s most

for a Christmas exhibition at SMO Gallery. She hands

striking. From where we are, in her Geitawi studio, I’m

one to me, in a swirl of coral and pearly white, chipping

surrounded by these unconventional components.

slightly at the edges. “Isn’t it sublime?

There are hundreds of paper parasols in one room, the kind you find in summer cocktails, which she used

“This piece was more geometric than the work I

to decorate Piaff Boutique’s window display in 2012,

normally do,” she adds, referring to the architectural

forming an undulating underwater seascape akin to a

way in which the blocks are arranged. My eye rivets

vibrant coral reef.

to the small sofa in the corner, where what looks like a piece of fur is draped. But if you look closely, you’ll

Hanging from the ceiling in the main workspace are

see that it’s actually made of thousands of toothpicks.

two massive, whimsical forms fashioned from tangled

It’s a prototype of what she exhibited at the Lebanese

wool strings. “My work has to do with the honesty of

Pavilion in Singapore’s art fair last November, basically,

the material, in this case wool, which is familiar and

a wooden chair covered with a toothpick stole.

used to represent the reality of a cloud. It allows you to understand palpability but also impalpability.”

You’ll find the same clouds in Starch’s boutique, a place that showcases emerging Lebanese fashion designers. “The theme was fantasy and I was approached by Rabih Keyrouz and Tala Hajjar to design Starch’s interior,” el Zein tells me. “I also used resin to create tables that are supposed to represent the shadows of clouds.” These tables have perforated, bulbous shapes carved into them.

At the time, she had also created something for Keyrouz’s own Maison: a mountain of hair. “Like wool, hair is very feminine and the mountain signifies strength, and glamour.” It was one of her early projects realised during that critical summer of 2010, when she decided to leave Rotterdam, where she had been working for the past two years, with think tanks focusing on the future of cities. “We created public installations and scenarios for the future,” el Zein says. “But I was travelling a lot to Beirut, where my parents had moved and I felt the need to rediscover myself.” A year later, the Paris-born and bred designer established the Najla el Zein Workspace in her hometown.

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below: Sitt el Sitteit, (toothpicks, textile, wood). Picture by Karen Kalou

DESIGN

left: Spoons, (stainless + gold plated spoons, stainless steel structure, led). Picture

by Karen Kalou

bottom: Sitt el Sitteit, (toothpicks, textile, wood). Picture by Karen Kalou

How did it come about? “I watched a box of toothpicks fall and become layers of sensual movement. I got this idea to make fur out of them. The work really isn’t about the chair but the draping. It’s like a woman with attitude, inviting you to touch and caress her.” But though ‘she’ looks soft and furry, the experience will be a prickly one.

She seems to welcome these textural paradoxes in her work such as her spectacular, amorphously shaped

wall

lights — 6,302

and

2,852

spoons

respectively — which were commissioned by SMO Gallery and are presumably made of as many spoons as mentioned. “They came from an image of a wall perspiring, water droplets forming on a wall,” she says, “And I needed the material I used to seem like liquid.

So I started by welding spoons together and found myself with something else, something scaly, animallike, because of the reflective surfaces of spoons, but still aquatic and fluid. The only difference between them is that the 2,852 has gold in it and it looks more like reptile skin — and the form climbs up the wall.”

The colossal drops of concave-scaled sculptures she achieved morph into stunning, cosmic-like shells but why the need to labour-intensively weld thousands of spoons in order to get there? The answer isn’t entirely obvious but part of it, el Zein admits, is compulsive.

“Spoons are so much more than something to eat with, their textures create motion. The original function is just what people are stuck with.” And being stuck within definitions is definitely something Najla strives against by pushing the boundaries between conceptual art and design, and giving a whole new life to what many may consider as the mundane tools of our everyday lives.

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CHAMPAGNE, DESIGN AND THE BEAUTY OF NATURE

by Maria-Cristina Didero

Commissioned by Perrier-Jouët, mischer’traxler’s Ephemerā is a meditation on the fleeting nature of things

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Design

Some sort of cordial bow that nature pays to human

Miami, the French champagne brand Perrier-Jouët

beings, Ephemerā is full of meanings and symbols that

commissioned design duo mischer’traxler to produce

should make us reflect deeply on the profound link

a project inspired by the brand’s Art Nouveau

we have with Mother Nature and the universe. In the

corporate identity.

same way, the decorated motifs painted on the two mirrors gradually disappear when one comes closer

The Perrier-Jouët Belle Époque bottles, finely designed

and stands in front to reflect oneself.

by da Emile Gallé and its decorated label with a triumph of anemone flowers, were the source of inspiration for

But the analysis of the two designers went deeper in a

the two Austrian designers based in Vienna.

book — physically manufactured in-house — that showed the long theoretic, propaedeutic and scientific research

A couple at work and at home, Katharina Mischer

made on many species of plants and insects to create

and Thomas Traxler were commissioned to interpret

some sort of a personal herbarium to correlate to the

this interesting and flourishing period of European

project. Inspired by the book Kunstformen der Natur

art, dedicated to beauty and craft, but most of all

by German biologist Ernst Haeckl, who compiled a

they were asked to give a contemporary twist to it.

repertory of 100 different species, some discovered

So mischer’traxler looked at nature as the force that

for the first time in 1904, Ephemerā by mischer’traxler

drives us and after serious research into the field they

represents one of the most poetical projects I have ever

have created Ephemerā, a collection of three kinetic

seen. Selections asked the authors a few questions.

interactive objects — one table and two mirrors — able to interrelate with people in an unusual way. The threemetre-long table bears on its top different shapes of leaves and insects, which literally move in some sort of gracious and slow dance when people draw up to the piece. This happens thanks to a super-elaborated system of engines hidden below its surface.

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opposite page top: Designers mischer’traxler in front of Ephemerā, the latest design work commissioned

by Perrier-Jouët for Design Miami, 2014, photographer Gesi Schilling

opposite page bottom: A close up of Ephemerā’s large oak table, that comes alive with colourful metal plants and insects that reinvents a kinetic form of traditional marquetry, photographer Gesi Schilling

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MC Didero: What is the message that you wanted to express with this project? mischer’traxler: We wanted to create pieces where visitors can relate in a personal, playful and emotional way. We tried to recreate a very specific moment

MCD: How did this project come about?

to which everyone can relate — the way natural ele-

m’t: The briefing was ‘Art Nouveau’ since Perrier-

ments react when someone comes too close — na-

Jouët is strongly connected to this art movement

ture often hides. The main pieces are the Ephemerā

and that it links art, beauty and everyday life. The

table and the two mirrors that are kinetic interactive.

company houses a very big Art Nouveau collection

They react to the visitors and when someone is com-

in its Champagne-house in Epernay. So it is deeply

ing too close, the elements are hiding and the pieces

inter-linked with it. Researching into Art Nouveau we

become more functional.

of course found the strong connection to nature and also the floral elements, but as well the mixture of art A close up of one of Ephemerā’s mirrors, detailing the digital leaves that grow across the reflective surface extending into 3D forms, but only as long as people are not too close, Photographer Gesi Schilling

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and craft which lead to the detailed furniture pieces.

We of course looked as well at the technological part of that era, when a lot of new inventions where introduced and we did wanted to bring this mechanical beauty as well into the pieces.

DESIGN

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101

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RADICAL MAYFAIR

by Kasia Maciejowska

Pace gallery celebrates the life and influence of art dealer Robert Fraser with a very personal exhibition in February and March. Fraser brought Op Art and Pop Art to London from New York, becoming known as Groovy Bob for his Swinging Sixties lifestyle and inspiring the Beatles song Dr Robert. The London exhibition, curated by his friend and artist Brian Clarke, reveals how strong Fraser’s mark on Sixties culture really was and highlights its presence in the art world today

Brian Clarke met Robert Fraser half a century ago in the swirl of Swinging London. Today Clarke is a worldrenowned stained glass artist who collaborates with top architects like Zaha Hadid and Norman Foster.

Fraser — art dealer and seminal socialite — was one of Clarke’s earliest supporters.

In 2015 it’s the artist in the curating seat as Clarke constructs a portrait of his old friend for Pace gallery’s new show A Strong Sweet Smell of Incense: A Portrait

of Robert Fraser. Clarke was among several of the artists now represented by Pace who were formerly with the Robert Fraser gallery. The exhibition includes art about Fraser, exhibited by Fraser, admired, owned, or supported by him. Highlights include a recreation of his desk and a portrait of the dealer painted by Jean Michel-Basquiat, whom he represented in the 1980s.

opposite page: © Martin Booth, Groovy Bob, Photo Martin Booth

opposite page background: Swingeing London 67, R Hamilton

right: Brian Ti Foster

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Fraser was an old Etonian who became known for his early support of Op Art and Pop Art. His artist roster read like a roll call of the post-modern avant-garde who made it to the big time, often via him. He exhibited work by Andy Warhol, Ellsworth Kelly, Bridget Riley, Keith Haring, and Ed Ruscha, to name a few. Works by these artists plus Francis Bacon, Cy Twombly, Claes Oldenburg, Dennis Hopper and many others are showing at Pace, which will hold a simultaneous exhibition of Clarke’s work at its second London space. An especially commissioned window by Clarke will be installed at Pace Lexington Street, 10 minutes’ walk from A Strong Sweet Smell of Incense at Pace Burlington Gardens.

In the Sixties Fraser’s home, near his Duke Street gallery in Mayfair, became a salon for the jet set and his opening nights attended by the era’s biggest stars, from John Lennon and Yoko Ono (whom he introduced), to William Burroughs and Marlon Brando.

It is Mick Jagger’s handcuffed wrist that appears alongside Fraser’s in Richard Hamilton’s famous 1968 collage showing the pair leaving court in a police van, from which Pace takes its exhibition title. It was Fraser who arranged for Peter Blake to make the album cover for Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles. Known as Groovy Bob for his rock’n’roll lifestyle, the Beatles track Dr. Robert is also thought to be about him. above top: Robert Fraser on the left, David Bailey in the middle Brian Clarke on the right

opposite page: Portrait of John Edwards, Francis Bacon, 1988

Groovy Bob was credited not only with kick-starting the Mayfair gallery scene that continues today but with rejuvenating London’s commercial art world, which stood accused of having sunk into an uninspired taste

above: Robert Fraser, J M Baquiat

for passé convention. After a 1970s hiatus when Fraser spent time in India, it was Clarke’s work that he chose to re-launch his gallery with at a new space on Cork Street in 1982. Victoria Miro bought the space in 1985 before becoming one of London’s most respected galleries.

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In high contrast to Fraser, Clarke was brought up working class in the north of England. Having picked up his love for ecclesiastical Gothic style there, he went on to push stained glass in to a secular context. Often described as an ‘architectural artist’ he produces stained-glass works and large paintings, as well as drawings and sculptures, with each medium influencing his approach to the other. His work is installed around the world in buildings from research centres, museums and shopping malls, to mosques, synagogues, and churches. Global corporations commission him, for which he continues to use the medieval techniques of glass etching found in the oldest cathedrals in England. The former punk draws the line at working for some companies, however, and admits to seeing clients as the enemy because of their predilection for the banal. He tries to maintain a radical approach for those commissions he does accept, depicting HIV cells, for example, or integrating abstract shapes in to conventionally figurative contexts such as church windows. It says something of his character that Francis Bacon made Clarke the sole keeper of his estate.

Clarke has said that art “opens a window on to an alternative reality” and believes the artist “stands for the alternative, no matter what it costs”. Such righton Sixties-speak sounds quaint when set against the commercial savvy of contemporary artists and the mega-rich clientele of global galleries such as Pace.

But the frisson between provocative counterculture and powerful wealth has always been art’s trump card, as Fraser well knew. Pace has made its name on top: Brian Clarke’s studio, London, 2014

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above: Jean Dubuffet, Offres galantes, January 27, 1967, vinyl on canvas, 511/4 × 633/4˝ (130.2 × 161.9 cm), No. 27333. Photograph courtesy Pace Gallery. Artwork by Jean Dubuffet © 2014, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

scholarly exhibitions but having Clarke curate a show like this will inject a more personal tone, while pointing to the gallery’s own heritage alongside the glamour and energy that was radicalism in Mayfair.

The exhibition runs from 6 February to 28 March

DESIGN

CHARBEL SAMUEL AOUN: THE ARTIST WITH A CONSCIENCE

by India Stoughton

The Lebanese architect turned artist has chosen to be more sincere about the society in which he lives since becoming a father

Since having children, Charbel Samuel Aoun has found

Back in 2008, Aoun exhibited a series of political

himself facing a dilemma. Should he make socially-

caricatures, biting, satirical paintings that aimed to dig

engaged installations, or make money?

beneath the whitewashed images of local politicians and remind viewers of their murky pasts. In 2012, a

“There’s a tension between doing what should be

series of enormous canvases covered with dead twigs

done, and doing what can sell,” he admits. “This

and leaves from the artist’s garden, tangled cotton and

becomes problematic when you have children. But it’s

thick dribbles of paint, invited viewers to reflect on the

funny because I’ve chosen to be more sincere, more

vitality of plant life and its gradual eradication at the

honest about my society, since I became a father. I

hands of man.

didn’t choose to make more commercial work.”

More recently, Aoun has turned his hand to creating Perhaps this isn’t surprising. In many ways Aoun is a

interactive works. The installation ‘Whispering Taps’,

bit of a rebel. A devout nature lover in a city in which

exhibited last September at Villa Paradiso, consisted

car parks outnumber traditional parks by dozens to

of a tangle of pipes, from which an eerie susurration of

one, he bought a chunk of land just outside Beirut and

voices issued. Only by stepping in close could viewers

transformed it into a luscious garden, filled with shrubs,

pick out individual voices and their whispered words.

flowers and fruit trees.

“Whispering Taps started when I was walking in my Aoun trained as an architect, but left the business

garden and the woman working for the neighbour

a decade ago to become an artist. Since then, his

tried to contact me,” Aoun explains. “She was afraid,

work has shifted and evolved constantly, at times

and she was talking quietly, in a low voice, telling me

almost beyond recognition. But while the media,

about her problems. I tried to help. I gave her a number

format and subject matter of his work are always

to call. The next day she ran away, so I was happy. But

changing, it remains united by its engagement with

I wanted to share what I experienced, so maybe more

Lebanese society.

people could be aware and help in different ways.

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Whispering Taps, Installation, 2014, 10 taps and pipes hiding small speakers inside each

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above: Voice Of The Invisibles, 2013, 2.4 × 6 × 0.8 m, twelve phones linked to an exchanger connected to a PC with a specific software that triggers the phones and plays testimonies of twelve people

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top: From The Dust, 2013, 120 × 240 cm, dust mixed with varnish on canvas

right: You May Be Next, 2014, gas tank hanged upside down linked to a stove beneath, linked to a sensor on human movement to ignite

DESIGN

“I imagined Whispering Taps — the spatial experience of these low voices that you have to approach. I tried to keep this intimate experience... For me it’s important that you engage with the work and become part of it. I’m trying to be less concerned with representation and more with experience.”

The last series of paintings Aoun did were explorations of the realities of war, executed using dust the artist swept up in the city’s streets. Now, he says, he is trying to find a way to make painting even more interactive and experiential, using material that engages not just sight, but touch, sound and smell.

I DON’T BELIEVE IN ONE STYLE OF ART, I BELIEVE IN WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY,” AOUN SHRUGS. “EACH TIME I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY, I SAY IT. I DON’T LIMIT THE FORM OF THE ARTWORK...

His constant shift from one format to another doesn’t make him popular with commercial galleries, he admits, who prefer artists to stick to a signature style.

“I don’t believe in one style of art, I believe in what you have to say,” Aoun shrugs. “Each time I have something to say, I say it. I don’t limit the form of the artwork...

When you live in a society that has no stability at all, you have no style of country — how can you have a style of work?”

The artist is currently working on multiple projects and says he has enough ideas to keep him busy for the next five years. While his work frequently highlights the problems in Lebanese society, it retains a measure of hope for a brighter future.

“I don’t feel like change can be direct through art,” he admits, “but it’s good that me and all the other artists are there... We have to be there, just for the option of having a better society. Maybe society will never turn towards us, but if you decide to see us we are here, waiting, hoping for something more poetic.”

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Samia Halaby painting behind: Jerusalem, My Home, 2014, acrylic on cavas

IN THE LIBRARY WITH SAMIA HALABY

by Marina Iordan

A leading abstract painter and an influential scholar of Palestinian art, Samia Halaby revels in the the infinite knowledge that books can provide

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LITERATURE

Samia Halaby. Profuse mental associations are triggered by the sound of this name: scholar of Palestinian art, pioneer of Arab abstract art, creator of ‘kinetic art’, engaged political activist, writer and the first female associate professor at Yale School of Art. The list goes on. The one trait not so commonly known of the Palestinian, New York City-based artist is that of an avid reader, loving books for the infinite source of knowledge they represent.

Samia Halaby, Mirror Sphere, 66 × 57 cm, oil on canvas, 1968

In her Tribeca studio, Halaby’s colourful abstract paintings co-exist with an impressive collection of books amassed over decades of her polymathic

This thought is reflective of Halaby’s desire to read

career. Attempts to methodically organise them

in order to learn and perfect her knowledge of art,

were many, but Halaby’s thirst for knowledge and

a fascination that began as she drifted through the

exploration prevailed. “Each time I begin work on the

libraries she attended as a student, and later as a

project of reorganising I sink into a book or two and

teacher. Some of her discoveries shaped her vision

put them aside for future reading. This only contributes

of the world, while others enlightened her about the

to the mess,” the artist confides.

socio-cultural context of the arts.

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LITERATURE

WHEN IT COMES TO INFLUENCERS OF HER ART, HALABY’S FIRST REFERENCE GOES TO VLADIMIR LENIN’S ‘MATERIALISM AND EMPIRIO CRITICISM’

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LITERATURE

And then there were those less academic works,

The common thread to all these inspirational texts is the

such as the four-volume Tale of Gengi, “a Japanese

authors’ mental acquisitiveness and the subsequent

soap-opera”, as referred to by the artist. “I could not

meticulous research, shared by Halaby in her practice.

stop, kept reading late into the night, and woke up to

It is then no surprise that, whenever the artist found

immediately take up the books before I got out of bed.

books that lacked substance, were incomplete or

When teaching time came, I telephoned the secretary,

inaccurate, she set off to look for more information in

used thumb and forefinger to close my nose and

order to polish her education.

told her that I had a terrible cold. I read on and this repeated itself for three days before I finally put down

On a few occasions, this lead to her writing about a

the last volume having read every word cover to cover

particular topic, as happened with her book Liberation

of all four volumes.”

Art of Palestine. Characterising the style of nearly 50 Palestinian artists, Halaby managed to describe

When it comes to influencers of her art, Halaby’s

the evolution of her country’s artistic evolution in

first reference goes to Vladimir

a

comprehensive

way.

Her

Lenin’s Materialism and Empirio

extensive research preceding the

Criticism, a seminal philosophical

publication of Liberation Art of

work in which a clear distinction

Palestine resulted in an archive of

is made between the material

books, catalogues, and post cards

and the spiritual. Leaning towards

related to Palestinian art. They are

the non-material and recognising

now part of her eclectic library and

a scientific approach of criticism,

keep growing as new books on

Lenin’s book is in direct correlation

the subject are being published.

with Halaby’s abstract explorations.

On Further down her list of favourites

the

theme

of

Palestine,

Halaby’s

reads

include

Raja

is a collection of writings on art by Leon Trotsky, most

Shehadeh’s works describing the historical evolution

notably two works, titled Art and Revolution and

of the country, as well as Illan Pape’s The Ethnic

Literature and Culture. Highlighting the importance

Cleansing of Palestine.

of art being independent from a country’s social and political efforts, the essays reveal Trotsky’s deep

Among this seriousness, there is some space left for

understanding of literature and art of his time.

amusement, too. Halaby gladly indulges in literary fiction, occasionally taking book recommendations

On a more sociological level, Friedrich Engels’ The

from her sister. On her list of favourites are historical

Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State had a

novels by Lebanese writer Elias Khoury and Naguib

great impact on Halaby. Through thorough investigation,

Mahfouz, an Egyptian Nobel laureate in Literature.

Engels examined the evolution of domestic institutions

Through all of them, she reads carefully and slowly, the

throughout the centuries. “I read it simultaneously with

same way she conducts her research and composes

the book Black Elk Speaks. Written in 1932 by John G

her abstract paintings.

Neihardt, it documents the life of Black Elk, a Lakota chief.

In his own words, Black Elk tells the life of his tribe while I am reading about the origins of the family,” says Halaby.

above: Samia Halaby, Red on Red, 28.5 × 26.5 cm, oil on canvas 1963

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LITERATURE

A CHILDREN’S TALE REBORN A rare children’s book by Lebanese artist Shafic Abboud has been re-published in a French-Arabic bilingual edition by Dar Onboz

Sixty years after it was originally published with a print

The work of Abboud, who was born in Mhaidseh but

run of just 20 copies, Lebanese artist Shafic Abboud’s

spent most of his life in France, is known for its poetic

children’s book La Souris

and figurative Lebanese

(The Mouse) has been re-

elements, although he

released by independent

later

publisher Dar Onboz.

an

moved almost

towards dream-like

Parisian abstract art. His Written and illustrated

children’s book, however,

by the modernist painter

was his play on local

whilst he was a student

folktales, which he said

in Paris in 1954, the book

was

tells the tale of a couple

behind

who are unable to bear

artistic output.

the

inspiration

much

of

his

a child, only for them to eventually give birth

“This

theme

is

very

to 1,000 mice. Angered, the father kills all of them,

recurrent is our folktales,” Nadine Touma, co-founder

although one survives and the couple instantly fall in

of Dar Onboz, told The Daily Star. “The theme of a

love with her.

married couple who cannot have children and then something very weird happens. One woman gives birth to a pot, for instance. They’re brilliantly surreal...

I think this issue of stigmatisation of a couple that is married and doesn’t have children is still very overwhelming, especially in villages. So there is this opposite page: La Souris, book cover

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sense of begging for anything, even for a pot or a mouse or an olive seed.”

LITERATURE

She added: “He writes certain letters that of course when reproduced in

silk

lithography

screen you

miss

something.

didn’t

touch

or might We

anything.

Sometimes he pencils something in and we left it that way. Some artwork he signed, so we left his signature, and we even left what he wrote at the end, which was that this book was published in 20 copies in the artist’s studio in 1954 in Paris, and this is copy No. 13, which he had kept for himself.”

The

book,

which

is

illustrated by a series of figural lithographs, has been re-printed in a French-Arabic bilingual edition and is accompanied by a CD of the story with music by the late Imane Homsy on the Qanun. The location of only three of the original books is known, with Touma gaining permission to republish La Souris from Abboud’s daughter Christine.

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STYLE

A BREATH OF BEJEWELLED ART

by Marwan Naaman

French jeweller Van Cleef & Arpels creates dreamlike pieces that resemble unique works of art

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STYLE

Jewellery has been a prized possession for centuries,

Diamond Breeze incorporates pieces from three artistic

and many famous men and women from around the

Van Cleef & Arpels collections — Socrate, Fleurette and

globe have spent time and fortunes trying to get their

Frivole — and includes, as the name suggests, white

hands on a particularly valuable stone. Harry Winston

gold and diamond creations that are pure, delicately

bought the illustrious Hope Diamond in 1949 for the

designed and evoke a sense of lightness. Pieces

sheer pleasure of owning such an expensive stone,

chosen for Diamond Breeze run from pendants and

and Richard Burton gave Elizabeth Taylor a dazzling

necklaces to rings, earrings and clips, all in a three-

ring in 1968 that has since been named the Elizabeth

dimensional volume, with asymmetrical compositions

Taylor Diamond and is now worth millions of dollars.

and gracious angles. In addition, each piece sparkles and glows thanks to set surfaces that are carefully

More recently, jewellery has been elevated into an

pierced to allow the gems to capture beams of light.

art form, with a handful of museums and art galleries organising exhibits of special jewellery pieces. New

While the white gold highlights the exceptional quality

York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art famously staged

of the diamonds, it’s the shape of the designs that

the ‘Jewels by JAR’ exhibit from November 2013 to

elevates Diamond Breeze into art. Part dream, part

March 2014, showcasing more than 400 works by

fairy-tale, Diamond Breeze includes, among others, the

illustrious jewellery designer Joel A. Rosenthal. And in

Fleurette ring, lined with diamonds and exploding with

March and April 2014, Gagosian Gallery on Madison

a winter rose in bloom; the Frivole flower clip, which

Avenue in New York hosted the ‘Precious Objects’

reinterprets Van Cleef & Arpels’ illustrious emblem

exhibition, featuring spectacular jewellery designed

to capture the carefree spirit of the 1950s; and the

by Victoire de Castellane, creative director of Dior

Socrate flower pendant, a sculptural piece adorned

Joaillerie. For her pieces, De Castellane used rubies,

with a flower inspired by the starburst of the Angelica.

opals, emeralds, sapphires and diamonds, set in gold and lacquer, to create an extravagantly bejewelled universe. That show was a milestone: it marked the first and only time that Gagosian Gallery exhibited jewellery, and it also deftly signalled that precious

opposite page: Robe Couleur du Temps necklace, from the Robe Couleur du Temps set, Peau D’Ane collection

this page: Lotus d’Orient ring, from the Pierres de Caractère collection

stones had transformed from coveted possession into distinctive artwork.

Which is where Van Cleef & Arpels comes in. The French jewellery house has been in business since 1896, creating pieces for the likes of Grace Kelly and the Duchess of Windsor. Van Cleef & Arpels jewels and watches have long been appreciated, and the older pieces have become veritable collectors’ items.

More recently, though, Van Cleef & Arpels’ collections have crossed into artistic territory as well, most notably with the recent Diamond Breeze event.

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STYLE

clockwise from top left: Baguette Magique clip, from the Peau D’Ane collection — Robe Couleur de Lune clip, from the Peau D’Ane collection — Forêt Merveilleuse clip, from the Peau D’Ane collection — Robe Couleur de Soleil clip, from the Peau D’Ane collection

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STYLE

top: Peau d’Ane clip, from the Peau D’Ane collection bottom: Château Enchanté clip, from the Peau D’Ane collection

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STYLE

this and opposite page: Charms Gold collection

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STYLE

Van Cleef & Arpels’ artistry has also extended to its

subtly replicates the motif of the rotating charm. At the

collection of watches, specifically with the 2014 release

same time, the Van Cleef & Arpels name is engraved

of the Charms Gold watches, encased in pink gold

in Arabesque-inspired English calligraphy on the rim

and embellished with a lucky charm.

of the case, meaning that the watch is

The Charms Gold timepieces come

signed, like a valuable painting would be.

in three sizes: Mini (25mm), S (32mm) and M (38mm). Although their sizes

In fact, many Van Cleef & Arpels pieces,

differ, the three watches essentially

be they earrings, pendants, rings, clips,

have the same features, and they all

or watches, are much like works of

echo the classic charms that have

art: they’re carefully created, always

been created by Van Cleef & Arpels

inspired by beauty and often unique,

since the 1920s.

limited edition models. Van Cleef & Arpels’ vintage pieces are

The

Charms

watch

had previously been

also regularly auctioned off

at

Christie’s

in

available in different

New York, alongside

versions, set with

precious works of

diamonds, but in

art by the likes of

2014 Van Cleef

Pablo

& Arpels decided

Gustav

to launch Charms

and

Gold, in pink gold,

Gogh.

in order to enhance

it

the of

pure the

artistry

timepiece’s

lines. Shimmering with a delicate polish, the pink

Picasso, Klimt

Vincent

van

Somehow,

makes

perfect

sense for Van Cleef & Arpels jewellery to exist alongside those famed paintings.

gold adds an ultra-feminine and quietly refined touch to the

There are many

watch, reflecting the light and

more

beautifully contrasting with the black satin bracelet.

collections

artistic that

have been designed

by Van Cleef & Arpels

The lucky charm that hangs from

over the past few years, including what

the Charms Gold watch is the detail

is perhaps the world’s dreamiest, most

that first catches the eye, and it

artistic jewellery collection: Peau D’Ane.

accompanies the movements of the wrist by gracefully

Inspired by the classic fairy tale from Charles Perrault

spinning around the case. A number of additional

and featuring luscious pop art colours and romantic,

artistic touches become blissfully apparent upon

painterly designs, the Peau D’Ane range further attests

closer inspection as well. The dial, for example, glows

to Van Cleef & Arpels’ exclusive standing as one of

with white lacquer and features a guilloché effect that

the world’s most creative and artistic jewellers.

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STYLE

Two of a kind 2, colored pencil on paper, by Graham Scarborough Davidson (in memoriam)

THE DIARY OF NICHOLAS CHRISOSTOMOU In his latest diary entry for Selections, Nicholas Chrisostomou discusses Jane Weitzman’s fantasy art shoes

For a multitude of reasons the shoe has become

Back in the 90s, during a gap phase when I was

a modern day objet d’art. Perhaps it’s the extreme

peddling handmade greeting cards in between

lengths to which some will go to wear a fashion

practicing as an accountant in the City of London and

designer’s skyscrapingly high heels. Perhaps it’s the

opening a West End nightclub, I met Jane Weitzman,

range of skins shoes are hued from, some so rare and

wife of shoe designer Stuart Weitzman, international

pricey a small mortgage is needed to own them. Or

luxury footwear company.

perhaps popular television, such as Sex And The City, which catapulted Manolo Blahnik’s and Jimmy Choo’s

My greeting cards, marketed under the name of

into the living room of every fashion conscious person

‘Cards Couture’, were glued together by my own fair

on the face of the planet, is responsible for forever

hands — and those of my friends roped-in when we

transforming the image of the humble shoe and

had ridiculously large orders to fulfil for St. Valentine’s

elevating it to its present artistic status.

Day and Christmas. Part of the range used embossed snake skin and crocodile papers to create touchy-feely

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STYLE

shoe cards, retailed by Harvey Nichols and Liberty in

Corrugated Curves 1,

by Robert Steele

London and Bergdorf Goodman and Barneys in New York, which is where Jane saw them. Despite being married to one of the world’s most successful shoe designers, Jane contacted me personally. This sums up the essence and class of Jane Weitzman. Despite the enormous success achieved by the Weitzman’s to this day I have never once received an email from an assistant or secretary.

gift items — a card, wrapping paper or a book about shoes. Soon Jane was curating the stores’ window displays across the States, showcasing fantasy shoes created by artists all over the world. Jane’s book, Art & Sole, features 150 of the most eccentric pieces from her art shoe collection, which numbers more than 1,000 that have appeared in Stuart Weitzman stores over the years. Shoes on the book’s pages are constructed from the most delicate paper, feathers, ceramics, Swarovski crystal, corrugated cardboard and even fresh flowers. I wonder where they are all Facing Forward,

by Daniele Pollitz

kept? I’m sure a museum dedicated exclusively to shoe art would be incredibly popular.

* Art & Sole by Jane Gershon Weitzman

When the husband and wife team opened their first

is published by Harper Design

Stuart Weitzman retail store on Madison Avenue in New York City in 1995, Jane was determined that the shopping experience should emulate the same southern hospitality, graciousness and warmth she had experienced growing up in Atlanta, Georgia and she made it her goal to ensure that the new Manhattan

Jewels At Work,

by Sharon Von Senden

store was a fun place to shop. A born globetrotter, Jane detoured to gift fairs and craft shows around the world in search of novel items with a shoe theme to retail alongside top-end footwear. After a while shoppers visited Stuart Weitzman stores to buy gift items as well as shoes and bags. Sometimes they just bought

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STYLE

THE GLAMOROUS WORLD OF LOULOU DE LA FALAISE

by Alia Fawaz

The life of fashion icon and muse Loulou de la Falaise has been beautifully curated in a book by Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni and Ariel de Ravenel

The French icon Loulou de la Falaise inspired and

On a recent worldwide tour to promote the book

ingeniously accessorised Yves Saint Laurent’s couture

Loulou de la Falaise, which was co-authored with the

and ready-to-wear collections for three decades.

writer Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni, Ariel de Ravenel

Often referred to as the ‘muse’ of Saint Laurent, she

stopped in Beirut — where her friend the Lebanese

possessed an incredible Bohemian chic style that was

designer Rabih Kayrouz courteously offered his

much imitated, but never equaled. A beautifully curated

flagship boutique to showcase the elegant Rizzoli

new book aptly pays homage to her remarkable life

edition hardback — following recent launches in New

and contribution to fashion.

York, Paris, London and Marrakech.

De Ravenel was actually a close friend of de la Falaise (who passed away in 2011) and her stalwart business partner. She still manages the Loulou de la Falaise jewellery line, which they started together in 2000, the year Saint Laurent retired. It was de Ravenel who actually initiated the book, chose the art director (Alexandre Wolkoff) and writer and meticulously selected the museum-worthy archive of photos (more than 400), including the stunning bijouterie sketches done by de la Falaise for her countless collections.

left: Loulou, p097, © Pierre Boulat

opposite page: Loulou, p256, © Ali Mahdavi

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The two women became friends back in the 1970s when they both worked at Saint Laurent. “We had

Loulou De La Falaise, Book Cover by Michael Roberts

a lot of fun back then,” she muses, referring to the days they hung out with model Betty Catroux, Saint

He was enamoured with her grace, free spiritedness

Laurent and his stylish coterie of friends that are

and eccentric style. “Her first endeavour in the morning

seen partying in the various iconic black and white

was to dress in order to please him,” remembers

and colour images.

de Ravenel. Saint Laurent even famously said: “Her presence by my side is a dream.” Beautiful and boyishly

The book takes you through five chapters of de la

slim, she was the epitome of Parisian chic, yet never

Falaise’s illustrious career and family life. Daughter of

took herself too seriously. On her wedding to writer

an Anglo-Irish fashion model and a French marquis, it

Thadée Klossowski de Rola, the son of the painter

seemed inevitable that fashion would be her vocation

Balthus, she wore a spectacular white Maharaja outfit

of choice, first as a model in the late 1960s where

and later at the after party, looked ravishing in a cobalt

she briefly worked for American Vogue in New York

blue halter top with a theatrical headdress. “She made

posing for leading contemporary photographers

it from cardboard and stuck stones on it at the last

Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon, Steven Meisel and

minute.” It’s precisely that spontaneous creativity and

Bettina Rheims. Bored with modelling, she later moved

ability to channel any look and own it that made her so

to London to try fashion journalism, which led to the

unique. “Today stars all have a team of stylists, it’s so

fateful encounter with Saint Laurent. He beckoned her

contrived and so different now,” says de Ravenel with

to Paris to work for him and the designer and the muse

a hint of nostalgia.

became inseparable.

The book almost flows like a documentary of her life with incredible photo assortments and frequent quotes from her friends or acquaintances. From Oscar de la Renta, Grace Coddington, Elsa Peretti to Diane von Furstenberg, it seems that every notable fashion personality was touched and inspired by her legacy.

The book of course also came with the blessing of Pierre Bergé who presents the forward essay (Bergé, now 84, is the co-founder of Yves Saint Laurent Couture House and today heads the Pierre Bergé Yves Saint Laurent Fondation in Paris where the entire haute couture repertoire is based).

Loulou de la Falaise is a book with plenty of soul and passion told with astonishingly beautiful narratives and images. It is a touching tribute and leaves you feeling that you wished you had known her because, in the words of her friend Betty Catroux, ‘she was always inspired and inspiring.’

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CURATED BY

CURATED BY SHEIKH SULTAN SOOUD AL QASSEMI

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CURATED BY

IN CONVERSATION WITH SHEIKH SULTAN SOOUD AL QASSEMI by

Zoltán Somhegyi

Sheikh Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, a respected commentator on Arab affairs, is also the founder of the Sharjah-based Barjeel Art Foundation, an organisation that seeks to promote art from across the Arab world

Zoltán Somhegyi: The Barjeel Art Foundation

ZS: The collection is also very diversified in terms

has a really significant and extensive collection

of media. There are paintings, graphics, sculptures,

of

MENASA

photographs, installations, videos, etc. On the other

region — extensive not only in its number of

hand, ‘traditional’ techniques such as painting and

artworks, but in variety and its covering of a

sculpture are still the most popular among art lovers

wide geographical area. How can you follow

and collectors in the region. According to your

the developments of these art centres and the

experience, is this tendency changing in the area

production of artists — ranging from the (almost)

and is there a growing interest towards new forms?

completed oeuvres of the great masters — until the

SQ: Conceptual art, video and graphics are a rela-

latest experiments of emerging talent?

tively new phenomenon in the Middle East. Although

Sheikh Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi: I rely on my ex-

I generally prefer paintings there is no denying that

tensive network, which includes artists, collectors

newer forms of artistic expression are also gaining

and galleries, to stay abreast of the latest in the world

ground in the region, especially amongst younger

of art, especially in the Middle East. I also find pub-

artists, although we have seen more established art-

lications and the internet an important resource for

ists also attempt to diversify into new fields.

contemporary

art

from

the

past and upcoming exhibitions respectively. Finally, social media such as Facebook and Instagram is becoming an increasingly important tool to follow the work of artists in the region.

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CURATED BY

ZS: Contemporary art from the MENASA region is

ZS: Many say that the most important advantage in

really in focus now. We see more and more galleries

collecting contemporary art is that you can get in

either completely concentrating on the area’s art

touch with the artist, unlike classical masters from

scene or including artists from the region in their

earlier centuries. However, a lot of collectors still

portfolio. But in terms of the public, do you think

prefer not to know the artist personally in order

that a non-specialised audience can get all the

to (try and) keep their selection objective, without

layers of the works of MENASA artists? How can

any bias. They don’t want to be influenced by a

all aspects of a local work be mediated to those

friendship with the artist. What is your approach

viewers who are less familiar with the references?

in this regard?

SQ: Many artists from the Middle

SQ: I personally prefer to meet

East, North Africa and South Asia

the artist even if I did not intend to

prefer not to be grouped in a re-

buy any of the work. Oftentimes

gional categorisation. They work

the stories of these artists are

as global artists. Similarly, art ad-

best told by them and can change

mirers are able to view and ap-

the entire understanding of an

preciate art regardless of its cre-

artwork. One should not expect a

ator’s origin, although I find that

collector to buy work from an art-

with certain types of artworks it

ist following a meeting with an art-

is essential to have a minimum

ist, although collectors may later

knowledge of that region’s mod-

come to regret not buying a work

ern or contemporary history in or-

from the artist’s studio if they did

der to understand the work fully.

have a chance to visit her there since the selection is far larger

ZS: What initiatives are needed

than what a gallery can hold.

to spread the contemporary art production of the Middle East beyond the region?

ZS: At Barjeel Foundation the visitors can often

What is still missing? More galleries, collectors,

meet other branches of art, e.g. one of your latest

specialised curators, larger shows in museums of

openings was accompanied by a fascinating concert.

global impact?

Can these ‘dialogues’ between the arts efficiently

SQ: One of the biggest obstacles and challenges

attract visitors who were perhaps previously less

for the Middle East art industry is the relatively in-

interested in contemporary visual art?

sufficient number of art critics and writers. Although

SQ: It would be ideal in the Middle Eastern art com-

there are some great writers who specialise in Mid-

munity if we all supported each other. If movies or

dle Eastern art, their numbers have not increased

music videos were made featuring great art, if art-

proportionately to keep up with the growth of the in-

ists could draw portraits of musicians and authors, if

dustry. Without critical writing it will be challenging to

writers featured paintings or music in their blogs and

qualify exhibitions, curators and artworks.

websites. This entire cultural movement in the Middle East would be greatly enhanced if we all come together as we share a common goal.

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CURATED BY

It’s not an easy task to narrow down some of my favourite artworks from the Arab world, which is a testimony to the diversity and breadth of the talent that existed and continues to exist in our region.

This list I have suggested is by no means an exhaustive list. Some of these works I cherish and are owned by institutions and friends; others belong to the Barjeel Art Foundation which I set up in 2010.

Arab art is today finally being recognised by international as well as regional institutions. Arab artists are now an integral part of any serious international exhibition from Europe to North America and increasingly in East Asia as we have seen with Japan’s Mori Art Museum’s Arab Express exhibition and the Singapore Art Museum Terms and Conditions in 2012 and 2013 respectively.

Ironically, what Arab art requires now are more venues

Western institutions including the Whitechapel Gallery

within the Arab world that are willing to celebrate the

in London and the New Museum in New York have

accomplishments of artists from the Maghreb, Egypt,

also chosen to offer dedicated shows to Arab art.

the Levant and the Gulf States. Western auction houses have also started organising auctions in the Gulf for Arab art and over the past few years have included artworks by artists from the Arab world in international auctions. The Arab art world would certainly benefit from more critical writing and more dedicated art museums, however there is no doubt that the future of Arab art is bright and positive.

Sheikh Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi

Founder Barjeel Art Foundation

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CURATED BY

Asim Abu Shakra Cactus with City in the Background

1988 oil on paper 140 × 105 cm Collection of Barjeel Art Foundation

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CURATED BY

Kadhim Hayder The Martyr’s Epic

1965 oil on canvas 91 × 127 cm Collection of Barjeel Art Foundation

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CURATED BY

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CURATED BY

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CURATED BY

Ahmed Cherkaoui Ludmila III

1966 oil on canvas 81 × 100 cm Collection of Mathaf, Arab Museum of Modern Art

139

CURATED BY

Abudul Rahman Al Ma’aini Untitled

2008 acrylic on canvas 140 × 220 cm Collection of Barjeel Art Foundation

140

CURATED BY

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CURATED BY

Marwan Kassab-Bachi Kadouche 1

1966 oil on canvas 162 × 130 cm Collection of Guggenheim, Abu Dhabi

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CURATED BY

Mona Hatoum Infinity ∞

1991-2001 bronze 61 × 34.5 × 34.5 cm Collection of Barjeel Art Foundation

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CURATED BY

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CURATED BY

Sadik Al Fraji The House My Father Built

2010 video installation 400 × 500 cm Edition of 3 Collections of Barjeel Art Foundation, LACMA, and Museum of Fine Art Houston

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CURATED BY

Abdul Qader Al Rais Intifada

1989 oil on canvas Collection of Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts

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25 FEB / 1 MAR 2015

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR /

ORGANISED BY

www.arco.ifema.es

GALLERIES /

Updated February 06, 2015.

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GENERAL PROGRAMME

#ARCOCOLOMBIA

OPENING

SOLO PROJECTS

PHOTOGRAPHY

HOW THE FUTURE WILL REMEMBER The Egyptian artist Lara Baladi amassed an archive of videos, photos, articles and further data during the Egyptian Revolution. The protests at Tahrir Square were the most recorded in history, making Baladi the keeper of an important digital collection. Kasia Maciejowska paid her a visit at MIT in Boston to hear about Baladi’s project, ‘Vox Populi, Archiving a Revolution in the Digital Age’

Considering the status of MIT, the Massachusetts

She was then, as she is now, in possession of a hell

Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, US, as

of a lot of digital video footage. Footage that was

the world’s premier crucible for technological

mainly produced by Egyptian citizens as they captured

innovation, it makes perfect sense that Lara Baladi

the revolution that shook up Egypt in 2011. As a

would anchor her interactive archiving project there.

research fellow at MIT’s OpenDocLab she now has

But only now is it starting to make sense to the

the opportunity of tapping into the experimentation

artist herself — now that she has landed, settled in,

of her academic compatriots in order to work with

and spent a season at her desk in the Comparative

the material she gathered to develop a new kind of

Media Studies and Writing department. Before she

interactive historical narrative. Taking technological

arrived, Baladi had been living an international life,

elements from coding, gaming, big data visualisation,

continuing her trans-media art practice across video,

and theories on memory maps and history-writing,

installation, photography, and broadcasting.

the artist hopes to build an installation that allows the audience (in the space or online) to “remember, experience and interpret a historical event in a new way”, as she puts it.

In December she presented a work-in-progress installation called Notes from #Elsaniyya at Harvard University’s DocShop. Blending live experience with digital elements, people entered a room filled with footage, sounds and smells that represented key moments of revolution in Tahrir Square. left: Lara Baladi, photo by Tina Gharavi

opposite page background: Detail from work displayed in ‘Notes From El Saniyya’, Harvard School of Design, Dec 2014.

Photo by Lara Baladi

148

opposite page top: Notes from El Saniyya, Harvard School of Design, Dec 2014.

Photo by Lara Baladi

opposite page bottom: Tahrir Square, July 2012.

Photo Lara Baladi

PHOTOGRAPHY

149

PHOTOGRAPHY

left: Tahrir Cinema, Tahrir Square, Cairo, 2011.

Photo Sherief Gaber

above: Borg El Amal, Cairo, Contemporary Art Biennale, 2008-9.

Photo by Lara Baladi

AFTER EXPERIENCING A REVOLUTION LIKE THE ONE I EXPERIENCED IN CAIRO, THE USUAL CONCERNS AROUND BEING AN ARTIST BECOME TRIVIAL. THE TSUNAMI OF THE COLLECTIVE IS SO POWERFUL, IT CAN ONLY BE A LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCE

150

PHOTOGRAPHY

As a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice is grounded in photography, Baladi’s eye veers as much towards fiction as documentary. Her interest in the intersection between the image as a record and the image as a tool with tremendous agency extends back far before her current venture at MIT. She made her name telling composite stories that contain multiple “personal layers, cultural layers, archetypal layers”, as she describes them. This emphasis on multiple and co-existent narratives is perfectly matched to the polyphonic possibilities of the online realm, which will enable Baladi to give new form to her central interests using the extraordinary body of content she has inadvertently tasked herself with shaping. “I am interested in how we intertwine stories, in how collective memory works and how History gets written. I am not a historian. I could be closer to a visual anthropologist, but my position as an artist gives me the freedom to tell many truths, Baladi’s work, ‘Borg El Amal’ (Tower of Hope), an

sometimes contradictory ones, to connect historical

ephemeral architectural construction and sound piece

facts with personal interpretations,” she says. Yet she

about informal housing in Cairo’s suburbs, won the

holds the key to the future’s memory of her country’s

Grand Nile Prize at the Cairo Biennale 2008/2009.

revolution shortly after the turn of the 21st century.

Hailing from a Lebanese family with four generations of history in Egypt, she says that neither is her family

During the revolution she co-founded Radio Tahrir

considered Egyptian in Egypt, nor Lebanese in

and Tahrir Cinema, the first projects that emerged

Lebanon. “I am constantly told I’m not Egyptian but

from her archive. She recalls her motivation,

through my work I discover every day how embedded

saying: “After experiencing a revolution like the

I am in that culture”. She was born in Beirut and her

one I experienced in Cairo, the usual concerns

childhood was spent between Cairo and Paris. London

around being an artist become trivial. The tsunami

hosted her undergraduate studies but by the time she

of the collective is so powerful, it can only be a life

graduated she had already formed, in her own words,

changing experience.” Not without sadness Baladi

“an intense and passionate relationship” with Egypt as

recalls how “the second the revolution started, I

the land where her family had settled. Lebanon played

understood that the Egypt that was happening was

a more professional role in her life; she has been on

necessary but that it would come at a cost”. As she

the board of directors of the Arab Image Foundation,

quite rightly adds with characteristic focus: “I am

Beirut’s important archival project for photography and

here at MIT because the revolution is over and

regional history, since its incarnation in 1997.

gathering all these digital documents has become a responsibility, a new level of participating, an act of resistance.”

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PHOTOGRAPHY

SUBTLE CHANGES

by Iain Akerman

Images of the golden era of Beirut form part of the second edition of Photomed Beyrouth, which exhibits ‘photographic meanderings from the columns of Hercules to the gates of the Orient’

A stooped itinerant photographer, his chin resting

“The artistic team tries to find artists who are working

against his chest in gentle idleness, dozes peacefully

on themes that ask questions about the subtle changes

atop worn metal railings in Beirut. He wears a white or

that are taking place in the region, not necessarily

cream hat, and in the background mostly men can be

in a political sense, but ones which reveal changes

seen walking along a calm, relaxing seafront and its

in attitude to the environment, such as the work of

adjacent promenade.

Serge Najjar on the architecture of Beirut,” says Simon Edwards, co-artistic director of

The photograph is just one

Photomed Beyrouth.

of a selection of images from Beirut in the 1960s and 1970s

“In

that forms part of Photomed

Terraz takes us on board

Beyrouth,

of

abandoned merchant ships in

exhibitions and ‘photographic

Mediterranean ports to witness

meanderings from the columns

the lives of stranded sailors

of Hercules to the gates of the

who wait as long as two years

Orient’.

to be paid so they can finally

a

series

another

vein,

Patrice

go home. The well-known The

Lebanese

the

French

cousin

of

Mediterranean

Photography festival in Sanary-

French photographer Bernard le photographe ambulant années 60 (collection Ministère du Tourisme du Liban)

Plossu allows us to share the intimacy of all the small Italian

Sur-Mer, which takes place every May, both festivals aim

Islands of the Mediterranean that he has visited in

to present the work of contemporary photographers

the winter months when only the locals are present.

from the countries encircling the Mediterranean basin,

If you look at the stunning portraits by Leila Alaoui,

with no specific artistic theme. It also shows the work

there is a timelessness in the manner of posing her

of well-known photographers from the same countries

subjects but the very latest use of professional studio

or, like Martin Parr in 2011, those who have worked in

lighting, although she may be in the remotest village.

the area and produced a body of work.

All of these artists display a certain sincerity in their approach and that is what Photomed aims to promote.”

152

PHOTOGRAPHY

above: Patrice Terraz, Sète, France, Mars 2001 (SÊrie Welcome on Board) below: Bernard Plossu, Paysage en chantier, Marettimo, Italie

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PHOTOGRAPHY

The launch of Photomed Beyrouth last year followed a successful group exhibition of young Lebanese

Beirut in Motion (collection Ministère du Tourisme du Liban)

photographers in Sanary-Sur-Mer. With the help of the Lebanese Tourism Office in Paris it was decided to make the jump over to Lebanon with 10 exhibitions

Young Italian photography is present alongside that of

from the French festival. The move proved successful,

the Italian master Mimmo Jodice, as well as a wealth

with this year’s second edition running until 11 February

of photographic heritage from the Eastern Library and

at various venues across Beirut.

unpublished photos from the collection of the Ministry of Tourism of Lebanon. Of the numerous exhibitions

“I think that what appeared at the outset to be

taking place, ’Beirut in Motion’ is being held at Hotel

an ambitious means of grouping these countries

Le Gray in Downtown, while the French Institute hosts

together in what could be seen as an artificial context

Patrice Terraz’s powerful documentary images of the

has gradually become very exciting, extensive,

lives of sailors aboard merchant ships abandoned in

multifaceted and coherent,” says Edwards. “The Italian

Mediterranean ports.

Paolo Verzone, for example, has visited all of the naval and military academies in Italy, France, Spain and

“The most important work on the theme of the

Greece and through beautifully semi-staged images

Mediterranean for me is undoubtedly that of the Italian

allows us to share the pride and earnestness of young

photographer Mimmo Jodice,” says Edwards. “Over

cadets who were asked to choose where they wanted

a period of 12 years he visited the countries of the

to be photographed. The result has sometimes a

Mediterranean in search of the remains of ancient

gentle hint of irony.

civilisations and as a master photographer brought them back to life. He says in his statement concerning

“Arslane Bestaoui is an upcoming talent discovered

the show at the Byblos Bank that ‘My project was not

by Photomed last year in Algeria. In his work we

to photograph and document the ruins or sculptures,

witness the life of single, divorced and widowed

but to walk through cities, temples and roads that, in

women living in the old tumbledown quarter of Oran,

my imagination, were still alive, full of the sounds of

Sidi El Houari. Bestaoui’s use of bright colours in

voices, smells and frequented by real people’.“

his interior/exterior shots underlines the dignity and strength of these women struggling to make ends

The photograph he took of the bronze statue of the

meet and he never criticises.”

young athlete discovered at Pompei — ‘Volto di Atleta 1986’ — is an outstanding example of that process where the boy’s staring face is extraordinarily full of life, fear and expectation. The recent work of photographer Barbara Luisi in large format explores through photography what has only been seen traditionally in painting. She photographs the sea at night dialoguing between sea and the sky. Through the abstract nature of these images she allows us to ask questions about what we see and what we wish to see, a bridge between our internal and external worlds.”

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