The new art season continues…
Defying the heat and humidity, armed with my little pink camera, two friends for support and a borrowed pen, we arrived at Al Serkal early to avoid the evening crowds. As always, the good has to come with the bad. I have my favourite galleries- I am sure many people do. Last night they did not disappoint. An added bonus was discovering that censorship in the UAE art scene seems to be slightly relaxing, which gives me great hope to exhibit my own work here soon! (IN my favourite gallery!)
An evening like this (even two in a row) gives me an ‘art overload’, but unfortunately with the art ‘binge’ , comes the art ‘hangover’. I intend to go back to visit some exhibitions again as I feel on the opening evenings, I just do not get enough time or space to view the works properly. So the following selection of galleries/ artworks are the ones that stood out from the gluttonous gallery hopping, grabbed my attention or gave some sort of immediate reaction. Enjoy the quick glance at my favourites and I shall go more into depth on later visits:
Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde: Bita Fayyazi, Rearranged: Selected works from 1998 to 2014.
Love! This show is a small overview of works by Iranian artist Fayyazi, using found objects and ceramics. The Cockroaches (1998-1999) gives an uneasy creepy feeling and though somehow I find them comical, they also remind me of death and decay. Trunkated (2012) is reminiscent of the female body where I see the broken dainty porcelain tea sets as a break from tradition. I also find the work quite sensual and suggestive upon closer inspection.
Ayyam Gallery: The Young Collectors Auction.
Some very interesting artwork to collect. Mustafa Ali’s work here is more interesting than seen at DIFC the previous night. Lalla Essaydi is always a favourite of mine (hence the subject of my graduate research paper in progress). Alireza Fani’s photograph, Kezban Arca Batibeki’s and Aysegul Sagbas’s mixed media on canvas and Ammar Al Beik’s print- well, you can see I am going with a theme here! These works really intrigued me in the sense of trying to understand where and how to place my own art within the local scene, especially in terms of censorship.
Lawrie Shabibi : Act & Application (group exhibition)
I love the photographs by Italian artist Ra di Martino. Depicting deserted movie locations, the photos have an eerie feeling of loss and disappearance. The futuristic ruins (Stars Wars movie location) bring a sadness of loss, yet the generation you mourn for did not exist but is a fantasy constructed by man.
These artworks sum up my favourites from the opening evening! There is plenty more to see and I intend to return to Al Serkal as soon as possible for more. You can view their website here: http://www.alserkalavenue.ae/
Art&About 