Filed under: Laura Boushnak, The Kuwait Scene | Tags: CAP, Exhibition, Kuwait, photography
I got a sneak peek this morning at CAP’s exhibition The Other Resurrection, a collection of photos by the Rawiya collective, a group of six Arab and Irani female photographers with a story to tell: Dalia Khamissy, Laura Boushnak, Myriam Abdelaziz, Newsha Tobakolian, Tamara Abdel Hadi and Tanya Habjouka.
Go to capkuwait.com for details.
Like voyeurs, we peep at Tamara’s sensuous Arab men.
Abed and Laura go over last minute details.
Laura’s ladies and their penmanship on the left and Tamara’s Palestinian man on the right. An edition of Laura’s photos presented here has been acquired by the British Museum.
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Filed under: Instagram, The Kuwait Scene | Tags: contemporary, instagram, Kuwait, nedda el-asmar, sadu, sadu house, tradition, zeri craft
these are a couple of zeri craft cushions in the more traditional sadu colors. it was so hard to pick just one piece as my favorite, even though there was a stand-out. i know that sounds contradictory but to get into that would be to delve into my complicated process of choosing favorites
I must admit that I am finding it difficult to get around to visiting galleries. But every now and then, I make the time, like I did this morning. I visited Laila Al-Hamad’s Zeri Crafts exhibition at the Sadu House. I went because Laila spoke to me about her idea to contemporize the sadu (traditional Gulf woolen weaving) a year ago, which piqued my interest because it integrates my love for fine, handmade objects with my passion for cultural preservation. Plus I love the sadu. The exhibition comprised of scarves and cushions handmade in Laos, a silver incense burner designed by Nedda El-Asmar and a short slide show demonstrating the process by which these lush fabrics are created.
i can just eat these colors. two scarves and laila
two zeri lanterns. zeri is the kuwaiti name for the golden thread woven through the traditional black thobes and abayas to give it more beauty
ok, so the cushion in the middle was my stand-out piece. this photo doesn’t give the blue the justice it deserves. and the reason i said earlier that it was hard to choose my favorite is because practically, the reds, blacks and earth colors are most suitable to my home, but my eye had to go and fall in love with the blue
the design of this burner was inspired by the latticework seen in many of kuwait’s older homes and buildings
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Filed under: Instagram, Out of Britain, The Kuwait Scene | Tags: british, council, desert, instagram, Kuwait, north, painting
my new friend, the ridge
This morning, two film-makers, two curators and two artists headed off to the Mutla’a desert to film a teaser for an upcoming Gulf landscape exhibition organized by the British Council and, in Kuwait, the Contemporary Art Platform (CAP). So this morning, Hamad Khalaf (artist #1) and I (artist #2) met with Alia Farid and Liane Al-Ghusain (CAP) and film-makers Nawaf Alali (Nawaf #1) and Shaheen (Nawaf #2 [we were confused too]), and drove off to the North for an afternoon of non-stop painting, spray-painting, collecting desert debris, filming and eating yummy sandwiches (thanks, Liane’s mom!).
*I didn’t get a chance to look at Hamad’s work and I’m kind of irked with myself for not doing so. But he was perched on a little sand plateau thing and believe me, being out in the sun and sand painting is exhausting and really took its toll on us. And I couldn’t make the (very short) climb. Plus he was busy. Oh I’ll see it when I see it! And then I will definitely share what he created.
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Filed under: Gallery Tilal, The Kuwait Scene | Tags: beads, gallery, jewelry, lbojzazz, tilal
here lubna fuses her passion for the environment with her love for bead work. i knew coca cola was good for something
I haven’t had much time to visit the galleries this season but this particular show was important to me because not only are LB o J’zazz‘s Lubna Saif Abbas and Bettina Al-Bakhit good friends of mine, but I am so inspired by their hand-made jewelry and am a little girl lost in their bead haven in the middle of Shaab (on the seaside). Totemic Flights is the duo’s first showing of their ‘artisanal body adornment’. You can meet Lubna and check out LB o J’zazz’s exquisite jewelry yourself; just click here for the details. (more…)
Filed under: dar al-funoon, PrettyGreenBullet|The Second Exhibition, The Kuwait Scene | Tags: dar al-funoon, event, Exhibition, ghadah alkandari
Cross the bridge for details! (more…)
Filed under: The Kuwait Scene | Tags: bayt lothan, cultural, Exhibition, Kuwait, palestinian
my double-headed muse hind with a mirror and a headless mannequin
My set-up mate and muse Hind and I often begin to enjoy ourselves on the second day of setting up for the Palestinian Cultural Center exhibition. Frankly, the gorgeous merchandise lends itself beautifully to being photographed. And so does Hind.
The exhibition opens tomorrow, Monday, November 14th, 10 am at Bayt Lothan in Salmiya (by Marina Mall). (more…)
Filed under: Palestine, The Kuwait Scene | Tags: bait lothan, Exhibition, palestinian cultural center
decorating these money boxes have been fun, although a little difficult to handle as they are tin and difficult to clean!
At the Palestinian Culture Center we like to encourage the spirit of giving. For a few years now, we’ve been selling these money banks to motivate children and adults alike to collect their change rather than discard it. On the last day of our four-day exhibitions, the money is counted and donated to various Palestinian causes. This year I volunteered to decorate these banks. We used to use small, ceramic urns with a slot, but unfortunately the market was out of those. I don’t think I did too bad with the tin boxes though, as big of a pain as they were!
Cross the bridge for more photos and an invitation to next week’s exhibition. (more…)
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Filed under: Gallery Tilal, The Kuwait Scene | Tags: egyptian art, helmi el-touni, ibis, osiris, thoth
i want it all and i want it now: this exhibition was a collaboration between the gallery and mr. khaled al abdul mughni. al abdul mughni has been a true lover and patron of the arts for all the time i've known him. because of him, we have this wonderful chance to view el-touni's work without having to travel far
As I walked into Gallery Tilal this morning, it dawned on me like a warm Pharaonic sun: I’ve just died and gone to Helmi El-Touni heaven. Around sixty of the Egyptian artist’s works, from 1988 to 2011, are currently on display at Gallery Tilal for just three nights. If you missed the opening last night, you have a chance to go tonight or tomorrow. If you’re a fan of classic Egyptian art, El-Touni’s works are rife with the country’s folkloric iconography and symbolism. My inspiration was rekindled today when I looked at his earlier works and realized the effect his paintings had on my fledgling art in the late 80s and early 90s. For example, my use of blunt drop shadows was greatly influenced by El-Touni among others. I had forgotten all that until today. (more…)
Filed under: dar al-funoon, The Kuwait Scene | Tags: bader albassam, black and white, dar al-funoon, Exhibition, photography
two of albassam's photographs recline as the day continues to be beautiful in the courtyard outside this window
One of our trips this morning took us to Dar Al-Funoon gallery in Sharq. We were hoping to get a glimpse of tomorrow night’s show by Kuwaiti photographer Bader Albassam. And we did. I really enjoyed gazing at his prints, done with standard film and natural lighting. Taken on his trips to countries such as Russia, Yemen and Cuba, Albassam captures intimate moments and truly manages to freeze time, inviting the viewer to enjoy the experiences as he experienced them. Good photography and good company: great hugs from Lucy and her friend Noorah Hadeed, and good to see Cuckoo, the resident pigeon, again. (more…)
Filed under: The Kuwait Scene | Tags: adel el siwi, boushahri, Exhibition, fa gallery, gallery, haytham nawwar, Kuwait, marwa adel, tareq boutaihi
first stop was boushahri gallery for the tareq boutaihi exhibition. i liked his women's bodies but funnily enough not the faces. there was something a little too l'oreal elnett hairspray model about them
I had a busy morning bouncing from one gallery to another. In all, a friend and I dropped by four exhibitions. Our first stop was the Tareq Boutaihi exhibition at Boushahri Gallery. I didn’t immediately take to Boutaihi’s intimate look at barely clothed women but soon their bodies and expressions won me over. As much as I was inspired by his rendition of the female form, I felt a certain lack of sensitivity from the artist in their faces. But that’s just me. I have face bias. Bonus was seeing Mr. Jawad Boushahri. Double bonus was bumping into artist Ja’afar Islah. (more…)
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Filed under: Gallery Tilal, The Kuwait Scene | Tags: Exhibition, gallery, sami mohammed, tilal
this painting welcomes you into a hall filled with sami mohammad's most recent works. known primarily for his sculptures, mohammad has on display around forty paintings and forty sculptures created over the past ten years
I visited Gallery Tilal for very personal reasons yesterday: the exhibition of my first ever inspiration, Sami Mohammad. I remember my father taking me to the Free Arts Atelier over thirty years ago. When my eyes fell on Mohammad’s shocking sculptures. As scary as they should have been to an eight-year-old, I wasn’t afraid; I was just fascinated by his depiction of the human form. He was the first person to demonstrate to me the impossibilities we can achieve through our work as artists with a free mind: the impossibility of a jaw stretching that far down, the impossibility of a man fitting in such a small box, the impossibility of the limbs bending the way they do. But most importantly, I wondered at the emotion and desperation which push a man to end up in such states of impossibility. And from that day on, I started testing myself, my mind and experimented with how far I could push that envelope. So although you exhibit very rarely, thank you for sharing yourself with us one more time (in a career which has spanned over forty years, this is just his third solo exhibition). (more…)
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Filed under: The Kuwait Scene | Tags: art, center, contemporary, Exhibition, Kuwait, lifestyle, platform
a mischievous sprite and skulls: works by fadi yazigi and damien hirst respectively
Tonight is the launch of the Contemporary Art Platform at the Life Center in Shuwaikh. For the first time since 2006′s exhibition Unity in Diversity at the Dar Al-Funoon gallery, you can find, in Kuwait, a collection of this caliber under one roof. From Andy Warhol to Shireen Nishat, this is the art lover’s candy store!
Please check out the invitation here for all the information you may need and a map.
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I think this is going to be one of the most exciting events of the year, if only for the birth of a new Kuwaiti hub for the contemporary arts. I’m not going to be able to attend but gallery director Liane Al-Ghusain was gracious enough to let me have a sneak peak Wednesday morning, an experience I will definitely be sharing with you guys. Good luck, Liane!
Cross the bridge for details. (more…)
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Filed under: The Kuwait Scene | Tags: abdel moueen saleh, boushahri, fadhel abbar, fathi afeefi, gallery, hossam el dine gharbiya, issam darwish, jassem bu hamad, sabeeha bishara, sculpture, sinan hussain, thuraya al-baqsami
this wall is my wall! it's funny but my paintings always end up on this wall
Boushahri’s 3rd Annual Art Salon has opened and I finally got a chance to visit this morning. This exhibition will be up until September 15, so there’s lots of time to visit. It’s a very peaceful gallery and there are lots of places to sit and contemplate the works.
Boushahri Gallery, Baghdad Street, Building 36, Salmiya. Tel: 2562-1119/boushahrigallery@gmail.com (more…)
Filed under: The Kuwait Scene, The Sultan Gallery | Tags: collage, Exhibition, gallery, get tested, painting, reza doust, sultan
'untitled', collage and oil paint on canvas, 200 x 240 cm: this man reminds me of one of my brothers. every time i glimpsed the painting i thought: oh, it's tareq
Last Thursday, in the nick of time, I managed to make it to Reza Doust‘s exhibition at the Sultan Gallery. According to his tally, I was the fourth Kuwaiti artist to visit that afternoon. Not bad for someone who has never been in the top ten of anything before. Back to the point, I had seen some of his latest works either on his site or Facebook page, so knew what to expect. Yet I was taken aback by the sheer size of his paintings. He’s a tiny man who works in a tiny basement studio in Canada. How did he manage works of such magnitude and painted with such skill? In an area so small, how did he put so much movement and freedom into his work? I think the answer comes from a passion inside the man to release the daily burdens imposed either by others or himself. When I see the cut-outs on his canvases, the papers he has collected over the years, including earlier inspirations, I picture a madman in his laboratory, finally deciding to put his references (and life) in order. And I see an organized chaos that so appeals to my sense of dichotomy. I envy his restraint for using color; because it’s hard to stick to a few tones on your palette and still make the painting look as colorful and vibrant as his. I know it’s a cliche, but Doust has proven that great things come in small packages. (more…)
Filed under: FA Gallery, The Kuwait Scene | Tags: amira behbehani, fa gallery, ginane bacho, lise allam, mary tuma, mutaz elemam, reda salem, sina ata
if you know me, you might have predicted that lise allam's work was my favorite there by far. this is a detail of 'hoya', oil on canvas, 100 x 150cm
Although I went to this exhibition four nights ago, I wasn’t too keen on writing about it. And the reason for not writing bothered me more than the fact that I hadn’t written. As I was washing my dishes wondering why I didn’t even bother to upload the photos I’d taken, I came to a realization. Over the past year, I’ve made it my goal to give as honest an opinion as I can about the exhibitions I visited without being hurtful, venomous or catty. With every aspect of my life, because I live in a country which (arguably if you like) is culturally dry, and people pat one another on the back for less than stellar achievements, I try to distinguish between sub-standard, standard and spectacular. And this exhibition, like many before it, was a mix of all three levels. It’s exhibitions like this one which make me question the curator’s ability to discern the difference between strong and provocative artists and artist friends for whom he/she is doing a favor. (more…)
Filed under: The Kuwait Scene | Tags: ali alsarraf, artists, deena qabazard, Exhibition, fa gallery, kuwaiti, young
one of my favorite works at the exhibition: khalid al sahaly, les annees ont tue le clown-edition: 1/5, digital photo printed on canvas
I wasn’t planning on visiting this exhibition last night because I knew it would probably be crowded and I wouldn’t fully appreciate the work. But I ended up going. I got in little later than I normally frequent these events, which served my purpose much better than I could have planned it to. Not only was I able to take a good look at the works, but I got to speak to some of the artists there, one of whom I have a great affinity for, even though she and I have only met a few times before, on similar occasions. There was one thing I wasn’t sure of last night: without question, these artists are young. But are they beginners? I’ve seen Ali Alsarraf’s work before, at other group exhibitions and have been an admirer. Deena Qabazard is so comfortable in her own (gruesome, decaying, pretty) skin that I can’t help but feel that she has been doing this since she was two. On the other hand, you have the ones I believe were students (young, enthusiastic, somewhat talented) whose works reminded me of just that: student work. I think there is no danger of Deena or Ali ever losing their passion for creating, and I don’t see them stopping. To me, it’s part of how they live. With some of the others, it’s what they do at school. I hope I’m wrong. (more…)
Filed under: Rants & Raves, The Kuwait Scene | Tags: huda lutfi, opinion, Sultan Gallery, zan'it al-sittat
it's interesting to me how this gesture has totally different meaning when facing outwards (resigned, tired, dead) than inwards (impatient, anticipating, alive). i have a love affair with hands, so you can imagine my delight at seeing and interacting with this installation
I can’t believe it took me this long to finally make it to Huda Lutfi’s exhibition Zan’it Al-Sittat. Honestly, I just forgot and remembered late last week that this jewel existed in the midst of Sabhan’s warehouses and factories. I walked into the gallery and squeaked with delight (I think I may have even quietly applauded). Moldings of hands, busts, bottles and shoes interspersed between two-dimensional collages of warm-colored, antiquated paintings. The lay-out, of which I heard second-hand that the artist herself thought was sparse, was actually quite neat, and to quote Goldilocks, ‘Juuust right’.
Now, for a little note of clarification: this is not a review. I’m not a writer/critic/journalist. I’m just someone who has my opinions and enjoys voicing them. A few days ago I had some pretty scathing commentary on one of my ‘reviews‘. These comments were designed to insult my work, depth of knowledge and (for some reason, most offensively) vocabulary, without submitting a single constructive bit of enlightenment to me or my guests. But I still felt that I should take the comments as a lesson for the future, because under all this person’s anger, he/she made some valid points. I decided to be, from now on, more prepared and knowledgable of the exhibitions I attend. So today I actually read through a press release by The Third Line Gallery, who represents Huda Lutfi. Did it help me appreciate Lutfi’s work more? Absolutely not. No body of writing can replace the carnal feeling I got in my gut when I saw her work. Maybe it helped me understand where she’s coming from, but not how I feel. So lesson taken, applied, failed and discarded (more…)
Filed under: dar al-funoon, The Kuwait Scene | Tags: adel younesi, afshin chizari, dar al-funoon, Exhibition, nima alizadeh, peyman hooshmandzadeh, rozita sharafjahan
I went to the Dar Al-Funoon Gallery this morning with a preconceived idea. A friend of mine wasn’t very impressed with this exhibition and I jumped at the opportunity to voice my opinion about the unfairness of the art world and how, in little Kuwait, we seem to be overlooked by the international art community and overshadowed by Iran’s art force (for the sake of simplicity I’m going to use words like ‘good’, ‘bad’ and ‘art’ to put my points across). I was formulating a spiel in my head that just because it’s Irani doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good. But damn it, yet again I was wrong. Well, partly anyway. And so I discarded my opinions and started afresh. (more…)
dishdashas, blackberries and muted desert scenes
One of the exhibitions I visited last Sunday was one of Kuwait’s veteran artists’, AbdelRida Baqer. If you like muted, neutral colors, bold yet understated brush strokes and lots of movement, then I think you might like this show. It’s up until May 3rd at Gallery Tilal.
