art dubai 2013
saad qureshi’s ‘borrowed from the shadows’, or as i affectionately called it ‘kufeya intestines’. i think this is the first work that stirred my insides. how difficult it was for me not to wrap myself up in these stuffed fabric coils. visceral and beautiful. chomp!
After years of ‘You’re not going to Art Dubai?’ or ‘You must go to Art Dubai’, I decided to go to Art Dubai. I was always skeptical about it, accused it of being too commercial, that art should not be displayed in such an exhibitionist manner, that it should be more intimate, ideally displayed in a gallery/museum or exhibited in public with a decent space in which to view and appreciate it. And as an artist-and ultimately a human being-I thought it would be a total ego crusher. ‘Why can’t my work be here?’ ‘What’s wrong with me?’. I can safely say that I was right about both. Art Dubai is not for the artist. At least not one of the faint-hearted variety. I suppose it is ostensibly a place to go to view deserving artwork. But I feel it is mostly aimed at the prospective gallerist/collector. And the schmoozers. Having said that, I did manage to brush myself off and enjoy both schmoozing (Collector’s Circle anyone? Thank you, Farida Sultan for my VIP pass!) and a mild form of networking. And most importantly, there were many inspiring works.
I have to be fair and say that Art Dubai was quite impressive. It’s just that next time I’ll go not as an artist, but a lover of the arts. And I’ll take a friend.
i loved these simple lines by waqas khan. i’m sure there’s a larger complexity here, but i often tend to listen to my gut
works by daniele genadry (left) and ayman baalbaki at the agial gallery
i have to admit i only took this photo because of the hip ladies. see? it’s these distractions that make the fair feel more like a bazaar than a proper venue for displaying artwork
camille zakharia’s work at the albareh gallery. i’m happy to say that i will be exhibiting my works at this gallery in october/november 2013
a glorious piece from sachin george sebastian’s series ‘metropolis and cityplanners’
thank you, art dubai, for this. i’ve always loved chiharu shiota’s haunting works. here a chair in charming decay
i felt so lucky standing this close to shiota’s work (i’d love to see her larger installations). this is one of the privileges of having a fair like art dubai so close to home: the opportunity to be in the presence of genius like this
pistol. i don’t think i can ever tire of seeing objects swallowed whole by shiota’s carnivorous string
this lovely man caught my attention. i was so transfixed by him i forgot to note the artist’s name. i guess it doesn’t really matter
ehsan ul haq’s 12 donkeys
i just love yasam sasmazer’s sculptures. to me they embody our childhood fears, or perhaps courage. one or the other. the other night i saw the former but today it’s the latter
yi hwan kwon’s running boy and girl. these were so bizarrely distorted. i was quite fazed by them. i still don’t understand what makes them so visually disturbing, yet intriguing
i was more interested in the instagrammical factor here than the work itself. this genre does not appeal to me at all, but it lends itself to infinite interpretation which is what i like
youssef nabil signing his eponymous book
I dislike Dubai. Although it’s refreshing to see good art on show even in that place. When I was there I was struck by the highly polished veneer of expensively bought “culture”, the absence of soul.
R
I was trying my best to be kind :)
I could tell . . . so was I.