Emirati abstraction meets floral forms
Also this week: Fire-cooked flavors and contemporary Arab art in Dubai
Welcome back to AL-MONITOR Dubai.
Amid ongoing regional instability, Art Dubai staged its 20th “Special Edition” last week. Despite its postponement and reduced size — featuring just 50 galleries, down from more than 120 originally planned for mid-April — the mood was upbeat, drawing collectors from across the Gulf and wider Middle East. While tourism remains subdued and the economy under pressure, new exhibitions continue to open across the United Arab Emirates. This week, we are highlighting a solo exhibition at Sharjah’s Maraya Art Center featuring the work of Emirati artist Noor Al Suwaidi, the opening of Syrian American designer Nader Gammas’ Gradient, a design space in Alserkal Avenue, and a new restaurant in Dubai centered on live-fire cooking.
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Happy reading,
Rebecca
P.S. Have feedback or tips on Dubai's culture scene? Send them my way at contactus@al-monitor.com.
1. Leading the week: ‘The Sky Forgets, The Heart Remembers’
A view of “The Sky Forgets, The Heart Remembers” by Noor Al Suwaidi. (Photo courtesy of Maraya Art Center)
A new body of work by Emirati artist Noor Al Suwaidi is being presented in the exhibition “The Sky Forgets, The Heart Remembers” at Sharjah’s Maraya Art Center. Curated by Cima Azzam, the show features 40 works comprising the artist’s vibrantly colored abstract anamorphic forms alongside floral depictions that seem to emerge and then dissolve. Suwaidi’s painting and sculptural works are jointly showcased and reflect her evolving artistry and creative practice.
The artist has exhibited across the Middle East, the United Kingdom and the United States, including at Aicon Gallery in New York and Cork Street Gallery in London. Her works are held in permanent collections including the Barjeel Art Foundation, the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation and the private collection of His Highness Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, among others.
“Thanks to the creative and financial support of Maraya, I was able to revisit my sculptures,” Suwaidi told Al-Monitor. “I've created seven new sculptures in the exhibition and large-scale paintings in acrylic and oil pastels on canvas, alongside a body of works on paper. The show comprises three elements: sculptural pieces, the paintings that are reflective of my usual figurative portraiture that melts into the idea of landscape and abstraction and the relationships between colors.”
On view are additional works from a series Suwaidi began exploring in 2013 and revisited during a residency in Mexico, resulting in the floral works included in the exhibition.
Date: until July 30
Location: Maraya Art Center, Sharjah
Find more information here.
2. Word on the street: WINDOW
An interior view of WINDOW at Alserkal Avenue. (Photo courtesy of WINDOW)
Founded by the team behind Dubai’s popular hand-roll bar Kokoro (also in Alserkal Avenue), WINDOW is a chef-driven eatery in Alserkal Avenue built around seasonal ingredients and live-fire cooking.
Inside, guests will find just 32 seats and an intimate, laid-back ambiance reflective of Alserkal Avenue’s creative district setting. Next door are art galleries, artist studios and dance and fitness venues.
The restaurant is led by chef Gonzalo Platero and focuses on simple dishes prepared over fire, fusing comfort flavors with a contemporary twist. The menu is divided into hot and cold starters, including bolognese toast, steak tartare and flatbread topped with spicy honey and cheese.
Diners seeking healthier options can opt for dishes such as Canarian sea bass, while richer plates include smoky lasagna and beef empanadas.
Location: Unit 39, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai
Find more information here.
3. Dubai diary
An interior view of Gradient in Alserkal Avenue. (Photo courtesy of Gradient)
- Gradient by Nader Gammas opens in Alserkal Avenue
Syrian-American designer Nader Gammas opened Gradient last week in Alserkal Avenue, marking his first gallery in Dubai’s creative district. Showcasing lighting, collectible design, antiques and art within a single curated space, the gallery presents a mix of contemporary works, new pieces and vintage objects from the 20th and 21st centuries, all selected through Gammas’ intuitive approach to design. “I felt this was an opportune moment in my design career to present a maturing collection of my own designs,” Nader told Al-Monitor. “It also gives me the chance to share my pieces with a more design-aware public.”
Location: Warehouse 32, Alserkal Avenue
Find more information here.
- Safwan Dahoul, ‘The Eye: An Aperture into the Soul’
For around three decades, Syrian artist Safwan Dahoul has been known for his mesmerizing, melancholic monochromatic works that reflect influences from Picasso’s Cubist style as well as elements of Assyrian and Pharaonic art. Since the late 1980s, the artist has developed an ongoing body of work exploring the state of dreaming. Titled simply the “Dream” series, these works delve into the psychological and physical effects of solitude, alienation and yearning, which shape human experience at different stages of life.
Date: until July 4
Location: B11, Alserkal Avenue
Find more information here.
- ‘All the Lands from Sunrise to Sunset’
The title of this exhibition is a phrase attributed to the ancient Mesopotamian king Sargon of Akkad and invokes one of the earliest assertions of absolute imperial authority. The works on show, in a variety of media, take this assertion as a point of departure and provocation. On view are artworks by Fatma Al Ali, Michael Rakowitz, Alla Abdunabi and Alessandro Balteo-Yazbeck, exploring the persistence of imperialism across time through images, language, material and myth.
Date: until June 1
Location: Green Art Gallery, Warehouse 28, Alserkal Avenue
Find more information here.
4. Book of the week: ‘The Diesel’
While critically criticized when it was first published in 1994, Emirati author Thani Al-Suwaidi’s book was seen as anticipating a cultural shift in the Arab world nearly 20 years before the Arab Spring.
The captivating novel explores how the power of petroleum is greater than any society could have imagined, ushering in a modern era across the region and challenging more traditional and conservative ways of life.
Suwaidi examines the impact of petroleum on a small Arab community and how it leads to the segregation of fathers and sons and the fragmentation of villages, while prompting inhabitants to reconsider who they are, how they live and what they desire.
5. View from Dubai
A view of Emirati artist Khalid Al Banna’s large-scale installation outside the Madinat Jumeirah during the 20th ‘Special Edition’ of Art Dubai, which took place on May 15-17. (Photo by Cedric Ribeiro. Getty Images for Art Dubai)
6. By the numbers
- According to Art Dubai, the fair witnessed a total of 25,000 visitors during the public days of the fair on May 14-17.
- The fair took place in a scaled-back format, featuring just 50 galleries — around 60% fewer than the 120 galleries planned for its originally scheduled mid-April edition.
- The fair featured over 100 presentations from commercial galleries, institutional participants and partners, including Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah Art Foundation, Dubai Collection and Alserkal Avenue, among others.
