Review - Art Dubai and Al Bastakiya Art Fair

I spent most of the current UAE art and culture frenzy in Sharjah at the Biennial (about which I’ll write later) but spent a couple of days at Art Dubai and the Al Bastakiya Art Fair (formerly Creek Art Fair – there’s a lot of re-branding about at the moment!).

The first thing I saw in Art Dubai was an old friend, visually speaking, which was Nelson Leirner. His wacky assortment of Mona Lisa memorabilia mounted in small separate frames covering a whole wall was immediately recognisable as his. Last year he covered a whole wall with manipulated Sotheby's catalogues and on talking to the Bolsa de Arte people I discovered that this work had actually been bought by Christies which is pretty funny in itself. However, the idea to feature him alone this year didn't really work. It needed some variety to balance his singularity and without that the work seemed to become like caricature.

Wandering around this year I didn't see much that truly grabbed me but I really liked the Trojan horse style building by Gigi Scaria at Sun and Sun Contemporary Gallery and the big painting at Michael Schultz by Huang Min which placed modern tourists in front of a traditional painted Chinese scene. The Mario Mauroner Gallery had some interesting works on paper by Barthelemy Togno and an epic installation by Fabrizio Plesso called Armada Rosso. This was a big bank of thick coppery metal shelves containing skeins of red wool. The base shelf was composed of a line of TV screens showing a looped video of waste water from the dyeing process running like a river of blood.

I saw a few things from Dubai galleries this year that I hadn't seen before and which were great. From the Third Line, Ala Ebteker's Ahmadinejad jacket made me laugh out loud and if it were mine I would definitely wear it although I may have to insert a caption that reads ‘I now kill bloggers too’. Ahmedinejad (a.k.a Imadinnerjacket) really should have been a comedian rather than the ruler of a country that truly deserves much better leaders. We would all have been so much better off but it’s never too late for a career change. Farhad Moshiri's latest work was there too but that is probably covered by some of the comments below.

Art Space’s installation by Ahmed Matar of a magnet and iron filings representing Mecca was brilliant in its simplicity and consequently made an impact on a number of different levels. It was also a very fresh image relating to the region as the key marketing trends are starting to wear very thin. Zena Al Khalil's furry and confettied kitsch Kalashnikovs at Tanit are a shining example of how rapidly an easily overplayed idea can become novelty art. In fact a lot of what I saw this year from all over seemed to fit into that category.

There seems to be a general disinclination to think too much and then claim subversion or irony while hoping the global attention span of a goldfish means you get away with it. This is starting to result in some pretty trashy product. It really does seem to have become more product than art and in relation to regional product if I see one more woman in an abaya/scarf variation image I'll scream. Particularly if it's juxtaposed with something western and especially if that happens to be Coca Cola as in the work of one artist in Al Bastakiya. Get over it... as a friend of mine remarked.

The honourable exception to this was Waheeda Malullah's short video piece Colours which was showing in the Bidoun Art Park and as usual there was a lot of good video work down there which I didn’t have time to see. Why oh why can’t you buy DVDs of work showing in the Art Park? It’s a captive market so you can inflate the price and proceeds can then be distributed accordingly! I thought this at the Dubai Film Festival as well. There were several films I would have bought including some that I actually saw and really wanted to show other people.

Talking of video it was the video installation pieces at Art Dubai that I found most memorable this year. Having had a lot of experience in the field, I loved the idea of Kutlug Ataman's multi-video English as a Foreign Language at Francesco Minini, but completley failed to understand why the Abraaj Prize piece was rated so highly.

Ferideh Lashai's three-part video at Al Bareh Gallery was a development and extension of her piece last year in the Art Fair formerly known as Creek. The work has been extended in terms of both medium and scope now re-telling a whole story rather than being a straightforward but innovative projection piece. In the Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery 'Oil Paintings' were apocalyptic projections of burning oil fires onto painted canvas. They were fascinating to watch and provoked a lot of questions and interest. I actually quite liked them but did wonder about their gimmicky nature. Fantastic for atmospheric exhibitions in darkened rooms and likely to attract the curious hordes but would I buy one? Probably not.

Arguably a work in the Agial Gallery (I didn't get the artist's name unfortunately) encapsulates everything I’ve moaned about above - stereotypes, gimmicks, kitsch, novelty etc. but I loved it. Several heads with faces obscured to various degrees in a now definitive militant visual were painted on an up-ended mobile vegetable stand of the type you see all over the Middle East. The stand was painted with gold and flowers and even had small light bulbs across the top depicting the constellation of the plough. Maybe it was this material authenticity that made it so different and the fact that it was also reminiscent of European iconography. It seemed to have a bit of everything - politics, religion, several kinds of history, low-end economics and astronomy used in a way that even managed to reference celebrity.

Others that stick in my head are Haunch of Venison, the Kalfayan Galleries, the October Gallery and Kashya Hildebrand for Anja Jensen and particularly Gohar Dashti. I also liked the minimalist plasticity of Lee Bae's reworking of old themes at Hakgojae. Maitha Huraiz’s work Behind Closed Doors at Elementa stood out and this was confirmed on seeing that the same piece had sold several copies down at the Bastakiya. There was actually a lot of photographic work relating to the region especially Iraq and Palestine including some great Gazan interiors by Taysir Bataniji at LA Bank and Rula Halawani's oddly angled images of checkpoints and the wall at Selma Feriani. This all tied in nicely with the Mapping Palestine exhibition curated by Art School Palestine which included a series of seminal Palestinian video shorts in the Bidoun Art Park.

A lot of work this year seemed to touch on environments in the widest sense– interiors and exteriors, urban and organic. In many cases these elements were mixed up particularly in Bastakiya where one of the highlights was the Guy Flichy Gallery exhibiting Monica Zeitline and Bryan Nash Gill. Juxtaposing Gill’s nature based, muted print and sculpture works with Zeitlines busy urban collages worked really well.

Another highlight of Bastakiya was Bo Tasle d’Heliand whose images of the Turkana people in Kenya had a Google earth perspective and used earth and other materials from the locations depicted. Unfortunately, it was hard to appreciate their scale and detail in the small and rather dark room they were crowded into.

I didn’t go to many of the talks in Dubai this year. In fact the only one was about Online Art Journals in which I obviously have a vested interest. Sadly the chance of being paid to write about these events this year fell through after a dispute about money with ..… an online art journal! It was widely agreed that Flash Art International really should consider being more generous with its contributors.....

The (Dis) United Arab Emirates Pavilion at the Venice Biennale

The UAE is the first Gulf country to be offered its own national pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Taking place from June to November 2009 this is a fantastic opportunity for the UAE to showcase its most talented artists and promote itself as a creative leader in the region. Assembling the best from each emirate (and we all know who they are really ... ) will be an invaluable exercise in cultural presentation to an international audience largely unfamiliar with the artistic output of the UAE. As such it is essential that a strong, positive and cohesive national pavilion is created......

Er........ apparently not!

There will now be two pavilions: the official 'UAE Pavilion' organised from Dubai and an additional 'Abu Dhabi Pavilion' otherwise known as the 'Adach Platform for Venice'. According to the usual maelstrom of rumours, this parting of the ways seems to be a product of hissy fits on both personal and federal levels and has also affected which artists will feature.

The UAE Pavilion will remain in the national pavilion category while Abu Dhabi has inserted itself (presumably at great cost) into the 'collateral' category which focuses on a particular theme.

What an embarrassing waste of an opportunity. Unless of course the underlying conceptual intention is to convey the deep cultural significance of petty inter-emirate feuding to a global audience.

It will certainly be confusing for the geographically challenged who will judge the UAE's cultural output on the officially named pavilion curated by Dubai while wondering where the country of Adach is. Those who do realise they are witnessing the UAE divided will be confused and most certainly amused at the absurdity while several will never take the UAE seriously again. Not a great entrance to the most prestigious art event in the world is it??

I don’t usually do this but…

I’ve just come back from a trip to Jerusalem. It’s my first trip there in four years. Going back to Jerusalem and catching up with the situation is never a surprise but always a shock. The dramatic increase in checkpoints, new sections of the wall and the expansion of settlements means that Jerusalem is more or less encircled. This physical reality renders the idea of it being the future capital of a Palestinian state absurd. In fact what I saw and heard on this trip left me with the uneasy conclusion of the complete and utter impossibility of a Palestinian state on ANY level.

The disconnection and complications of movement of either people or goods between Palestinian cities, let alone internationally, make it economically unviable. In several cases the wall now separates villages from their agricultural land and water resources ensuring their destitution. The absurdly time consuming and circuitous routes that Palestinians with West Bank or Gaza ID now have to make to get in and out means also that each city becomes a kind of prison for the terminally exhausted.

An eye specialist friend told me that many with eye injuries from Gaza had to travel from Gaza to Egypt then to Jordan and then by land from Jordan to Jerusalem. The time this took meant that it was impossible in many cases to save sight. Meanwhile Gaza to Jerusalem direct by road is a mere 78km.

Increased ambiguities in terms of both support and effectiveness of the PA plus the added complications of Gaza make it politically unviable. Interestingly some still believe that the release of Marwan Barghouti may be the political unifier. However, no one knows when that will be, there is less and less to unify around and an increasing perception that all leaders except Hamas are merely Palestinian administrators of Israel’s occupation. This perception does not result in a corresponding increase of political support for Hamas.

Perhaps what is most disturbing is that a Palestinian state no longer seems to be viable in the national psyche. Lives are conducted within cities largely cut off from one another and public focus has shifted to survival in these immediate and experienced urban environments. Combined with the oppressive reality of the wall, making Palestinians invisible not only to the Israelis but also to each other, even the idea of a state seems to have atrophied.

It’s so strange to see something that now requires a short introductory seminar to be comprehensible to anyone with a life. It is actually so complex that the effort required to understand it is way beyond reasonable but without that effort there is only a very simplistic way of interpreting it. I guess it was always a bit like that but now there is nothing in between. It's like some kind of bizarre mathematical equation that only works in extremis. Maybe it's an example of complexity theory.

Whatever it is hearing Hilary Clinton talk about the inescapability of a Palestinian state was like listening to someone who hadn’t attended the introductory seminar....

Emirati Expressions Exhibition

This is the biggest show to date of Emirati artists and Abu Dhabi has gone for it a big way. It runs until April 16th at Gallery One in the Emirates Palace Hotel, features 64 artists, a programme of events and an unusually impressive website! The show was organized by Dubai’s Art Connection and the Abu Dhabi Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC), and was curated by Anne Baldassari, director of the Musée National Picasso in Paris.

Baldassari has transformed Gallery One into a walk-in black box and the spotlighted work seems to glow in the context of entirely black walls, floor and ceiling. The smoked mirror across the end wall adds an extra subterranean disorientation reminiscent of ghostly fairground attractions. This is particularly appropriate for Husband 1 and Wife 2 by Maisoon Al Saleh depicting two skeletons dressed for their wedding but the dark and gothic sensibility I have noticed before in Emirati work is also evident elsewhere in this show. This is mostly in the form of atmospheric digital composites but Jalal Luqman takes it to another level by housing his tormented figures in huge industrial metal frames.

Other works that looked very comfortable in the darkness were Jamila Al Suwaidi’s ‘Astro-photographs’ of lunar and solar eclipses and other astronomical events, and Abeer Al Tahlak’s transparent multi-layered installation with superimposed text. Some of the painting benefited from the darkness but it was good to see work by veterans Dr. Najat Makki and Abdel Rahim Salem alongside newer painters such as Wasel Safwan. It was also a relief to see contemporary art pioneers Hassan and Hussein Sharif especially given doubts about the participation of any Flying House artists in this show.

Several of the artists in this show had also participated in Suhoor: an Emirati Exhibition in Dubai last December and many were showing exactly the same work. In most cases it was the best of the work from the Suhoor show but the repeat performance was a bit unimaginative. The most notable addition to this previously shown work was Reem Al Ghaith’s impressive wall installation Dubai: What’s left of her land? a piece that will also feature in the Sharjah Biennale later this year.

Much of the calligraphy also had a contemporary twist. Mohammed Mandi’s painted works on leather looked like prints, while Nassim al Majed used brass and Italian glass mosaics to create script on Indonesian volcanic rock. Faiza Al Mubarak’s ornate and chunky book-like sculptures also contained a very tactile and interesting mix of materials and the larger sculptures, like Azza Al Qubaisi’s metal works and Mohammed Yousef’s smooth wooden thumb, provided some quirky dimensional diversity.

There seemed to be a lot of photography, not all of it memorable, and a predominance of work influenced by technology and graphic design. This perhaps reflects the greater availability of education in these subjects in the UAE and graduates from the American University of Sharjah’s, School of Architecture and Design were particularly well represented. One of these was Khuloud Sharafi whose series of mixed media works depicting Umm Kalthoum were one of the show’s highlights. Umm Kalthoum’s image is ubiquitous and has often been used in art from the region which makes new depictions a risky undertaking. However, Al Sharafi’s simple association of her image with the audio technology of her time worked very well and using a transfer print and etching on an old vinyl record was inspired.

Also inspired was a video made by filmmakers collective The Circle which featured cut up sound bites from interviews with all the participating artists. In an environment where local artists have had little public exposure and where art is a relatively new career choice, the video and exhibition combined provided a very personal introduction.

Emirati Expressions: Art from the heart of the Emirates

Gallery One, Emirates Palace Hotel, Abu Dhabi

Until 16th April 2009

Thanks to Govind Dhar for photos

Let's hear it for shouting ...

Prompted out of my post-New Year apathy by a comment from Moryarti posted on my previous blog entry, I am happy to report that a three pronged deposit recovery strategy has been successful. After a couple of extremely civil visits to the office we started setting dates when were coming in and expecting to get the cheque. We then called shortly before each appointed time and date to make sure and on being told the cheque still wasn't ready we started some serious shouting. Over a few days we relentlessly bruised the eardrums of every single hapless member of staff in turn. The final call contained the word 'rent committee' several times and by the end of that day we received our first ever call back informing us the cheque was ready! On our way to a friend's house on Christmas Day we dropped by the office and the Al-Sharafi Santa and his little helpers gave us the goodies!

Thanks to all on UAE Community Blog for advice received! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Groooooaaannnnn....

As usual the period of unusually rational exuberance evident in my last post has given way to the normality of some constantly nagging financial bullshit that has to be dealt with.

Although we have been out of Dubai for a month now we still haven't got our 5000DHS security deposit back nor the last advance rent cheque. We have pleasantly visited the office, phoned numerous times as is the norm here in the absence of any of those promised calls back, but still no cheque. There are no outstanding issues with the flat we vacated and the cast iron evidence is that the flat has already been rented out to someone else.... or so our sources tell us.

So what to do. We called what we thought was the head office only to discover that it the same office we are already dealing with. Everyone there we speak to says it is the responsibility of the man who told us he was waiting for 'head office' to a) inspect the vacated flat ... er ... presumably done before the new tenants moved in? and b) to prepare the cheque. Incidentally this man has now stopped answering our calls.

Have posted question about this on UAE community blog but it is one of those UAE things that I can never get used to... that constant feeling of slight nausea because you know that however good things seem to have got there is always another fucking battle just around the corner.

I love Sharjah ..

Sharjah rocks! It is so weird. It's just down the road from Dub but is like being in a totally different country. I feel like my feet actually connect to solid ground in Sharjah. In Dubai I always felt like I was walking on ice somehow and was never quite sure how thick it was. Even the taxi drivers are different. They have all the same problems but seem less stressed out than Dubai taxi drivers despite the nightmare of central Sharjah traffic.

Also Sharjah has got off to a very positive start in a way Dubai didn't for me. Completely out of the blue and starting the week I actually moved here, was a gift of a job working with the Sharjah Biennale and Bidoun Magazine. I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that this is the coolest job in the universe and I can hardly believe its mine! As a consequence I have been allah kareeming and ulhumdulillahing all over the place which goes down very well in Sharjah. What;s more the job is based right in the middle of Sharjah's arts and heritage area which is just ... well.. ..ulhumdulillah.... see what I mean?!

Another positive is of course the weather... numerous thunderstorms last week and lots of lovely rain! I know it didn't rain much in Dubai last winter (apart from the three days that George Bush came), but the only time I heard thunder in Dubai was that weird day they seeded the clouds!

So .. I don't actually miss anything about Dubai yet although next week is the Dubai International Film Festival and I'm sure that taxi-ing in and out of Dubai most days is going to be a complete pain in the proverbial. But I sneaked a press pass again which means I get free tickets so I ain't complaining!

Art Paris Abu Dhabi

This year’s Art Paris-Abu Dhabi seemed very different to last year. However, I’m not sure if this is just my perception or if there really was an objective shift in focus. It definitely seemed less ‘European’ but perhaps this is because one of the first gallery stands in the main hall was the UK's Waterhouse and Dodds. This stand contained a who’s who of regional big hitters and earners. Farhad Moshiri – check, Shirin Neshat – check, Parviz Tanavoli – check, Charles Hossein Zenderoudi – check. Yawn – check.

Most prominently displayed was Lalla Essaydi’s triptych of a figure reclining in an interior with everything covered in Arabic script. Displayed below, was the centrefold of the National with the same image reproduced as part of a feature on the art collection of Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Zayed which magically appeared two days before the opening! Worries that sales would be affected by the global downturn was evidently not something Essaydi had to worrry about nor probably any other artists in MBZ's collection!

This start set a slightly weary tone for my trip around the fair this year although a few other things did register. Enrico Navarra had an event-specific graffiti work drawn on paper around the wall of one part of its stand. This was absolutely inspired and I sincerely hope that it was snapped up for the MBZ collection.

Patrice Trigano, had several works by photographer Julien Leclerc including one mesmerising image of a bullfight. The merging of the component parts of the image was reminscent of Picassos ‘Death of a Female Toreador’ although it was a defintive victory for the toreador in this case. Another work which was essentially a study of wet sand, was also mesmerising in its textured and shadowed simplicity. Both of these images were like strong silent types providing a reassuring antidote to the political noise of some of the middle eastern work.

This perception of noise also struck me at the Tamenaga gallery showing the work of Cheng Jiang Hong and Kyosuke Tchinai. Both artists were obviously absorbed in a purely creative process which reconstructed and reinterpreted parts of their own art histories. There was a narrative thread in Hong’s work which almost read like a book and Tchinai had merged all the most recognisable features of traditional Japanese technique into images that were 2D but sculptural in their impact. One image in particular was so breathtaking I understood for the first time in my life why people spend money they don’t have.

After this I wandered aimlessly around the rest of the fair feeling slightly guilty for being irritated with ‘modern middle eastern art’ although perhaps it’s just the Iranians I’m bored with. Ahmad Mualla’s huge painting at Green Art Gallery was stunning and Lara Baladi’s beach collages at B21 are pure entertainment.

Guy Ferrer and Bernard Pras, the only artists being shown by Nathalie Gaillard, were also memorable. In a context where many small spaces are often overstuffed with multiple artists and styles, a minimal display technique can be very effective!

Squatting and Exhibiting in Dubai

Countdown to Sharjah has entered final week and I am re-visiting a bizarre combination of two periods in my life - squatting and being a student.

Spouse has secured furnished apartment in the People's Great Neighbouring Jumhurriyah so with assistance from Dubizzle and the Spinneys noticeboard I have been furniture souk central all this week. As of two days ago I have had no fridge, cooker, washing machine, bed or sofa. This means I am sleeping on a mattress on the floor and living primarily off of Korean pot noodle. Given the absence of any other form of entertainment since the TV left, I am also playing a disturbing amount of PC games.

When I was a student PCs didn't exist so entertainment consisted mostly of music which I still have here except it is now all on one small device. So all I need is a case of warm beer and a carton of Marlboro and I could pretend to be 21 again......probably not a good idea.

Given these circumstances it is amazing that I managed to scrub up well enough to attend the opening of 'Women in Art IV' at the Courtyard Gallery this week. I have three paintings in this show (above) which ends on November 20th and then its off to Sharj 2 days later. I'm really glad that I could end my time living in Dubai with an exhibition.

PS. If anyone wants a cheap as chips dining table, desk, office chair and bookcase let me know!

Day trip to Islamic Civilisation

In line with my imminent move to the centre of the known local cultural universe, I just paid a visit to the Sharjah Museums Department. Sharjah has more museums than the rest of the Emirates combined and in the past year it really seems to have been getting its act together.

Arty types are more likely to know about Sharjah because of the biennale which predates any substantial ‘arty’ offerings from Abu Dhabi or Dubai. Even so I have never understood why Sharjah and its assets don’t get more press or other coverage.

I suppose it’s partly because Sharjah doesn’t have the manic self promotional tendencies of its neighbours and has nothing to prove in the cultural arena anyway. By contrast both Dubai and Abu Dhabi seem desperate to promote their respective ‘visions’ of the UAE’s cultural future and their roles in it. Unfortunately, the words ‘vision’ and ‘future’ are not much use to somebody who needs a regular injection of ‘reality’ and ‘present’ and this Sharjah visit gave me a good dose of both.

The museums department now has an educational section for promoting Sharjah’s museums of archaeology, natural and social history, calligraphy, art, aviation and several more. Although these institutions are always good for attracting stray tourists, the focus of the educational department’s outreach is decidedly local. This means nationals, residents, schools and universities. There are family activities, school activities, cultural awareness programmes and some very cool stuff to see especially in the jewel in the Sharjah crown, the new Museum of Islamic Civilisation.

The museum only opened last June and contains a fascinating and extensive collection of historical, scientific and cultural artefacts. Some of these have been donated or purchased especially for the museum but the majority apparently constitute the personal collection of Sharjah’s ruler.

The first floor is dedicated to science and technology. This includes astronomy, navigation, medicine and chemistry and I was delighted to see a whole cabinet of astrolabes. I like astrolabes and this is the first time I have actually seen one for real! They are amazing inventions but are also works of art and craftsmanship in their own right.

Another delightful surprise was the ballistics and weapons section which I don’t want to ruin by describing too much. Let’s just say there are certain aspects that animal rights activists may object to, although the animals used in early biological weapons programmes probably survived.

The second floor is dedicated to the art and craftsmanship of the Islamic world. There are pieces of ancient text and Quranic script carved into wood and stone. Ceramics, metalwork, glass, models of gardens, ancient buildings and architecture.

It was very refreshing to be in a building full of old stuff displayed well and relevant to the location. In fact this trip confirmed for me that Sharjah truly is the centre to which all futures must refer if they wish to maintain a connection to their past. Go Sharjah!!