(c) J Fernandes, Tate Photography

(c) J Fernandes, Tate Photograph

I have by now been to the Choucair exhibition three times in just over a week. It is a show that keeps me coming back, keeps me wanting to dive further and further into the artist’s works. I was lucky enough to take part in a group tour led by the Tate’s  International art curator, Jessica Morgan. Ms. Morgan explained how she first came across Choucair’s work at Agial Art Gallery in Beirut, and from there enquired further about the artist. After visiting her home in Beirut, Morgan found many of Choucair’s works all across her apartment. Morgan found it essential to provide an international platform for Choucair to be appreciated. Morgan wants to highlight Choucair’s position as a significant global artist.

Choucair, a pioneering abstract artist, was born in 1916. While Choucair is perhaps best known for her wonderful sculptures, she has worked with many mediums. Her inspirations are derived from Islamic art, geometry, and science. 

As mentioned on the Tate’s website:

“A rare female voice in the Beirut art scene from the 1940s onwards, Choucair’s work combines elements of western abstraction with Islamic aesthetics. It is characterised by an experimental approach to materials alongside an elegant use of modular forms, lines and curves drawn from the traditions of Islamic design.

The exhibition focuses on Choucair’s sculptures from the 1950s to the 1980s, created in wood, metal, stone and fibreglass, as well as extensive examples of her early abstract paintings and some key figurative works such as Self-Portrait 1943 and Paris-Beirut 1948. “

To put the significance of Choucair’s show into perspective, the other major exhibition taking place at the Tate at the same was the Lichtenstein show! One could buy a double ticket granting access to both! 

photo credit: Abdullah Al Turki

This is a must see show for all those in London, and will be on until Oct. 20, 2013. 

Check out this Video about the organization of the exhibition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB1K4H0vx0g

Check out this link for more information on the show:

http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/saloua-raouda-choucair

The presence of Middle Eastern art at the fair was strengthened by the participation of Dubai’s Third Line and Beirut’s Sfeir Semler Gallery. Sfeir Semler Gallery had a great booth location close to the fair’s entrance. The booth included works by some of the gallery’s star artists including Akram Zaatari, Yto Barrada, and Khalil Rabah. 

Sfeir Semler Booth

Khalil Rabah, ‘The Palestinian Museum of Natural History and Humankind,’ 2012, Oil on canvas, 200 x 100 cm:

Walid Raad:

Akram Zaatari, ‘Before they went to their military training. Studio Shehrazade, Saida 1970, 2006,’ Modern Silver Print:

Wael Shawky, ‘Cabaret Crusades: The Path to Cairo, Soldier,’ 2010:

Etel Adnan:

The Third Line Gallery brought a beautiful selection of works, including a brilliant work by Pouran Jinchi, a great Moshiri, and a beautiful Monir Faramanfarmaian.

Monir Faramanfarmaian:

Slavs and Tatars:

Farhad Moshiri:

Pouran Jinchi:

L & M Arts’ Ahmed Al Soudani piece:

New York City’s Jack Shainman Gallery had 2 beautiful works by Hayv Kahraman:

https://www.facebook.com/TaymourGrahneGallery

and twitter here: 

https://twitter.com/TaymourGrahne

It has been a fantastic 2+ years since I started Art of the Mid East. It has been an honor and a privilege to promote the exciting talent being created by artists from across the Middle East and its diaspora. I have learned a lot about the Middle Eastern art world while blogging, having travelled to major art fairs, conducted artist studio visits, interviews, and research.

I have decided to take my love, passion, and appreciation for Middle Eastern art to the next level, by opening a gallery in the heart of New York City. Taymour Grahne Gallery, which will be opening in Fall 2013, will foster an internationally diverse program of contemporary art aiming to serve as a platform for significant and groundbreaking work from across the world. Working closely with curators and critics, the gallery is committed to cultivating emerging talent and supporting established artists. I am launching this gallery with a deep appreciation for and understanding of Middle Eastern art, and am keen on breaking down boundaries, and presenting Middle Eastern art alongside fantastic artists from outside the Middle East.

Some of the Middle Eastern artists that I am starting my roster with include: Hassan Hajjaj, Tarek Al Ghoussein, Nermine Hammam, Walid Siti, Camille Zakharia, Nicky Nodjoumi, Farah Ossouli and Mohammed Kazem. 

Check out Taymour Grahne Gallery’s website here:

http://www.taymourgrahne.com

Like Taymour Grahne Gallery’s Facebook page here:

https://www.facebook.com/TaymourGrahneGallery

I will continue to blog, and Art of the Mid East will continue promoting Middle Eastern art to the world.

Hauser & Wirth London,

Piccadilly 3 May – 27 July 2013
Opening: Thursday 2 May 6 – 8 pm 

Maha Malluh — Food for Thought

Trade routes have connected the major centres of civilisation in Europe and Asia since antiquity. These routes not only made the exchange of goods possible, but also fostered cultural exchanges between distant regions. The group exhibition, ‘Trade Routes’, on view at Hauser & Wirth’s Piccadilly gallery from 3 May, presents a diverse picture of where these trade routes stand in today’s globalised society through the lens of 15 artists.

The exhibition features video installations, sculptures and two-dimensional works by artists based in Africa, China, Europe, India, and the Middle East including Adel Abidin, Fatima Al Qadiri & Khalid al Gharaballi, Alighiero Boetti, Monir Farmanfarmaian, Subodh Gupta, Gülsün Karamustafa, Bharti Kher, Rachid Koraïchi, Lee Xe, Maha Malluh, Bettina Pousttchi, Hassan Sharif, Wael Shawky and David Zink Yi.

Monir Farmanfarmaian, 2004
Mirror mosaic and reverse glass painting
200 x 700 cm

German artist Bettina Pousttchi broadens the previously conceived notions of her medium by bringing together architecture and sculpture in her photography. For ‘Trade Routes’, Pousttchi has created a new photo installation entitled ‘Piccadilly Windows’. Pousttchi uses a selection of photographs of structural elements from renovated timber- frame houses taken near her hometown and then re-works these into a pattern that recalls traditional architectural elements of the Middle East. The resulting motifs are applied directly to the nine windows of the main gallery. With this subtle intervention combining an archetypal example of Western European architecture with traditionally Middle Eastern architectural ornamentation, Pousttchi makes a transnational gesture that investigates the cultural dimensions of architecture. 

Rachid Koraïchi — From the series \”Les Maîtres Invisibles\” (The Invisible Masters): Ennafari, 2008
Cotton appliqué
348 x 200 cm

Rachid Koraïchi and Monir Farmanfarmaian, based in Algeria and Iran respectively, have adapted traditional techniques from their native countries and integrated these into their practice. Koraïchi’s tapestries are suspended from the main gallery’s ceiling, hanging just above the heads of visitors. The tapestries chronicle the lives of 14 great mystics of Islam, such as the poet Rumi, whose writings the artist believes are just as relevant in today’s society as they were in the 13th century. The tapestries are covered in ornate Arabic calligraphy and ciphers from a range of other cultures, as well as symbols imagined by the artist.

Monir Farmanfarmaian’s large-scale mirror installations combine two elements from traditional Islamic design: mirror mosaic and reverse glass painting. Her techniques, which are traditionally passed down from father to son, create kaleidoscopic and intricate avant-garde patterns that catch and refract the light in the room.

The video works of Adel Abidin and Fatima Al Qadiri & Khalid al Gharaballi address the contradictions implicit in the social and cultural constructs of contemporary society. Adel Abidin’s three channel video installation ‘Three Love Songs’ will fill the American Room with films of sultry and seductive blonde women serenading the viewer with what initially seems to be poetic ballads sung in an Iraqi dialect of Arabic. However, these songs are actually odes dedicated to the former leader of Iraq, Saddam Hussein. With ‘Three Love Songs’, Abidin brings to the forefront the underlying cultural friction and political tension by creating an uncomfortable juxtaposition between the sexualised performance, replete with Western clichés, and the meaning of the lyrics.

Fatima Al Qadiri & Khalid al Gharaballi’s film ‘Mendeel Um A7mad (NxIxSxM)’ recreates the Kuwaiti ritual of Chai Dhaha, a meeting of women for pre-noon tea. However, in Al Qadiri & al Gharaballi’s version of the long-standing tradition, the middle-aged women are all played by a cast of young men and, instead of an intimate, residential setting, the film is set in a vast, opulent hotel ballroom, with each character sitting far away from the others. A small, bright pink tissue box – commonplace in every Kuwaiti household – sits on its own in the middle of the ballroom, far away from the women who might need them. The film is a satirical depiction of upper- class Kuwaiti social interactions, highlighting the absurdity of ritualized communications and shattering the sense of familiarity one would expect at a gathering of close friends and family.

Hassan Sharif — Slipper, 2012
Mixed media
210 x 60 cm

‘Trade Routes’ will also feature sculpture and two-dimensional works by Subodh Gupta, Maha Malluh, and Hassan Sharif. These artists explore notions of cultural displacement through the use of found and kitsch objects, such as flipflops, as in Sharif’s seemingly imbalanced tower, cassette tapes of religious lectures, as in Maha Malluh’s installation or Subodh Gupta’s suitcases, sleeping bags and cardboard boxes, cast in aluminium. 

Wael Shawky — Al Araba Al Madfuna (video still), 2012
Video, b/w, sound, 21:21 min

(Hauser & Wirth Press Release)

 

Check out the catalogue here:

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2013/contemporary-art-doha-do1301/lots.list.2.30.lotnum.asc.html

& ARE 93% SOLD

STRONG BIDDING SEES AUCTIONS

EXCEED EXPECTATIONS

MOSHIRI’S SECRET GARDEN SELLS FOR

JUST SHORT OF $1 MILLION

24% OF BUYERS IN SALES NEW TO CHRISTIE’S DUBAI 

RECORDS SET FOR ARTISTS INCLUDING

CHAFIC ABBOUD, SAFWAN DAHOUL & MARWAN

GLOBAL INTEREST IN MIDDLE EASTERN ART

CONTINUES TO FLOURISH 

WORKS BY TURKISH ARTISTS 100% SOLD 

Modern and Contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish Art

Sponsored by Zurich

Dubai – Collectors from around the world brought their passion and energy to drive the sale total at Christie’s 14^th consecutive sale season of Middle Eastern art, well above the high estimate. 103 works of art representing 13 different countries made a total of $6,384,750 across two evening sales held on April 16 and 17, 2013. This was against a pre-sale high estimate for the sales of $5.5 million, and the auctions averaged 93% sold by lot, a clear indication of the success of Christie’s commitment to bring art from the Middle East to a global audience. Among the 28 lots in the part I sale, 5 auction records were set for leading artists from the region, a measure of the quality of the works offered. The saleroom applauded as Farhad Moshiri’s The Secret Garden, 2009, sold for $987,750, with 9 collectors, 2 in the room and 7 on the telephones, competing fiercely against one another to acquire it. The giant bear made entirely of light-reflecting crystals, had created quite a following during the exhibition in Dubai, and was a masterpiece by the artist.