Nov 16 2018

Highlights from Abu Dhabi Art 2018

by Paul Laster

Lebanese artist MOUNIRA AL-SOLH’s painting Electric Peacock (2016) and pieces from her ongoing series of embroidered fabric drawings, My speciality was to make a peasants’ haircut, but they obliged me work till midnight often (2015–17), inspired by the stories of the lives left behind by displaced refugees, at Sfeir-Semler Gallery (Beirut / Hamburg).

Egyptian artist MOATAZ NASR’s eccentric tower structures, composed of clay, bronze, iron, wood and crystal, in his installation The Towers of Love (2011), from Galleria Continua (San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins / Havana) and Saudi artist RASHED AL-SHASHAI’s colorful stained-glass-like wall work, Brand (2018), consisting of light boxes and plastic product cases, displayed at Hafez Gallery (Jeddah).

A set of geometric mirror works, Untitled (2016), in the shapes of a triangle, diamond, heptagon, octagon and nonagon, and an abstract felt-tip marker drawing, Untitled 7 (2016), by Iranian artist MONIR SHAHROUDY FARMANFARMAIAN at The Third Line (Dubai).

Jordanian artist MONA SAUDI’s abstract limestone, jade and marble sculptures from a 24-year span (1989–2013) of her career, and drawings from the 1970s and ’90s, presented by Lawrie Shabibi (Dubai).

Emirati artist MOHAMMED KAZEM’s Scratches on Paper (2016), which he pricked with scissors over an extended period of time, and his painting Shade 1 (2007), depicting interior views of Hassan Sharif’s studio, at Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde (Dubai).

Iraqi-American artist MICHAEL RAKOWITZ’s installation of handmade sculptures, constructed from Middle Eastern food packaging, that recreate looted objects from the National Museum of Iraq in his ongoing series “The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist” at Pi Artworks (Istanbul / London).

Lebanese artist HUGUETTE CALAND’s surreal, figurative paintings Siamois and Bribes de corps (both 1973) at Galerie Janine Rubeiz (Beirut).

Featuring 43 modern and contemporary art galleries from 17 countries, Abu Dhabi Art returned to Manarat Al Saadiyat in Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Cultural District for its tenth edition, which runs through November 17, 2018. Attracting fewer high-profile, international galleries than it did in earlier years, the fair has become more of a regional showcase, and this year’s booths reflected that outlook.

The 2018 edition featured three gallery sections: Modern and Contemporary, for established galleries; Special Projects, for curated solo or two-artist booths; and Focus: Icons, highlighting important artists who have shaped and influenced contemporary art over the past 50 years and continue to inspire young artists today. The Omar Kholeif-curated Focus: Icons section, one of the strongest presentations in the exhibition hall, presented figurative paintings by Huguette Caland at Galerie Janine Rubeiz, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian’s iconic mirror mosaics at The Third Line, Emirati multidisciplinary artist Mohammed Kazem’s paintings and works on paper at Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde, and abstract sculptures by Mona Saudi at Lawrie Shabibi.

Other standout presentations this year are the fair’s new commissions—including Cairo-based artist Moataz Nasr’s mixed-media tower structures and Emirati artist Ahmed Saeed Al Areef Al Dhaheri’s animation about the mystical relationship between the United Arab Emirates’ past and present—which were peppered throughout the hall. A series of large-scale installations by artists represented by exhibiting galleries, such as Anila Quayyum Agha from Aicon Gallery, were also given pride of place at the fair. Meanwhile, Monira al-Qadiri, who was commissioned to provide works for the fair’s 2018 visual campaign, had several of her oil-industry-inspired glass works on display in the entrance hall and a variety of her other drill-head pieces displayed on Abu Dhabi Art’s products and publicity posters throughout the United Arab Emirates.

Emirati artist RAWDHA AL-KETBI’s assemblage, Transitional (2018), exploring issues of migration and made from a discarded oil barrel, car tire rim, found plant, and LED lights, at Zayed University College of Arts and Creative Enterprises (Abu Dhabi).

Iraqi artist SADIK KWAISH ALFRAJI’s figurative paintings, Cocoon 1 and Cocoon 2 (both 2013), and sculpture, Cloud in Trousers (2016), of a silhouetted, shadowy protagonist, at Ayyam Gallery (Beirut / Dubai).

Pakistani artist ANILA QUAYYUM AGHA’s laser-cut and lacquered stainless-steel light sculpture, The Greys In Between (2018), presented by Aicon Gallery (New York).

Saudi artist AYMAN ZEDANI’s abstract drawings from his series “Khorfakkan Cinema” (2018), which references the lights going out at a closed movie theater, and Saudi artist AYMAN YOSSRI DAYDBAN’s installation of cut vintage movie posters, which comment on censorship, at Athr (Jeddah).

Emirati artist AHMED SAEED AL AREEF AL DHAHERI’s mystical video animation Ladylioness’ Secret Garden (2018), commissioned as part of the Beyond: Emerging Artists part of the fair.

Paul Laster is a New York desk editor of ArtAsiaPacific.

Abu Dhabi Art runs until November 17, 2018, at the Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi.

To read more of ArtAsiaPacific’s articles, visit our Digital Library.

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