International contemporary art at Cuadro, Dubai
Cuadro Fine Art Gallery’s upcoming March exhibitions, “Right Here, Right Now” and “We Are Beginning: Personal Projects in Public Spaces”, will run from March 14th, 2011 in the gallery’s 13,000 square feet of space.
The “Right Here, Right Now” exhibition will showcase five artists identified as rising stars of the international contemporary art market. With a focus on Arab, Iranian and Turkish art, “Right Here, Right Now” unites a diverse group who communicate creativity, passion and vision across a spectrum of mediums including traditional media such as oils and acrylics as well as mixed media, photography and neon. Displaying a variety of both memorable and accessible works, Cuadro’s “Right Here, Right Now” is the first time that these five groundbreaking artists have been brought together at one gallery.
“In honor of the cultural outpouring across the city and wider region in March, we’re using Cuadro’s multi-gallery space in DIFC to showcase artists we are excited about; these are the ‘ones to watch’ both regionally and internationally. From contemporary painters to street-based art, “Right Here, Right Now” brings a fresh and diverse series of perspectives from artists we believe will be some of the most compelling voices in our industry,” commented Bashar Al Shroogi, Director, Cuadro Fine Art Gallery.
In line with Cuadro’s practice of providing a platform for emerging artists, “Right Here, Right Now” will include:
- Athier, a British-born Iraqi painter, exhibiting new works from "I Am A Hero" - monumental, post-pop compositions employing geometric Islamic shapes and Arabic calligraphy.
- Manal Al Dowayan, an artist from Saudi Arabia and one of Cuadro’s former artists-in-residence, will be exhibiting three series, including pieces from "And We had No Shared Dreams," which returns to Dubai after being exhibited in Vienna.
- Jaffar Al Oraibi, a Bahraini artist making his UAE debut with 25 new large-scale works under the title "When Ali Met William.”
- Gita Meh, an Iranian artist highlighting new works from her celebrated " I Command: The Michaelangelo Series" which deconstructs Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel iconography, overlaying it with images of quotidian modern life.
- Ali Taptik, a Turkish lens-based artist, launching works from a new series that juxtaposes the anonymity associated with a new city with his intimate personal experiences.
In “We Are Beginning”, Cuadro will also be showing American-born, Berlin-based artist Brad Downey’s interference street art, a concept never seen before in the region. Downey’s work playfully manipulates mundane objects on the street, such as signs, bricks and construction materials, transforming them into meaningful messages. Downey will create unique site-specific intervention and installation pieces at Cuadro, which will also spill out into both the surrounding DIFC Gate Village areas and the Art Dubai Madinat Jumeirah venue.
Lebanese contemporary jeweler and artist Nadine Kanso will launch her first-ever pop-up shop, retailing limited editions from her Bil Arabi line, including t-shirts, beachwear, pouches, cushions and select jewelry pieces highlighting seminal phrases in Arabic and echoing the links between art, fashion and self-expression.
Cuadro Fine Art Gallery is located at Building 10, DIFC Gate Village, Dubai and the exhibition timings are 10am-8pm Sunday-Thursday, and 12pm-6pm on Saturday.
