Art in the Capital

It was a busy weekend. Two venues came alive in the capital - Art Abu Dhabi opened at Manarat Al Saadiyat on Wednesday and Warehouse 421, the new art district by the waters at Mina Zayed, previewed on Thursday night.

After closely looking at all artists living, born and/or gone from the UAE... I realise I am a fan of two true gems of visual art who currently nourish the local scene by their pure ceative opulence. I feel fortunate to have met both of them during my life here! The two amazing artists am speaking of are both born and raised in the UAE - hugely popular Abdul Qader Al Rais and soon-to-be-very-popular-mind-you Saif Mhaisen. Al Rais popular for his monumental art works in palaces and distinguished public spaces [but I love his very vibrant recent abstract works more... scroll down to see!] and Saif for his super-real portraits [down below].

Saif's is one of the chosen few artists for the Salama bint Hamdan Emerging Artists Fellowship - a part of the Warehouse 421 project. Saif will soon be on a scholarship MFA programme in the States and is spoilt for choice - making up his mind whether Rhodes will be his new home. Lucky!! And well deserved!

The fellowship gives much importance to the art process. The process was walked through by another artist who is also a part of this programme - talented and warm-hearted Hamdan Buti Al Shamsi - who carefully collects nostalgia from his childhood in Al Ain. "Everything is in our childhood. The way we grew up plays all the part into all our expressions. And of course art," says Shamsi. His collected/found objects on display shows how art around him changed with time. "The individuality of the local convenience shop names/sign boards have disappeared with the advent of black and green 'Baqala' neon signage, as per municipality's uniformity/standardising norms," laments the artist.

The best parts of this venue are that it is by the beautiful waters of Mina and is open until 11pm... and you can take your children too! It is true that it reminds one of D3 in Dubai also Al Serkal Avenue a bit! Is it fashionable to reuse containers to showcase art? It doesn't quiet fancy me. May be because am claustrophobic. Art meant to be 'out of the box' must not ideally be locked in, if you ask me. Btw I spoke to one of the participants who was dragging an air cooler into one container-converted-gallery here just before closing, and he said "yeah! we have to keep the fan on all night - it is wood and delicate art - cannot leave it to nature". Of course!

Naqsh Collective showcases unique inlay art forms that can make your interiors sophisticated and artsy at the same time! They are showing at the new art space Warehouse 421 in Abu Dhabi.

Naqsh explores language of embroidery, unifying this important element of Jordanian culture with minimal yet functional structures. Naqsh design house also supports the women’s community within the Palestinian refugee camps in Amman, Jordan.

 Jordanian artists Nisreen Abu Dail & Nermeen Abu Dail of Naqsh

Lot of people think that steel mountain behind me is Louvre! Hell no! It is the UAE Pavilion under construction... just opposite Manarat Al Saadiyat

You CAN make art from an empty can... just put a wig on it and tada! This was found in this edition of Art Abu Dhabi

This recycled piece of art stole my heart! The Japanese art of kintsugi, which means “golden joinery,” is all about turning ugly breaks into beautiful fixes. This artist has welded ceramic pieces from the trash using 24ct gold... to perhaps silently say that broken is better than new! And there far behind, can you see Subodh Gupta's 'Grapes from Heaven'?

Loving the works of Saif Mhaisen... Here the artist poses next to his alter ego/oil self at Warehouse 421 on its opening night on Thursday.

Boy looks at 'Contemporary Terracotta warriors' by Beijing-based Yue Minjun at Manarat Al Saadiyat. By his signature - facial expression frozen in a wide-toothed laughter - Yue Minjun uses humour to express a turbulent period in modern China. In his words - ‘I paint people laughing, whether it is a big laugh, a restrained laugh, a crazy-laugh, a near-death laugh or simply laughter about our society: laughter can be about anything. Laughter is a moment when our mind refuses to reason. When we are puzzled by certain things, our mind simply doesn’t want to struggle, or perhaps we don’t know how to think, therefore we just want to forget it. in Chinese tradition you can’t say things directly. You have to show something else for the  real meaning. I wanted to show a happy smile and show that behind it is something sad,  and even dangerous.'

This in the name of fine art may look simple or silly but don't underestimate Ai Weiwei please! His childlike vandalism of ancient pots contains a potent political message. In 1994, the renowned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei decorated a Han Dynasty urn with the red Coca-Cola logo; the following year he had himself photographed dropping and smashing another.  Coloured Vases (2009-10), which feature in the show, continue in the same spirit of protestation.

"The particles are in perpetual movement. . . They remind me of the Lebanese people who are constantly on the move," says Hanibal Srouji, who's work Healing Bands was displayed at Art Abu Dhabi 2015

Indian-British sculptor Anish Kapoor's signature bold and far from being detailed and minimalistic piece of work from this edition of Art Abu Dhabi

Abdul Qader Al Rais' work on display at Art Abu Dhabi 2015

Shukran by Iranian artist Farhard Moshiri... is a a large artwork with knives stabbed into plaster to read 'shukran', that means 'thank you' in Arabic. The artist exposes the hypocrisy of world politics where people say thank you with a smile and actually go behind your back and stab! Ouch!

Closeup - Ouch! again.

Like every story, art has three sides. The side you see, the side you don't see and the bluvian side [of course!] :)

Eastern Wind... an Unusual Intersection of Art and Politics

This art event is on my mind since last Thursday when I saw the works but it took me a while to get the right words to start talking about it. And believe me the subject takes one beyond art that meets the eye. It was a unique inward journey to just connect with this artist's process of producing these works full of vibrant influences cast in the backdrop of an endless migration... of man, matter and meaning.

For many artists, their migrations and those of their ancestors are important in shaping both their personal identities and the art they produce. The name of the painting here is Semurg_oil on canvas_90x118_2010 by Ramazan Useinov. Semurg is a miracle bird from an old Uzbek folklore. 25 selected works by this artist is currently showing at the N2N Gallery in Nation Towers Abu Dhabi

Why do we humans endlessly divide each other despite knowing that the consequence is only suffering? Is it lack of insight that breeds intolerance. Why do wars become decisive for a certain clan/community who is forced to leave their motherland? This is not news. It is history. We have seen this forever... across the globe. Forced deportation, immigration and resultant human crisis may have many reasons but most importantly it exposes lack of empathy or in other words a maimed leadership. Artists tell the same story differently. They are honest in their telling because it is their story. They live on to tell this over and again... as it is their artistic process superimposed with their life's journey. Artist Ramazan Useinov visually extracts thoughts and influences that dates before his birth to the present... and offers everything he can't comprehend in words alone in 25 brilliant artworks, now showing in Abu Dhabi.

'Eastern Wind' may be the title of Ramazan Useinov's solo art show currently running in the capital until November 19, 2016... but it is that which blows between Crimea and Uzbekistan and back for for the artist - a Crimean who was born in Uzbekistan on July 2, 1949. He saw the consequences of the dramatic episode of ethnic cleansing of Crimean Tartars, the politics that pushed them out of their own mother land, deported them to as far as Siberia and beyond the Ural Mountains, suffocating a culturally vibrant group of people with the hidden melancholy of turmoil gripped with unrest for the rest of their lives.

Ramazan does not like to speak about himself or his creative process. If you ask him a question it is replied with a smile.

"Everything has been said by the paintings."
- Ramazan Useinov

And that is the truth.

The world seems divided between various labels and tags including religion and ethnicity even today in the 20th century. It is an utter shame but a reigning fact. This art show comes at a time when the news of Syrian refugee crisis continue to shock our integrity and humanness as the migration continues to expose episodes from the history - each time as a consequence when politics outweighed humanity. Ramazan's canvas may have a distinct Crimean hue but not without this crisis that shrieks out of each frame.

Ramazan dips his brush into those days of constant travel that his parents would have endured. And travel was not easy then because you did that with young and old, humans and livestock, sick and wounded... as well as delicate newborns... perched on mules and donkeys... crossing rivers and mountains... in search of hope and acceptance... trying to forget wounds of rejection from ones own birthplace.

A Lady with a Buggy_Oil on canvas_60x80cm_2014_Ramazan Useinov

Foundation and Technique

In most of Ramazan’s paintings we find travellers, buskers, wanderers with poor carts, covered with bright rags. They carry submissively not only all their belongings, but their entire world. It is a loss that is terribly inexplicable even when the artist's imagination deconstructs migration to a cosmic composition of 'search for truth'.

“Oriental dresses are very colourful and bright. Even after so many years of living in Crimea, Samarkand’s colours don’t leave me. They follow me in most of my paintings," says the artist.

All the pain and discomfort is cast in vibrant colours - and hence brilliantly magnificent. Why does Ramazan choose only a bright palette? This is arguable. The artist and some academicians say it is the influence of brilliant colours and motif's originally of his ethnic people. I wonder if it is his sub-conscious effort to enhance each frame with his own journey of life through his certain belief in art as a mode of deeper exploration and expression?

The laconic palette explodes occasionally with bright shiny happy colours, a feature of his Samarkand memories and his life back in Uzbekistan.

Golden Bird_Oil on canvas_60x80cm_2009_Ramazan Useinov

The exhibition Eastern Wind is a journey determined by Ramazan’s endless love towards his motherland, and will remind you of the masters of the 20th century who struggled to bring back the perfect harmony between man and nature. Respecting his roots, Ramazan’s paintings cherish the rich Islamic culture. For this reason, his works always display vibrant oriental details and Islamic motives.

Ramazan's story

Ramazan Useinov is an artist whose journey began long before his birth.

The event is on until November 19. Let yourself be carried away by the same 'Eastern Wind' that blows between Crimea and Uzbekistan and back, shaping a magic universe, where honesty, purity and hope were never lost.

Coming from a family who faced war and deportation, forced to abandon their homeland, Crimea, the artist was born in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, far away from his beloved Crimea.

In Uzbekistan he grew up between vineyards, as his father was a winegrower and winemaker who dreamt for his son to take over the family’s small business. Instead, Ramazan dreamt of becoming an artist. In 1967, after a long and big confrontation with his family, he finally became a student at the Republican College of Arts P.P. Benkov in Tashkent. After graduation, in 1972, Ramazan returned to Samarkand where he started to work at the Art Foundation.

Years of great inspiration followed, as in the 80’s art was flourishing in Uzbekistan. Ramazan Useinov would not miss a single solo or group exhibition, working day and night and dreaming of his art to be special, to be recognised.

Then one day, in the early 90’s, carried away by the Eastern Wind, Ramazan Useinov felt he had to go back, he had to return to the land of his parents. He returned to Crimea and his artworks acquired a more somber, melancholy mood than his earlier paintings.

Ramazan Useinov

His wish is to allow his viewers to look at his works and to find something there by themselves, something very private and unique.

As Svetlana Khromchenko (The State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow) says, "Ramazan Useinov’s Eastern Wind will certainly make you wonder: “is it from the past or from the future, or maybe from eternal?”

Ethnic Cleansing of Crimean Tartars 

The forcible deportation of the Crimean Tatars from Crimea was ordered by Joseph Stalin as a form of collective punishment for alleged collaboration with the Nazi occupation regime in Taurida Subdistrict during 1942-1943. The state-organised removal is known as the Sürgünlik in Crimean Tatar. A total of more than 230,000 people were deported, mostly to the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. This included the entire ethnic Crimean Tatar population, at the time about a fifth of the total population of the Crimean Peninsula, besides smaller number of ethnic Greeks and Bulgarians.

A large number of deportees (more than 100,000 according to a 1960s survey by Crimean Tatar activists) died from starvation or disease as a direct result of deportation. It is considered to be a case of ethnic cleansing. Tatars and Soviet dissidents consider it to be genocide.

During destalinisation the deportation was denounced by the Soviet government, nevertheless the Crimean Tatars were denied the right of return up until late perestroika times - a political movement for reformation within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during the 1980s, widely associated with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his glasnost (meaning "openness") policy reform. The literal meaning of perestroika is "restructuring", referring to the restructuring of the Soviet political and economic system.

Wings of Fire... Burn in Desire

RIP APJ Abdul Kalam, my all time favourite Indian.

When I first jumped onto social media platforms years ago I never imagined the power of converging worlds that would open up for me. Wonderful new friends and bonding with like minded spirits around this beautiful planet unfolded a new story. It transformed me. I left a full time job as a journalist to try all of this with no business plan, no structure, just an intention to find a way to live a creative life that contributed to the greater good and sustains inspiration everyday to everyone. 

This is because I have personal experience - art has all answers! I want to share this magic with all. Along the way there have also been some hurdles/challenges. By nature I am a compulsive optimist, sensitive, empathetic and my instincts always tell me when I am out of balance. 

Over the past two years, as I have opened myself more and more, my nondescript bluvian urges to stay creative no matter what has taken over my life completely - changed, shaped and created a totally new world around me all by itself.

Standing in this new plane of just bliss and nothing else I wish to offer this special experience to everyone. This morning I googled for the right words to fully express this subject that rules my world and how it can inspire everyone by simply staying in the moment of 'awe' like we did as children unaware of its true benefits. And as always kept this post for another day when I have complete clarity. But Kalam's demise news charged me up right in the middle of my art workshop. It shook me up that death is in nobody's hands and all we have are the days that are numbered! I don't wish to leave unfinished work. I enjoy being bluvian most importantly because it is helping me help a lot more people. 

I was honestly actually looking for something else when I focused on full time art. But all I got were messages in my inboxes. I often feel like I am on autopilot mode and must find a way to stop this infiltration of various energies and anxieties. Some want help/ guidance to selling art whereas some request to share with them a personal tutorial on a recently posted painting. Others are workshop enquiries... friends family saying hello. Sometimes people I have never met open up and feel comfortable sharing intimate/heartbreaking information with me. Other times people complain about somebody else's inappropriate musings on my page/wall etc. This love - it's overwhelming. That precisely was the message I wanted to learn.

I am not complaining. Please! Ever grateful for the space I exist.  All I want to do is help people get there and despite compulsive obsessive rulings one can enjoy a brilliant life but just tuning in to their creative core or art.

Just when I was making plans to retreat from social media for a bit... I am heart broken. Kalam was very active and like every true leader he was using all his muscles to reach out the good messages the youth.

I want to read 'Wings of Fire' second time... and burn in the desire to stay inspired putting behind small interfaces of disturbances!

SelfieART

Just when I was about get really bugged about this creepy culture of duck-faced young and old... I stumble upon an art call.

"Submit your selfie and the best entries to be published in an art magazine."

That was it!

I did not spoil the bluvian emotions that followed... and this followed.

This artwork was Published by AMOR - A Magazine of the Random art journal by FN Design Studio, an art gallery in Dubai, UAE in its 21st Issue released on May 25, 2015. The artwork was selected following an open call for 'selfies'.

B'lu_Selfie_30x35cm_Gouache

Let me also share the Art text by Henosis... just in case you like to read more:

The artist does not like taking selfies and looks down upon the whole culture of duck-faced selfie addicts. She would rather complete the title of this work saying 'selfie... my foot!' The image is also the artist's conscious effort to draw attention to new-age narcissistic habits of her contemporaries. B'lu takes this opportunity to zoom out of the trends and tune in to one's core - 'down to earth selves'. This artist and writer says, "True information can only be dispersed consciously and every information we give out has more potential than what may seem at first... so we have to be responsible when we say what we say or show what we show especially in the current scene of many distractions."

This open call by FN Design Studio in Dubai helped the artist point out her concerns. The image represented here are her own pair of feet firmly planted on the soil complete with details of dense laterite red soil - that is typical to wet tropical lands and traces the artist's roots back in South of India. The painting symbolically depicts her travelling spirit - ready to make the journey outside one's comfort zones and inwards or towards one's soul. Instead of holding a mirror to self, she pauses to look down and paint her own feet in gouache. Bright hues are her signature style. A complete non-conformist and creatively courageous B'lu chose this painting as her entry to an art open call on 'selfies'.

‪

ART in Selfie-land

Dubai Design District (d3) is the new up and coming neighbourhood where local designers will hobnob with global brands. This UAE government initiative is a gateway for regional ideas to access the world. In the near future, it is touted to be a conduit for international companies to discover new Middle Eastern talent.

Thats me the B'lu one... in agreement with Einstein at the entrance of the d3 yesterday

It's launch called ‘Meet D3′, the public community event presented a program of fashion, music, art, design and dining experiences during the weekend from the 2 to 4 April, 2015. I was glad to make time to could go and see as this was talked about by every radio channel. In less than a day of its first day social media had lot of hate notes... To me the experience was different and will be remembered for the right reasons too.

Things that impressed me here... in that order:

1. Food... to be specific the Ghaf Kitchen also believed to be UAE's first food truck. "Ghaf means home food back in England. And Ghaf (the tree) has its home in the UAE," says David O' Brian, its director who was excited to speak to his hungry visitors. I had a taste of their grilled halloumi served with romesco sauce and courgette shavings. Most dishes sound English to me... but has at least one familiar ingredient to Middle Easterners... like pan seared 'Sultan Ibrahim' [it is a fish!] with red onion salad.

The halloumi meal was small... just about a mouth full for Dh35... but it tatsted fresh and good... at the Ghaf Kitchen especially because Brian served it with a soulful smile. This dish used Indian-kitchen-staple fennel seeds as a garnish... adding an twist to the bites that had a seed or two... must try this on salads made in the blukitchen too.

I also tried the vegan chocolate brownie at 'Spill the beans' van/cafe. It was good and mushy. Everywhere else the queue-ups were too long to waste time. It was also bright and windy.

2. Stefan Seigel... The presentation and talk by CEO and founder of Not Just a Label (NJAL), an online designer platform for showcasing designers and emerging talent in the contemporary fashion industry with more than 18,000 designers from 100 different countries. Founded in 2008, NJAL encourages designers into the Slow Fashion movement that support sustainable/eco-friendly... while supporting local communities and craftsmanship. "We promote real art as opposed to mass buying. Imagine the pleasure of opening a handwritten note by the designer and wearing a dress that nobody else has in the whole world. This is the future," says Seigel.

Stefan Seigal of NJAL addressing the Dubai fashion aficionados

Seigel pointed out that the new generation can stand in lines and buy expensive gadgets... like iphone which is there in everybody's hands these days. So new designers shouldn't underestimate the power of new buyers. "They are everywhere. And they will find you," he says.

At Meet d3, NJAL showcased Emirati designer Bint Thani; who collaborates with ‘Inter | Act’ to unveil the first ever 3D printed dress made in Dubai. The collaborative, experimental project is called Urban Corp; merging expertise in design, fashion, and 3D printing technology, inspired by the city of Dubai.

3. Live music.

4. Organised parking facility. Smart officials who seemed to have jumped out of some hollywood action movie lined up in their cool blue crisp uniforms waving and following you while jiving like a rapper to his own music [hopefully that was not just in my head... and actually there was music and actually they were walking with a spring in their step!]

Letdowns at d3:

1. The selfie crowd. Dubaiites get confused if you mention art and community next to each other. They try to dress in their 'that dress I cant wear anywhere else' to this venue. Meet d3 had beach goers and mall hoppers who just took a detour because they badly wanted selfies in a new place... with their kids... and chomp all the while... in the queues... inside restrooms... [all this while their faces are buried in their phones. They just do not make eye contact. It scares them to look anywhere other than cameras :(]. Perhaps it is knowing this reason the organisers had installed fancy selfie machines at emergency points across the venue. There were more selfie booths than public toilets here. [Of course the nature's call can wait but not that cute picture.]

2. Long lines... at glass blowing workshop [the only event i was really really keen to attend in person since my Murano trip in 2009]... Lines where there every where else too. [Wonder why? Is it now in fashion to line up! Really hope not.]

3. There was nothing much for artists. Of course there was some art... here and there. But expensive menu cards and designer cocktails scream business business and more business! [Hello! Damien Hirst you are welcome in Dubai. And everyone else please look good, wear good brands, smell awesome... and create a good background please for his selfie... in future!]

[sorry I don't have many pics from the 'Meet d3'... but here are the few I clicked]

Love the moving shadows on the ground. Brooklyn native and Berlin resident Ebon Heath is literally known for playing with words. This sculpture uses words from Kahlil Gibran's poem 'On Beauty' and is representative of the global dialogue... He has used Arabic and English typography here. [I searched for Gibran's On Beauty... wasted attempt... nothing shows up!]

Lighting brand Lasvit from Czech Republic... gave glass-blowing workshops to visitors - a truly sensorial introduction to the process of transforming raw glass into design lighting. Very friendly artist, who spoke mostly in their language.

Zipper architecture... zip up and you have a mirror cave inside!

Egg-citing evening: the day followed into the dusk... when friends met for dinner and coloured some eggs... to welcome the spring equinox or Jesus Christ... or both!

Egg-cited us!

Happy Easter!

ARTiculating Fun

It is perhaps the busiest month for art industry in the region. By region I mean sub urban Dubai and its nearby emirates, not entirely the whole of Middle East as they like to say. But then it is ok to say Middle East... perhaps no other city in the ME ever hosts so many art events in one single season. [Applause!]

Correct me if am wrong... this month there are some 100+ events in small and big venues around the city. And if that is another fat Dubai record... you shouldn't be surprised. [The new surprise! surprise! is when something in Dubai doesn't touch a record! ;)]

DIFC Art Night that opened on March 16 7pm

These events include new shows by art galleries at Al Serkal [the arty place with street graffiti painted on containers... somewhere behind Mall of the Emirates] and DIFC [the same place that has ZUMA... that expensive restaurant, not the zumba dance class dear Dubaian!]. The UAE art scene this season saw/will see new stories - many solos, group events, charity art shows, an all new 3d event, something important at Tashkeel, then the unmissable next door Sharjah biennale [but its there for 3 months right?... thank god thats a lot of time hope you can visit it], OMG the most-anticipated Art Dubai at Madinat Jumeirah [that offers spectacular backgrounds to selfies] and a host of open calls for near-future art events. 

The most popular among the recent open calls is the Big Picture in its 3rd edition... like everything in Dubai... BP [incidentally does not stand for blood pressure] has also become bigger than its previous editions spilling into two different galleries this time. If you are an artist living in the UAE you have to apply as it is the safest and most important ways to make your foothold in the region as an artist. By region here I don't mean Dubai alone! [You should know this by now.]

Did you miss reading about my solo in Abu Dhabi? It was in a recent post in my other blog that is more personal. [Even more, I mean]. Here is the link

Along with new roads to learning art and its people... have stumbled upon how to stay calm while on this path of ARTiculation:

1. Your fine art degree/university/brand-associations/art lobby/googling abilities do not decide how great an artist you are. Only your truth and original output will.

2. We can forgive and forget people who may seem to block our progress. But things may unforgivingly remain the same when you remain unforgiving to yourself... by annexing your peace to various distractions... that ruin precious time... which deserve to be devoted to creative endeavours otherwise.

3. All the art news papers in the world cannot fill in the knowledge void. Finding yourself can be as spectacular as the movie 'Finding Nemo' is for a 5 year old who watches it for the first time. Do not confuse knowledge for wisdom. The latter is most often sleeping inside you while the former will keep you robbed of hours that can be spent in finding greater wisdom. Knowledge is important but will not save you. Wisdom will.

4. Art is never business. Those who put a price are often those who will weigh your heart and liver by the kilo and sell it off to a wholesaler who doesn't care if the buyer prefers grilling your soul or freezing it for a later occasion/opportunity.

5. Those who do business with art are merely there for the torture of it. Bless them whenever you can... often dressed in black overalls/pursed lips/fully enveloped in an am-not-approachable-air... at openings wanting to make valuable conversations with vacant spaces/white walls... they need more than your blessings... but you may stick to just that for now.

6. If anyone says artists are greedy don't believe them. If possible sue them. Actually most-often they are referring to impersonators who pretend to be artists. The majority of the real ones do not exist in Dubai... most are dead. Some are really dead - as in buried and gone (I mean some of the Masters) and others waiting for their turn (to be Masters hopefully/ideally before death).

7. To term art market as market is blasphemous. It is as offensive as paying a tax or fee to offer your prayers. This truth only an artist will tell you... through their piece of life... when they are articulate enough. Rest of the so-called market are there for fun! Bless them too.

If you just cannot make sense of this blog... the purpose is achieved... bless me... for I have saved you few moments of 'let-me-see-what-I-can-get-out-of-this' reading habit!

Take a Piece of Me at the Henosis stand @ DIFC: Abu Dhabi based contemporary Indian abstract artist and doctor Ashvin displays his satire on the commercial aspects of art here until Thursday (tomorrow). This installation allows the buyer to choose his favourite portion of the art that the artist will then use a pair of scissors to cut and part with. Originally 5 meters long, this installation is shrinking by the day... thanks to happy shopping!