Dubai
LifeStyle

ChI Art

Dip into the contemporary art scene with ChI – galleries, artists….& where to buy on line

Culture is coming.

2007 saw the first-ever Gulf Art Fair, founded by John Martin. Till now, the Emirates have not been known for art appreciation, but all that is changing. Internationally-renowned, Iraqi-born British architect Zaha Hadid has been commissioned to design the Dubai Opera House and in 2007, for the first time, a major exhibition of Arab artists, one of whom is Dubai-based, was shown. Art is seen as having a good business potential (always a recognised rationale in Dubai), and cultural tourism in particular is regarded as being very valuable for the city’s image and profile, as it has been for the city of Bilbao in Spain.

Sharjah, 30 minutes down the road from Dubai, is known as “the pioneer art Emirate”, with 25 galleries and a museum of contemporary art.

But Dubai is fast catching up…..

Ave Gallery is an exciting gallery owned by an Iranian contemporary artist, Fereydoun Ave. Tel 04 353 9795. Behind Basta Art Café, next to XVA Gallery (which shows Asian and Emirati art) in Bastakia, behind Majlis Gallery (a courtyard and series of exhibition rooms exhibiting local and international artists’ work).

B21 Art Gallery - “Dubai’s grittiest gallery” (with a nod to Time Out) specialises in exhibiting emerging and established Middle Eastern artists who create innovative, daring work, and is committed to risk-taking and diversity in art. October 2007 saw an edgy uncompromising show by Iranian ex-soldier, Ghass Rouzhkhosh, out of Paris. Tel 04 340 3965

1x1 Art Space, in Villa 1023 Al Wasl Road, is a dynamic, consistent gallery which specialises in contemporary art from the Subcontinent (mainly India). Tel 04348 3873

The Meem Gallery offers an authoritative ambitious range of Middle Eastern and contemporary Arab art. Tel 050 829 4206/04 347 7883. Umm Suqeim Road, in the direction of Arabian Ranches. Call for directions.

 
Image courtesy of www.timeoutdubai.com

The Third Line shows contemporary Middle Eastern art, and is possibly the best of its kind in the region. Tel 04 341 1367. Al Quoz 3, near The Courtyard, between Marlin Furniture and Spinneys. art@thethirdline.com  www.thethirdline.com

Traffic, the first purpose-built design gallery in the region, is a great new exhibition space, showroom and store, offering progressive blends of form and function. Developed by Emiratis Rami Farooq, Shehab Hammad who have set out to redefine the whole gallery concept with a 7000 square foot interior organised into distinct themed zones – the library area, gifts, an exhibition space, and lots of intriguing items from sofas tables, objets d’art to fashion accessories. Traffic plans to show movie screenings and lectures – for example October 2007 saw a lecture by Bernard Khoury on building modern structures in the Arab world. Opposite the Coral Boutique Hotel in Barsha. www.viatraffic.com 


ChI Drinks…..
ChI is basically a wine drinker, but also enjoys a really, really good cocktail (see Hanging Out section)

Anything she would drink elsewhere in the world – Italian, French or Lebanese wines, cocktails, single malts….the drinking world is the Dubai visitor’s oyster…but at a price.

ChI Reads….
(with a nod to Blue Chip’s “He reads….She reads”)

  •  Lawrence of Arabia – to remind her of what it is not.
  •  Falconry & Birds of Prey in the Gulf, David Remple & Christian Gross – so you can recognise the one on the seat adjacent to its owner in business class on Emirates and make Insider conversation (not with the bird) if required.
  •  The Marsh Arabs, Wilfred Thesiger, to remind her of not-so-lucky escapes from history, and of what might have been….
  •  Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea, for a “girly” read.
  •  The Bleeding of the Stone by Ibrahim al Koni, Libyan master of magical realism, for an evocative look at the Bedouin, the desert, the ability of the human spirit to resist.

ChI is Listening to…..

  •  Whatever they are playing in London, Paris, Beirut…..because that’s SO Dubai!

  •  Kamal Mussalam’s Arabic jazz/fusion oud music
 

.