Galleries Night – Al Serkal Avenue

Last night September 15 was Galleries Night at Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, U.A.E. This is the opening of the 2014 – 2015 art season with all galleries opening their doors for public viewing. The showing was one of the best I have been to at Al Serkal with most of the galleries having some very interesting and exciting work on display.

Other than the art on exhibit Alserkal Avenue’s A4 Space and The Fridge hosted several activities including live musical performances by top local artistes and a fashion and accessory display and sale of some pretty cool designs.

I spent a couple of hours going from one gallery to the next and here are my top picks of the evening in the sequence of gallery visited. Most shows are on at least a month so go visit, check them out and shares your views.

The awesome words on the cover pic were photographed at FN Designs.

LAWRIE SHABIBI

Act & Application

This is a group exhibition and the below piece was my favourite with the one below it not being on public display yet but too interesting not to share.

Lawrie Shabibi

Lawrie Shabibi

 

SPM (SALSALI PRIVATE MUSEUM)

Amir Hossein Zanjani

This is a super dynamic and powerful exhibition where the Iranian artist chooses the military to brilliantly portray submission and conflict to a greater power from which we can choose to draw a parallel to everyday life and the fight for freedom from various issues that we are regularly subjected to and sometimes have to submit to.

The below is image is a commissioned installation work of 700 faces of soldiers from all over the world.

This exhibition should not be missed.

SPM

SPM

 

ISABELLE VAN DEN EYNDE

Rearranged by Bita Fayyazi

I turned around to walk out of this exhibition almost as I entered but then thought that I should be brave and carry on through as this is what art and life is all about. Even if you don’t like it or as in this case I found the birds so real and scary on entering, one must march on and I’m glad I did!

Fayyazi is a brilliant artist and it is definitely worth seeing how she has worked with so many different materials to create something quite spectacular even if creepy!

Isabelle Van Den Eynde

Isabelle Van Den Eynde

FN DESIGNS

Wasta by Brownmonkeys

When visiting this gallery, you can always be sure to find work that is funky and spunky and this time was no different. Presented by Brownmonkeys, an art and design group of multidisciplinary artists, Wasta, derived from the Arabic word wasat to us means the man in the middle and the clout he or she represents. What the work in this exhibition does is connect you to each artists’ individual expression and creativity.

FN Designs

FN Designs

 

CARBON 12

The Pretenders by Bernhard Buhmann

This exhibition highlights one of the tragedies of modern society where the need to pretend is strong and apparent. We mask our emotions, show a face that is not always ours and this forms the basis of Buhmann’s work for The Pretenders. Big, colourful, childlike characters with a deeper sense of meaning is what the artist conveys and the images stay with you long after you have walked away.

Carbon 12

Carbon 12

 

GPP (GULF PHOTO PLUS)

Exhibiting the work of five photographers, I particularly liked the work of Neo Ntsoma. Born and raised in South Africa, where she studied film, television and photography her work at this exhibition titled ‘Generation of Change’ is a tribute to the youth of South Africa and tells the story of their achievements post Apartheid.

Gulf Photo Plus

Gulf Photo Plus

 

SHOWCASE GALLERY

The Art of Architecture to the Architecture of Art by Michael Arnold

You should head to this gallery to see this body of work by the artist. It’s beautiful and captivating, somewhere you can spend hours looking at and into all the crevices and lines formed by the process of his work.

Showcase

Showcase

Showcase

Showcase

The artist with his work.