From 15-22 March Saatchi Online will be showing and selling the work of a selection of artists from the Middle East registered on Saatchi Online at the Al Bastakiya Art Fair (formerly the Creek Art Fair), the leading satellite art fair to Art Dubai. In March 2008, over 10,000 visitors visited the Creek Art Fair, hosted in 18 houses in Bastakia, Dubai's oldest standing district, where a range of gallery and privately curated exhibitions took place. The Al Bastakiya Art Fair 2009 will also coincide with the Sharjah Biennnial 09.
Saatchi Online's selling show at the Al Bastakiya Art Fair follows our success in promoting and selling the work of Saatchi Online artists at the Zoo Art Fair in London in October 2007, at FORM London in February 2008, at PULSE New York in March 2008, at SCOPE Basel 2008 in June 2008 and at SCOPE London in October 2008.
The Saatchi Online artists invited to exhibit their work in Dubai are all from the Middle East and have been chosen from Saatchi Online's magazine's weekly Critic's Choices. The work of these artists will be promoted and sold at the fair on a non-commission basis; all money from sales will go directly to the artists. The artists exhibiting at the fair are:
Volkan Diyaroglu, 'Big Bang of the Day', 2008
mixed technique on canvas, 190 x 335cm
VOLKAN DIYAROGLU was born in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1982. Before his studies at Mimar Sinan University Fine Arts Faculty in Istanbul, he worked in the studios of some Turkish painters and artists. He was awarded the Promoe scholarship to study in Facultad de Bellas Artes de San Carlos de Valencia and in 2003 when he was 20, he participated in the VIII Istanbul Biennal with Galeri Binyil. In 2004, he had a solo show at La Sala Naranja in Spain. In 2005, he was exhibited in the VI Observatori festival in the Principe Felipe Museum in Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias of Valencia, with artists such as Gary Hill, Gordon Matta-Clark, Paul McCarthy, and Dennis Oppenheim. In 2006 he was invited to Paris for an exhibition at the Abbaye de Maubuisson. In 2007 he received the Cite International des Arts Scholarship in Paris. In 2008, he won one of the most important prizes in Spain, the XXXV Bancaja Painting, Sculpture and Dijital Art Prize. He will be showing a series of large-scale paintings with Saatchi Online at the Al Bastikya fair.
Muna AbdulQader Al Ali
MUNA ABDULQADER AL ALI was born in Dubai. She has shown her work at the Annual Exhibition of Sharjah Art Society -Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah - U.A.E, in an exhibition of 16 UAE contemporary Artists at the Total Arts Gallery, Dubai in 2006; and also in 2006 she won the Sheikha Manal's Young Artist Award.
'I have been working as an artist since 1999, first as a painter and then, since 2004, as a conceptual artist. This experience has led me to be open to a wide-range of artistic approaches. I experiment with many different media, selecting the most appropriate means to communicate the concept behind each work. I allow the concept to dictate my choice of media, resulting in my use of many diverse media rather than restricting myself to one specific approach. Consequently, my artworks are very varied. I am inspired by the world around me and try to convey my reactions to my surroundings and thoughts through my artistic statements. Whenever appropriate, I encourage my audience to interact with the artworks, to participate and to become part of the creative process, in order that they will better understand the issues that I am confronting.'
Hadieh Shafie, 'Ketab'
paper with pencil or ink, 23 carat gold gilding
5x16 inches
HADIEH SHAFIE was born in 1969 in Tehran, Iran, and she emigrated to the United States in 1983, leaving post-revolutionary Iran at the height of war social and political unrest. After graduating from the Pratt Institute in 1999 with an MFA in painting, Hadieh accepted a fellowship at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where she received a second MFA in Imaging and Digital Arts focusing on video installation and performance art.
'My work is rooted in the unpacking of my experience as a young girl living in post-revolutionary Iran.
Writing, winding, binding, erasing, and revealing text remain the significant gestures of most of my work.'
Madjid Asgari, 'The Aquarium', 2009
digital photography printed on steel sheet, 40.5 x 45 cm
MADJID ASGARI was born in 1979 in Tehran, Iran. In 2002 he completed a BA in Graphic Design at the Azad Art University, Faculty of Architecture and Fine Arts, Tehran. He has had solo exhibitions at 13 Vanak Gallery, Tehran. His most recent body of work is a series of 16 photographs printed on stell sheets called 'The Aquarium'.
Abdulnasser Gharem
ABDULNASSER GHAREM was born in 1973 in Khamis Mushayt, Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia where he still lives. Gharem is both a practising conceptual artist and a Major in the Saudi Arabian Army. He studied at the Al-Miftaha Arts Village in Abha. The artists of this village share a similar vision and in 2004 they staged a group exhibition, Shattah, a significant step in the recent history of contemporary art in Saudi Arabia. Other work includes Flora and Fauna, a piece exhibited in the recent 2007 Sharjah Biennial, which documents a performance during which Gharem wrapped himself up in plastic next to a local Cornocarpus Erectus tree.
"I have no studio so my studio is where I can find people. When I see the opportunity I go. That is my way of thinking about art." |
