As the long hot summer draws to a close, the local art scene is gearing up for a new season full of rich offerings. We round up some of the highlights.
UAE artists
For the September show at Dubai’s Meem Gallery, Sheikha Wafa Hasher Al Maktoum will present textile pieces and screen prints featuring abstracted forms of icons representing the UAE. An emerging artist, this is only her second solo show (her first was at Bonham’s in 2011).
• Seamless Loop: Sheikha Wafa Hasher Al Maktoum, September 26 to October 30, www.meemartgallery.com
Tucked away in Al Badia Golf Club at Dubai’s Intercontinental Hotel, Art Couture’s September exhibition will include the work of 10 female Emirati calligraphers – a notable distinction in a usually male-dominated world, and a fascinating insight into local culture.
• Women in Calligraphy at Art Couture, September 17 to October 3,www.artcoutureuae.com
In collaboration with online gallery Kobo Art, an exhibition at the Kempinski hotel in Ajman will display 25 works by nine contemporary, UAE-based artists.
• Kobo Art Exhibition, August 8 to November 8, www.koboart.com
Pakistani painter Nazir Haidri will show cubist-style creations at Z Gallery along Sheikh Zayed Road.
• Symphony in Cubism, September 5 to December 31,www.fourpointssheikhzayedroad.com
International talent
Over the next few months, several artists from around the world will visit the UAE, including some veritable superstars of the art world, including Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. A huge exhibition of her work – which took four years to put together – will open at Sharjah Art Foundation in October. Kusama is known as the queen of the polka dot, and this show will exhibit pieces dating back to the 1950s, revealing the evolution of her career.
• Yayoi Kusama: Dot Obsessions, October 1 to January 9, Sharjah Art Foundation, www.sharjahart.org
Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei will be part of a group exhibition at New York University Abu Dhabi. A wallpaper design he created last year will be showcased in the show, which explores the technologically saturated world that we live in.
• Invisible Threads: Technology and its Discontents, September 22 to December 31, www.nyuad-artgallery.org
Capital offerings
One of the most important dates on the calendar, Abu Dhabi Art runs from November 16 to 19. The fair showcases work from galleries around the world, and this year there are five curated sections – including a large-scale installation by the influential Beijing artist, Gu Dexin, who creates works from bananas and leaves it to rot. There will also be fascinating performing-arts programmes spilling out from the fair’s venue on Saadiyat Island to the rest of the city, including the Corniche.
• Abu Dhabi Art, November 16 to 19, www.abudhabiart.ae
Etihad Modern Art Gallery will opens its new season with a group calligraphy exhibition. In November, to coincide with Abu Dhabi Art, it will showcase art from Japan.
• Words are Rain That Grows Flowers – Calligraphy Exhibition, Etihad Modern Art Gallery, September 5 to 27, www.etihadmodernart.com
Each month, Abu Dhabi Art Hub dedicates its gallery to a different country. Next month, the focus is on Ukraine, while UAE artists will show in December.
• Ukraine Art Month at Abu Dhabi Art Hub, September 1 to 30, www.adah.ae
Photography
Two Dubai galleries dedicated to photography have strong seasons to look forward to. Gulf Photo Plus opens with a two-person show that explores Beirut from a conceptual point of view, followed by a solo exhibition from Dubai-based Richard Allenby-Pratt, who continues his careful visual contemplation of the UAE.
• When Time Does Not Exist, Gulf Photo Plus, September 14 to October 27,gulfphotoplus.com
Over at East Wing, Dutch photographer Martin Roemers brings his Metropolis series to the UAE next month. It is an evocative series encapsulating the development of megacities around the world.
• Martin Roemers – Metropolis, September 7 to November 17, www.east-wing.org
Don’t miss
It is not often that local galleries put on quality shows of sculpture, so Poetry in Wood by the Paris-based Lebanese sculptor Chaouki Choukini, at Green Art Gallery in Dubai, is sure to be worth checking out.
• Poetry in Wood: Chaouki Choukini, Green Art Gallery in Dubai, September 18 to October 30, www.gagallery.com
Iraqi artist Hayv Kahraman brings her long-awaited solo show to Dubai’s The Third Line. Her delicate works address the weighty issues of war and gender, and have brought international acclaim.
• Audible Inaudible, September 18 to October 22, www.thethirdline.com
British artist Gordon Cheung is making his regional debut at Leila Heller Gallery in Dubai. He paints dense collages made from issues of London’s pink Financial Times newspaper – with ink, oil, acrylic gel and spray paint – on the theme "the collapse of civilisation".
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