• About ArtsIslamica
  • Contact

ArtsIslamica

~ This site brings together news stories, articles, photo essays, reviews, publications, conference proceedings, gallery events and exhibitions relating to the fields of Islamic art, architecture and archaeology.

ArtsIslamica

Category Archives: Exhibitions – Middle East – Individual Artists

The Many Faces of John Carswell

10 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by StudiesIslamica in Exhibitions - Middle East - Individual Artists, Exhibitions - Middle East - Lebanon, Scholars

≈ Leave a comment

John Carswell

The vaulted ceilings and thick stone pillars of Ada Dodge Hall find unexpected echoes in the enormous white sculptures that fill the space this winter, ghosts of the university’s past resurrected almost half a century after their creation. A two-part exhibition entitled “Trans-Oriental Monochrome: John Carswell” is currently filling both the on-campus AUB Byblos Bank Art Gallery and the nearby Rose and Shaheen Saleeby Museum.

Read More: The Many Faces of John Carswell

Hamra Abbas’s Exhibition Explores the Colour Black and Links to the Kaaba

21 Wednesday May 2014

Posted by StudiesIslamica in Exhibitions - Middle East - Individual Artists, Exhibitions - Middle East - United Arab Emirates

≈ Leave a comment

Hamra Abbas 2

Black is an absence of colour or an amalgamation of all colours. Either way, it is not a colour in its own right. It is this scientific mystery that fascinated the artist Hamra Abbas, a topic on which she spent months, searching for a way to visually represent it. The result is the namesake piece of her latest exhibition currently showing at Lawrie Shabibi gallery in Dubai’s Alserkal Avenue, Kaaba Picture as a Misprint.

Read More: Hamra Abbas’s Exhibition Explores the Colour Black and Links to the Kaaba

The Triumph of Form Over Content

21 Wednesday May 2014

Posted by StudiesIslamica in Exhibitions - Middle East - Individual Artists, Exhibitions - Middle East - Lebanon

≈ Leave a comment

Samir Sayegh

For centuries, Arabic calligraphy was diligently studied, faithfully reproduced and carefully refined by generations of master calligraphers, revered as the pre-eminent form of art in Islamic societies where figuration was rejected in favor of the beauty of the written word. Over the past two centuries, however, perceptions of calligraphy have changed. Often dismissed as “traditional” by those who champion contemporary media, it is increasingly perceived not as art but as artisanal decoration, an attractive means of conveying meaning. Lebanon’s foremost calligrapher Samir Sayegh has been battling this shift in attitude for decades.

Read More: The Triumph of Form Over Content

Art Gallery to Showcase Sufism’s Mystical Journey Through Exhibition

05 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by StudiesIslamica in Exhibitions - Middle East - Individual Artists

≈ Leave a comment

Hossein Irandoust

Pro Art Gallery, the gallery that celebrates innovative and cutting edge art in the Middle East, will host a new exhibition titled Spirituality in Motion, which will showcase artworks by renowned contemporary Iranian artist Hossein Irandoust. The exhibition will run from March 12th to March 20th at the Pro Art Gallery.

Read More: Art Gallery to Showcase Sufism’s Mystical Journey Through Exhibition

Nabil Nahas’s New Collection for Lawrie Shabib Gallery in Dubai

30 Monday Dec 2013

Posted by StudiesIslamica in Exhibitions - Middle East - Individual Artists

≈ Leave a comment

Nabil Nahas

After a particularly heavy storm in 1991, the artist Nabil Nahas took a walk along Southampton Beach in Long Island, New York, and found it littered with starfish, spewed out by the recently tumultuous sea. According to William Lawrie, who wrote an essay on the seminal Lebanese artist many years later, it was the turning point in his career. “Fascinated by the random composition they made against the wet sand, Nahas attached a starfish body to one of the panels of a diptych, itself part of the Circle series,” writes Lawrie. “This was a pivotal work and he knew it, thus entitling it Eureka.”

Read More: Nabil Nahas’s New Collection for Lawrie Shabib Gallery in Dubai

O.M.G: Conceptual Photography Chronicles a Chaotic Culture

17 Sunday Nov 2013

Posted by StudiesIslamica in Artists - Egypt, Exhibitions - Middle East - Individual Artists, Photography - Egypt

≈ Leave a comment

Bassem Samir

In his first solo exhibition, entitled O.M.G, which opened at Safarkhan Gallery, contemporary artist Bassem Samir showcases a collection of heavily stylised conceptual photographs addressing contemporary Egyptian culture and the state of chaos that pervades it.

Read More: O.M.G: Conceptual Photography Chronicles a Chaotic Culture

Sharp Practice: Investigating the Cut-paper Works of André Meyerhans

23 Friday Aug 2013

Posted by StudiesIslamica in Exhibitions - Middle East - Individual Artists

≈ Leave a comment

Andre Meyerhans

The white paper cut-outs are mounted on white frames and a white background, simple and clean in appearance. The thoughts and intent behind their creation is in fact the culmination of years of study and introspection. The nine cut-outs are displayed at the Swiss Art Gate UAE exhibition, The Universe of Patterns, in the lobby of the Swiss Tower at Jumeirah Lake Towers in Dubai. The exhibition is part of a study by the architect André Meyerhans that asks: how can we find a contemporary geometric design that reflects the modern Middle East?

Read More: Sharp Practice: Investigating the Cut-paper Works of Andre Meyerhans

Reza Derakhshani’s Works Evoke Iran’s Magnificent Past

02 Thursday May 2013

Posted by StudiesIslamica in Exhibitions - Middle East - Individual Artists

≈ Leave a comment

Reza Derakhshani

If you want a reason to visit Reza Derakhshani’s solo show at Salsali Private Museum, the fact that the main installation has completely changed since it was unveiled during Art Week is a good one. The black-sand snakes that the artist shaped with a common house brush before the opening in March have been swept away and replaced with skulls that lie at the base of the tomb of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian Empire. The area has also been curtained off and filled with black light. To see the glowing shape of Pasargadae, you must peek through cut-out eyeholes. Its dynamism, colour and theme summarise the exhibition.

Read More: Reza Derakhshani’s Works Evoke Iran’s Magnificent Past

Rediscovering the Beauty of Language

21 Sunday Apr 2013

Posted by StudiesIslamica in Exhibitions - Middle East - Individual Artists

≈ Leave a comment

Nima Behnoud

New York-based Iranian artist Nima Behnoud’s work is inspired by Persian culture and calligraphy. In his first ever exhibition, Behnoud is showcasing a series of silk-screen prints on paper that feature verses from famous poet Rumi, references to Persian history and mythology, pre-Islamic Iranian motifs, calligraphic letters and Islamic arabesque patterns. But the vivid colours he has used, the way he has juxtaposed the different elements, and his emphasis on geometric forms rather than the meaning of the words gives these artworks a contemporary look.

Read More: Rediscovering the Beauty of Language

Scratching Beneath the Surface

17 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by StudiesIslamica in Exhibitions - Middle East - Individual Artists

≈ Leave a comment

Walid Raad

Lebanese artist Walid Raad rose to international acclaim in the early 2000s with The Atlas Group, established in Lebanon in 1999 with Raad as its only known member. The Atlas Group intended to “research and document the contemporary history of Lebanon.” In other words, like other post-civil war artists of his generation, this project formulated an attempt to work in response to the events of the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), the effects of which still resonate with the Lebanese people. In a series of works linked to The Atlas Group’s archive, the thin lines between fact and fiction, history and the imaginary, the production and construction of memory, and the documented and the performed are continuously blurred. Raad has continued to work on these themes in his current work.

Read More: Scratching Beneath the Surface

Monir Farmanfarmaian Exhibition at The Third Line, Dubai

28 Thursday Mar 2013

Posted by StudiesIslamica in Exhibitions - Middle East - Individual Artists

≈ Leave a comment

Monir Farmanfarmaian 3

The Third Line is proud to present a survey exhibition of Iranian artist Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian that reflects upon the past decade of her remarkable artistic journey. Showcasing works from 2004 until now – including those being displayed for the first time – the exhibition highlights Monir’s stellar career as a pioneer in contemporary Iranian art.

Read More: Monir Farmanfarmaian Exhibition

Mirror, Mirror: The Iranian Artist Monir Farmanfarmaian’s Dazzling Work Shines in Dubai

26 Tuesday Feb 2013

Posted by StudiesIslamica in Exhibitions - Middle East - Individual Artists

≈ Leave a comment

Monir Farmanfarmaian 2In twinkling tones over a crackling line from Tehran, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian smiles almost audibly as she talks about mirrors. “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the prettiest of them all,” she lilts. It is no wonder she lights up on the subject: mirror mosaic forms the basis of her work and it is through large installation works such as Flight of the Dolphin, part of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, and Lightning for Neda, six panels that hang in the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane, Australia, that this octogenarian has gained international recognition.

Read More: Monir Farmanfarmaian

“A Monument of Buzzwords”: The Work of Artist, Samir El Kordy

11 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by StudiesIslamica in Exhibitions - Middle East - Individual Artists

≈ Leave a comment

Samir El Kordy“A Monument of Buzzwords”, the work of Egyptian artist Samir El Kordy and part of the exhibition “PhotoCairo 5” at Townhouse Gallery, in downtown Cairo gives us more than just “buzzwords.” PhotoCairo 5 is a large-scale contemporary art project organized by the Contemporary Image Collective and curated by Mia Jankowicz, which explores paradigm shifts. Involving international and local, emerging and established artists, the exhibition examines the ability of art to trigger affective responses from the viewer.

Read More: Samir El Kordy

Calligrapher with a Different Stroke

28 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by StudiesIslamica in Exhibitions - Middle East - Individual Artists

≈ Leave a comment

Tahir bin QullanderUnlike most calligraphy artists, Tahir bin Qullander steers away from the conventional form of Islamic calligraphy. Based in Lahore, Pakistan, Bin Qullander experiments portraying Islamic calligraphy with bold strokes and presents his art to look like landscapes and portraits as compared to the usual parchment type presentation of calligraphy. Qullander, who opened his first international art show recently, is displaying his work at the Al Hamail Art Gallery in Al Qouz for a month.

Read More: Tahir bin Qullander

Seeking a Better Viewpoint to the East

19 Saturday Jan 2013

Posted by StudiesIslamica in Exhibitions - Middle East - Individual Artists

≈ Leave a comment

Vanessa Hodgkinson“Where Are You Now?” is a retrospective of young British artist Vanessa Hodgkinson’s work, which reflects different stages of her engagement with Islamic art and the struggle to find her identity in the context of Islamic and Western artistic traditions. The show, curated by Maisa Al Qassimi, traces her artistic journey over the last seven years, while offering a unique Western perspective on the debate about Western perceptions of traditional Islamic art and its relationship to contemporary Western art.

Read More: Seeking a Better Viewpoint

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • ArtsIslamica
    • Join 27 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • ArtsIslamica
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...