Tickets for World Art Dubai are available on Platinumlist: https://shorturl.at/ekqI8

Dubai, UAE, 26 April 2024: World Art Dubai (WAD), the largest contemporary art fair in the region, is poised to celebrate its 10th edition. This year WAD will unveil 12 international pavilions dedicated to showcasing the vibrant artistic diversity from different countries and regions. From 2^nd to 5^th May 2024, art enthusiasts will have the opportunity to explore artworks from different pavilions. Namely, the UAE, America, Asia, China, Europe, GCC, India, Iran, Japan, Russia, and the UK, highlighting the universal language of art that transcends borders.

The fair, held at Dubai World Trade Centre in partnership with Dubai Culture, will feature over 4,000 artworks from over 65 countries. It will be presenting a dynamic snapshot of Dubai’s unique blend of local and international influences. The fair will be reinforcing the city’s position as an arts powerhouse for the Global South, elevating the global positioning of WAD

As a matter of fact, the international pavilions also stand as cultural gateways. Each offers a unique window into the country or region’s artistic heritage and contemporary creativity. From the traditional to the avant-garde, these pavilions curate a rich tapestry of artistic expressions. They underscore the universal language of art that unites us all. Each pavilion is a testament to the global nature of World Art Dubai and its commitment to fostering cultural exchange and appreciation. Moreover, it is adding positive economic impact to a city where 9% of the GDP comes from tourism.

World Art Dubai’s landmark 10^th edition will showcase a diverse array of pavilions and artists from around the world.

UAE and GCC Pavilion Highlights

The UAE and GCC Pavilions will spotlight both the talent of residents who call Dubai home and talented citizens. Undoubtedly, this demonstrates how the two populations exist and interact through their creative drives. These artists include Daria Avdeeva, Javeria Khan, and Francine Kaspar. They present their vibrant artworks, harmoniously blending classical techniques with contemporary interpretations, reflecting the UAE’s multicultural identity. Additionally, Hend Rashed, a Dubai-based abstract artist, will present her dynamic creations. Distinctly, with a repertoire spanning seven years at prestigious exhibitions worldwide, including in Singapore, Oman, and Italy, Rashed’s artistry has garnered recognition. She has earned nominations for the UAE Residence Artist Award by World Art Dubai for three consecutive years.

Bahraini artist Leena Al Ayoobi, Iraqi artist Nabil Ali, and Lebanese artist Lydia Moawad will showcase their unique artistic visions. They blend cultural influences and personal experiences to create compelling artworks. Specifically, their pieces demonstrate the wide variety of styles and cultural influences in Middle Eastern art.

Representing Diverse Global Regions

The pavilions of World Art Dubai feature artistic fusion among cultures, continents, and art schools that converge in Dubai from diverse global regions. The Europe Pavilion is curated by Tablinum Cultural Management. It presents innovative contemporary art, with artists like Tatiana Kramarenko, Follow Med, and Petr Shebarshin exploring themes of chaos, spirituality, and life’s profundity. China’s presence, facilitated by Artaflo Collective from Hong Kong, reflects the belief in art as a universal language. India’s offering showcases the dynamic art scene. This includes Sanuj Birla’s pop art, Raihan R Vadra’s immersive installations, and Niyati Parekh’s art and interior design.

Japan Promotion’s ‘Japan Tide’ project presents a curated blend of traditional and contemporary Japanese arts. The Russia Pavilion, featuring Igor Kirillov and IMMI Art, offers immersive experiences in romantic hyperrealism. Iran’s pavilion, represented by Ronas Gallery and Negara Group, highlights the vibrant contemporary art scene. In addition, insights from America, Asia, and the UK are incorporated, including contributions from the Museum of Modern Renaissance, Art Muse Gallery, and Lenny Lopes, respectively. These offerings provide fresh perspectives and innovative approaches to art.

Asma Al Sharif, Assistant Vice President at Exhibitions, Dubai World Trade Centre remarked about the fair. She said, “World Art Dubai’s 10th edition underscores our commitment to making art accessible and celebrating the diversity of the global art scene. The 12 international pavilions serve as portals, inviting visitors to immerse themselves in a vibrant mosaic of artistic expressions and explore a rich tapestry from around the world.”

Spotlight on Legacy and Innovative Artists

Notably, legacy exhibitors include Japan Promotion and Art Plus Photographers Production who have been loyal exhibitors at the fair for the past eight years. This signifies their longstanding commitment to World Art Dubai. Alongside them, new artists like Rinko Lim and Liz Ramos-Prado bring fresh perspectives to the Dubai art scene.

Rinko Lim uniquely blends art, design, and energy therapy. She harnesses her experiences from the United States to delve into themes of self-discovery and spiritual wellness. Meanwhile, Liz Ramos-Prado seamlessly merges graphic design with fine art, bridging the gap between commercial and personal artistic expressions. With a decade-long career in the UAE’s media and design landscape, Ramos-Prado’s work delves into the intricacies of human emotion.

With Hotel Indigo Dubai Downtown, the first certified boutique hotel in the UAE, proudly serving as the fair’s Art Hotel Partner. Additionally, Al Hathboor Group have joined WAD as Artistic Sponsor. There is an anticipated turnout of over 15,000 visitors at World Art Dubai 2024. The fair promises an immersive cultural journey, celebrating the transformative impact of art and its ability to forge global connections. Secure your tickets for World Art Dubai now on Platinumlist: https://shorturl.at/ekqI8.

For more information, visit www.worldartdubai.com

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The buyer may have caught a wave. The collective Yuga Labs, the creators of BAYC, announced they had signed with the agency Maverick, which represents pop artists including Britney Spears and Madonna. The successful bidder now owns three of the roughly 10,000 algorithmically generated bored apes which, together, traded $132.2m during peak sales in August according to The Block. More traditional works of art also turned heads at Christie’s 20/21st Century Evening Sale, which contained 38 lots, including many major 21st century artists, and was the first fully attended in-person event to be held since the onset of the pandemic. 

The first lot of the sale, a figurative painting from 2019 by the British artist Cecily Brown, which was donated by the artist and her gallery Thomas Dane Gallery, was estimated at £500,000 but went for £2.9m (£3.5m with fees) after a sustained bidding war from buyers from three continents. Proceeds from the sale will go to ClientEarth, an environmental charity Christie’s is partnering with in collaboration with Gallery Climate Coalition. Brown was the most prominent of a strong showing of female painters at the auction, with works by Shara Hughes, Hilary Precis and Emily Mae Smith all far exceeding their estimates.

Clore, previously chairperson of Sotheby’s Europe until 2016 and now co-founder of the art advisory group Clore Wyndham, notes the Christie’s sale came off the back of a very strong showing at Sotheby’s equivalent auction on Thursday for young artists like Jadé Fadojutimi, Ewa Juszkiewicz and, most notably, Flora Yukhnovich, the 31-year-old British artist from Norwich who graduated from the City & Guilds of London Art School as recently as 2017. Her painting I’ll have what she’s having, created in 2020, shattered expectations to sell for £2.3m. At Christie’s today, Hilary Pecis’ 2019 painting Kaba On A Chair sold for £180,000 (£225,000 with fees) against a high estimate of £60,000, whilst Emily Mae Smith’s 2017 Paint While Screaming sold for £95,000 (£118,750 with fees), nearly four times the high estimate.

In contrast to heady bidding for young painters, there were some disappointments for established names. Hockney’s Guest House Garden, a painting from 2000 which some commentators expected to fly, sold for £5m (£5.8m with fees) on an estimate of up to £7m, whilst Peter Doig’s Hill Houses, estimated at up to £3.5 to £4.5m, failed to sell. A Rudolf Stingel painting from 2012, estimated at £1m, was withdrawn. Christie’s reported 35% of buyers were from Asia. There was 50% increase in buyers under 40, year on year. In all, 90% of the lots sold for a total of £64.6m (with fees), below a pre-sale high estimate (without fees) of £66.4m.

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Thomas Dermine, Belgium’s Secretary of State for Scientific Policy, said the country was focused on returning works from the holdings of the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren. The institution is primarily devoted to objects from the Congo, and was opened in 1897 as a means for Leopold II to show the treasures and wealth he had accumulated through his colonization of that part of Africa.

The works to be returned are only a part of the museum’s holdings. Of the 85,000 objects from the Congo in the museum’s collection, it is estimated that only 883 objects, which totals to less than 1 percent, were brought to the country illegally. Dermine said that 58 percent were obtained legally, and the remaining 40-plus percent of the collection required further research.

The objects came to Belgium in 1885, the same year  Leopold II declared himself the ruler of the Congo Free State, and 1960, the year that the Democratic Republic of Congo declared its independence from Belgium. In the intervening years, the citizens of the Congo endured various brutalities from Belgians who relied on their labor to support the rubber and chocolate industries.

Last July, the Belgium government suggested creating a commission focused on reckoning with colonialism, but the country’s parliament has yet to formally create one, causing frustration among experts. Earlier this month, curators and scholars in the country took matters into their own hands and drafted a document that calls for a full-scale repatriation of objects “closely linked to the conquest, occupation, and colonization of the immense Central African region.”

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By the date of the painting she was effectively the monarch, as regent for her son Charles—the boy king encircled by her arm—after the death of her husband Henry II of France. Also depicted are his siblings the future King Henry III, Duke of Anjou; Marguerite de Valois, who would become Queen of Navarre; and François-Hercule, Duke of Anjou and Alençon. The children would be the last of the Valois dynasty, succeeded by the Bourbons in 1589.

The portrait was among  works from Walpole’s holdings that were dispersed in an 1842 auction. But now, the paintinh has been put under public ownership as part of the Acceptance in Lieu scheme. The arrangement enables families to pay inheritance taxes, in whole or in part, by transferring “important works of art and heritage objects” to the public domain.

The work, attributed to the workshop of French court painter Francois Clouet, will go on permanent display in Strawberry Hill House when it reopens on May 17.  Located in Twickenham, the gothic revival house is was opened to the public as a museum in 2010, following a $14-million restoration effort.

The painting has only been on public display on a handful of occasions since Walpole’s death, but will now be on permanent view in the long gallery which was once filled with Walpole’s Paintings.

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When the boats were first discovered in 2017, it appeared as white outlines carved into the grey rock surface and can only be seen clearly under the right weather conditions. The boat measured around 4.3m in length, although only one end remains now because of erosion. It was probably a life-size representation, like nearby carvings of animals, which include seals, reindeer, a possible porpoise and perhaps a polar bear. A second boat image is less well preserved, with only around 3m still visible.

Jan Magne Gjerde, an archaeologist with the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research, suggests that the boat carvings may represent Arctic skin boats, a type of vessel often made from seal hides that helped early Scandinavians to settle the area. These boats were light enough to be carried, could hold multiple people and items and moved fast, allowing for hunting on water. “Such a vehicle would be ideal for colonising the seascapes in northern Norway during the Early Mesolithic,” Gjerde writes.

Other carvings may still await discovery at Valle. “Considering the critical impact of the weather and light (sun) on the visibility of the rock art, it is very likely that there are more figures at Valle and more sites with rock art in the Ofoten area in northern Norway,” Gjerde writes.

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German art collector and dealer Helga de Alvear, who is also one of the founders of the fair ARCOMadrid, has amassed a formidable collection of 3,000 contemporary artworks over four decades. She has gifted the collection—in its entirety—to the Spanish region of Extremadura and will also donate a just-completed museum in the city of Cáceres to house it.

The expanded and restored museum is set to display works by the likes of Joseph Beuys, Dan Flavin, Joseph Albers, Paul Klee, Nan Goldin, and Jenny Holzer, to name a few. All told, the collection contains work by 500 artists. A portion of the collection, around 200 works, will be unveiled when the museum reopens its doors this spring. Access to the museum will remain free to the public.

“I am interested in contemporary art because it speaks to us of our time and of ourselves, because it creates and develops a language that can explain, in a new way, the world in which we happen to live and of which we often only brush the surface,” said de Alvear in a statement.

A smaller version of the museum and de Alvear’s foundation has been running on the same site since 2010. The first location for the museum, a 1913 villa, remains but is now built out by a hyper-modern, white-slated building, which was designed by Tuñón Arquitectos Studio.

Construction on the site broke ground in 2015 and cost €10 million, which was split between de Alvear and the Regional Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sports, Government of Extremadura.

A rare and well-preserved edition of Goya’s Los Caprichos aquatint, as well as etchings from the last 16th century (the museum says it considers Goya the first contemporary artist), will be on view alongside works by Louise Bourgeois, Thomas Hirschhorn, and Nan Goldin. Modern artists like Wassily Kandinsky and Pablo Picasso are also featured.

De Alvear, who was born in Germany, spent most of her life in Madrid. In 1967, de Alvear met Juana Mordó, an art dealer and prominent cultural figure in Spain. She worked at Juana Mordó gallery before taking over after Mordó died.

She then made waves in 1995 when she opened her own eponymous gallery steps from the Reina Sofía Museum, with a focus on photography, video, and installation—experimental mediums at the time. She represents artists Angela Bulloch, Thomas Demand, and Elmgreen & Dragset.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by MAGZOID staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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