DUBAI.- Leila Heller Gallery, Dubai, will debut its space on the Avenue with separate solo exhibitions by Ghada Amer and Wim Delvoye on Galleries Night on 16 November 2015, when galleries simultaneously open new exhibitions from 6pm – 9pm. The evening will welcome the creative community to the unveiling of new gallery openings, contemporary art exhibitions and artist talks.
Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, Alserkal Avenue Founder and Patron of the Arts comments, “The launch of Leila Heller Gallery, with dual exhibitions by celebrated international talents Ghada Amer and Wim Delvoye, is a testament to the growth of the UAE as an arts and cultural destination.”
Ghada Amer’s inaugural show at Leila Heller Gallery, Earth. Love. Fire will mark the first solo exhibition by the artist in the Arab world in nearly two decades. Curated by Dr. Shiva Balaghi, the exhibit will introduce Amer’s artistic foray into ceramics. Amer’s ceramic pieces represent the ultimate rebellion against painting as a historically male dominated artistic genre. The exhibition features 28 ceramics paintings and abstract sculptures in dialogue with new paintings and Amer’s iconic stainless steel sculptures. Accompanying the exhibit is a catalogue, produced through a collaboration between Ghada Amer, Dr. Balaghi, and Adam Welch. On November 19, at 4:30 pm, there will be a book launch for Ghada Amer: Earth.Love.Fire at the Leila Heller Gallery booth at Abu Dhabi Art. Balaghi and Amer will be present for an informal discussion.
In a second exhibit, Leila Heller Gallery will present the first gallery exhibition in the UAE by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye. The neo-conceptual artist is known for his experimental approach to materials and a deep immersion in the techniques of craftsmanship gleaned from his global travels. Wim Delvoye: Sculpture features a series of sculptural works that encompass Delvoye’s recent body of work, including examples of suitcases embellished with detailed metalwork inspired by craftsmen in Isfahan, delicately laser-cut tires, and his iconic spiral Gothic towers. Visitors also get the chance to see a panel discussion with Ghada Amer, Wim Delvoye and Prof. Marine Antle - Moderated by Dr. Shiva Balaghi at 6pm in The Yard, followed by a tour of the exhibition at the gallery.
1x1 Gallery will be relocating and opening its new space in Alserkal Avenue with an exhibition of select works by Anju Dodiya, Bharti Kher, Chittrovanu Mazumdar, Hema Upadhyay, Mithu Sen, Nasreen Mohamedi, Sudarshan Shetty, and Zarina Hashmi. The new gallery will comprise of two large exhibition spaces, a viewing room, as well as an edition shop, Editions1X1, will be a permanent space, housed within the premises and will feature an eclectic selection of books and limited edition works of art, design and craft and will be curated in conjunction with the exhibition programme.
As part of the launch of their new space, El Marsa gallery will open with Il n’est d’autres souverains que ceux qui me regardent by Tunisian artist Rachid Koraichi, featuring a site-specific installation of monumental sculptural and two-dimensional works. The show puts forward the spiritual, intellectual and political power of scripture in Koraichi’s art.
Vilma Jurkute, Director of Alserkal Avenue remarks, “The interest from international galleries in moving into MENA reflects the growth of the region's contemporary art scene. Together with our homegrown galleries, they create a strong foundation for dialogue, collaboration and exchange - all central to what Alserkal Avenue is passionate about and strongly invested in.”
To inaugurate its new space in warehouse 12, Ayyam gallery will present a solo show by Khaled Hafez titled A Temple For Extended Days. Characterised by dichotomous juxtapositions of epochs, genres, and cultures. Hafez’s practice demonstrates an inclination towards the collision of worlds. Next door, Ayyam Gallery’s existing space will showcase a solo show by Sama Alshaibi. Collapse will feature a diverse range of work spanning several years of her artistic career. The exhibition highlights Alshaibi’s conceptual approach to photography and the layered and collapsing signs that are integral to her distinctive aesthetic. There will be a talk by Sama Alshaibi with Maymanah Farhat, moderated by Wael Hattar at 5pm.
The Junction, Dubai’s first black-box theatre, will preview its space with a dress rehearsal of Noel Coward’s The Vortex at 7.30pm. 18th November will mark the opening of the space and its three-day performance. This is an independent, community production by George Anastasiades with support and production assistance provided by The Junction. Passes can be bought on the website*
Lawrie Shabibi will open A Dish For The Gods as Farhad Ahrarnia’s first solo exhibition in the Middle East region. Ahrarnia’s central premise is the ambivalent engagement between West and East spanning centuries or even millennia. Ahrarnia explores the aesthetic outcome of parallel sensibilities, where high modernism converges and entangles with the ancient, mythical and the exotic in order to spiritually articulate itself.
Down the street, Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde will welcome South African artists Hasan and Husain Essop’s second solo exhibition with the gallery in Dubai. Where the Essop brothers’ 2011 show served as an extension of their ongoing concerns with the art’s relationship with religion, often based on memories, rituals and stereotypes, Unrest focuses on new works created in the last year as part of the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Visual Art.
Green Art Gallery’s opening is entitled In Surfaces & Solids, in which Nazgol Ansarinia considers the years since Iran’s revolution, the post-1979 economic recovery, and how these dual efforts have manifested themselves in Tehran’s urban and socioeconomic fabrics.
Across the road Grey Noise presents a solo show by Caroline Aoun. Concrete Layers is composed of a series of site-specific printed works on Negative Permajet transfer paper, as well as a large installation work in concrete, which show the artist’s continual interest in muting and or inventing objects and materials, so as to reawaken us to new possibilities of envisioning space.
Around the corner Carbon 12 presents On a Boat, Looking to Land by Gil Heitor Cortesao and Daniel Rich. Like the buildings they depict, the paintings hold in a duality the process of their own making and the allegorical intention of their own condition. If architecture can never be free from its self-imposed image, providing the signposts to where we are, then stood in front of the work of these artists we can perhaps determine that we are on disconcerting ground.
Gulf Photo Plus will welcome Dennis Dailleux, with Eygpt, a photography exhibition that will have a guided tour led by the artist at 8pm. Dailleux’s portraits celebrate the quiet corners of Cairo, the shy tenderness of a young man’s grin, the long afternoon as it slips into the night at a shisha cafe, and the compassionate embrace of a grown son encompassing his aging mother.
Salsali Private Museum will present a group show by German artists titled German Cool. Showcase gallery presents The Material Presence of the Past by Helen Teede who attempts to subvert the inextricable link between power and writing by seeing every mark on a surface as a kind of writing. FN Designs will present Until The Dreams Come by Danabelle Gutierrez and Kris Kang, showcasing all watercolor paintings that were inspired by the book & Until The Dreams Come, along with photographs of the details with excerpts from the book illustrating that while you can view any story as a whole. Lastly, La Galerie Nationale will present designer Olivier Gagnère's first exhibition in the Middle East with a collection of 80 pieces and 10 paintings and drawings, in partnership with Galerie Maeght – Paris.
The Odd Piece will also be opening its doors to its brand new space on the Avenue. In honour of eL Seed opening his new artist studio space on the Avenue, the artist will be inviting visitors to preview the raw space before it is converted into his studio. Ending the night on a high note DJ MoCity, who is involved with OHM Events, will be spinning on the decks from 7pm onwards. Wild & The Moon will also be holding a pop-up.
