Timur D’Vatz, Reawakening
Timur D’Vatz’s artworks are always infused with deep meaning and a diversity of symbols. You may devote hours looking at them, discovering new aspects and fascinating stories. Unique, sometimes mystical, wrapped in a mystery you desire to understand and clarify. They evoke a sense of absorption in another world, as well as immersion inside oneself to one’s spiritual origins and interaction with the creative force.
The exposition includes 16 incredible new artworks by the artist and the most anticipated work of the exhibition was the painting Ancient Greek myth “Perseus and Andromeda.”
Location: Andakulova Gallery, Damac Park Towers
Duration: 8 December 2022 – 20 February 2023
Sara Tantawy, Survivors
Sara Tantawy’s latest paintings capture the gestures and movement of traditional dancers in order to explore an ancient practice that for centuries has allowed communities to narrate and process the challenges of life events. The paintings featured in the artist’s solo exhibition Survivors describe how Eastern dance (or belly dancing in layman’s terms) has evolved as a communal practice that is at once deeply personal and informed by collective memory, allowing performers and their audiences to work collectively through emotional responses such as grief, pain, exhaustion, resilience, and euphoria.
Location: Fann À Porter, The Workshop Dubai, Jumeirah
Duration: 11 January – 10 February
Chaouki Choukini, Drawings
Chaouki Choukini is best known for his sculptures in which the Lebanese-born Paris-based artist plays with light and space, which are also evident in Choukini’s delicate watercolour works presented here for the first time. While the shapes – a confluence of cubes and blocks that comprise his citadelles – are familiar. Here, in contrast to the strength of wood, we see delicate watercolours, blurry shapes, applied and erased, making us squint to see it through the fog of memory. They are extraordinary visions, places existing within the artist’s memory – part constructivist patchwork, part living being, part elusive dream.
Location: Green Art Gallery, Al Quoz
Duration: 11 January – 18 February
Mestaria Gallery, The Shona Collective
The Shona Collective comprises of Zimbabwean artists who engage globally to disseminate the centuries-old stone sculpting traditions of the Shona tribe. This growing collective is composed of nine artists with unparalleled talent in the ancient art of Shona sculpture. David White, Bywell Sango, Gregory Mutasa, Tawanda, Royal Katiyo, Leonard Sezhendo, Lovemore Bonjisi, Witness Bonjisi and Dominic Benhura aim to educate new audiences about their extraordinary art form and ensure that appreciation for Shona talent and culture reaches all corners of the globe.
The Shona Art style is woven into the history of Zimbabwe and is one of the most prominent and powerful art forms in African culture. Sculpting skills are passed down through families, and stone is still carved with just a hammer and a chisel.
Location: Mestaria Gallery, Alserkal Avenue
Duration: 27 January – 17 February
Aïda Muluneh – The Art of Advocacy
An exhibition of acclaimed works from various series that exemplify Aïda Muluneh’s approach to art as a tool for change, including commissions for the Nobel Peace Prize.
This solo show includes a new work displayed for the first time, in which the artist explores a new process of hand-painting acrylic onto photographs.
A remarkable force in the photography world, Muluneh is known for her powerful portraits of women in surreal settings, featuring face-painting traditions, masks, striking garments and distinctively bold colours. Advocacy is integral to the artist’s work, which touches on urgent themes of human rights, environment, conflict and health. She explores African female identity within the colonial experience, interrogating the foreign gaze on African women, and advocates for the development of photography in Africa and its impact in shaping cultural perceptions.
Location: Efie Gallery, AL Quoz
Duration: 12 January – 24 February
The Missing Witness, Behrang Samadzadegan
Now And Forever, Lorenzo Quinn
My Name Is Chance, Arash Nazari
In his exhibition titled ‘The Missing Witness’, and through intricate interwoven narratives, Behrang Samadzadegan’s work draws a clear connection to what is more commonly known as Persian Miniature Painting.
‘Now and Forever’ is a collection of Lorenzo Quinn’s unique new artworks, never seen before by the public, being exhibited along with some of his past works. Behind his artworks, lies the philosophy that everything we say and do in life has a ripple effect and forever alters the course of events.
‘My Name Is Chance’ showcases Arash Nazari’s latest works which are heavily influenced by Negārgari (Persian Miniature Art). In his paintings, he brings to notice the contrast between, unique classical art of miniature opposed to color tones from contemporary minimalist art. He lays the classic painting in the center of the frame and shows stretches of colour from the Negārgari on both sides of it representing speed and change in time periods.
Location: Leila Heller Gallery, Alserkal Avenue
Duration: 18 January – 24 February