The Art Dubai Buzz

Art Dubai 2012, what a success!

On twitter: "International galleries @artdubai are curating their booths with same caliber art they show in Basel and Freize. GCC art market is maturing." by alshroogi

I went with low expectations, shielding myself from disappointment because the specialists' had previewed a spectacular show and I always shy away from superlatives. But the rumors were confirmed and I experienced the buzz!

Art Dubai and by extension the city that hosts the fair has the reputation of being a commercial forum. Moreover Dubai is known for its art galleries, rather than its museums. Many go to the fair to buy, many come from abroad for this purpose. But many come to learn and see and enjoy.

Yesterday, I learned, saw and enjoyed every minute I spent at the fair. Today, I walked through the same halls A and B, gazing and confirming my admiration. I visited my favorite lizard by Joana Vasconcelos. It was sold from night one and I now wonder where the lace adorned reptile will find refuge. Ah the mysteries of private collectors with such good taste and flair!
 

I can say that the fair was harmoniously designed, the booths well divided and well interconnected at the same time. Each and every gallery brought out their best colours, expressed their personality and gallery-culture with much talent. When I bumped into a friend or another, I would invariably take them by the hand and conduct them to Salem Barakat's Agial booth and profess: "look at how beautifully curated this collection is!" I would then gaze at the trees, the photographed forests, the Nabil Nahas huge black cedar tree bark, the Mohammad Baalbaki installation with its costumed twin Lebanese wood cutters chopping at the symbol of their (my) country with interminable and incessant determination.

   
Perhaps, and as always, my bespoke criticism is that I would prefer to see more non-Middle Eastern art, which explains my fascination w Portuguese Vasconcelos. But even the Middle Eastern art had its own originality. For indeed, aesthetics gave place to the otherwise constant litany of "war-art".
 

I think the art dubai exhibitors were more playful this year as best displayed by the three Nadim Karam pieces of which my preferred fox. "Isn't it a fox?" I asked the artist as I pointed to a wild cat. "Are you pinktaxiblogger?" Karam raised his eyebrow in consternation to have met the blogger who wrote obsessively about his work and le Petit Prince.

Some dreams can come true. Who said you can't be a proud owner of the much coveted Haiv Kahraman, at a "smaller" price because the works are ink on paper? Just step into the cutting edge Third Line Gallery! And for those who support "political" art (my preferred Mona Hatoum was missing), engaged art, nothing tops Leila Shawa's Israeli planes over-flying a two-dimensional gardenscape populated by Iranian miniatures!