Story:
Saatchi Gallery in London inaugurates, "Unveiled: New Art from the Middle East", featuring paintings, sculptures and creations by up-and-coming artists from across the region.
Images of the war in Iraq, Muslim women portrayed as vacant shells, and provocative figures of Iranian prostitutes are among works at a new London exhibition of Middle Eastern art.
British collector Charles Saatchi has filled his new gallery with over 80 paintings, sculptures and creations from the Middle East ... Read more
Story:
Saatchi Gallery in London inaugurates, "Unveiled: New Art from the Middle East", featuring paintings, sculptures and creations by up-and-coming artists from across the region.
Images of the war in Iraq, Muslim women portrayed as vacant shells, and provocative figures of Iranian prostitutes are among works at a new London exhibition of Middle Eastern art.
British collector Charles Saatchi has filled his new gallery with over 80 paintings, sculptures and creations from the Middle East representing a vibrant art scene that he hopes will challenge people's assumptions about the region.
Rebecca Wilson, Head of Development at the Saatchi Gallery, said there were works on display by artists never before seen by the public.
"I think it's going to be a really eye-opening experience for the public coming to see this exhibition when you think that the media is completely dominated by stories of political trouble or war and we are just not really even aware that there are artists making this kind of work in those countries," Wilson said.
The works, collected over the last four years by the Baghdad-born impresario, touch on sensitive topics. They depict the horror of conflicts past and present, explore suppressed sexuality and examine a woman's place in the Muslim world.
The 19 artists in "Unveiled: New Art from the Middle East", which runs at the Saatchi Gallery from Friday until May 6, are from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Ramallah and beyond. Some still live in their native countries while others have emigrated to the West.
Shadi Ghadirian uses everyday objects like a colander, a broom and an iron to depict the 'everyday face' of Iranian women, one is the neighbourhood gossip, the other a doormat and the third, the grater-faced wife.
Iranian-American Sara Rahbar made an American flag with fragments of Persian fabrics, and sees her work as an expression of tolerance between peoples.
Works by Syrian-American sculptor Diana al-Hadid, who lives in New York, take 'towers' as a theme: the Tower of Babel, as well as the World Trade Centre.
For two Iraqi artists living abroad, war is an inescapable theme.
Iraqi artist Halim al-Karim hid in the desert, where he spent three years, to avoid being drafted into fighting during the first Gulf War.
According to the curators, he only survived because a Bedouin woman brought him food and water.
His blurred photographs, in sets of three, include "Hidden Prisoner 1993", featuring Sumerian artefacts kept in museums in glass cases, reminding the artist of friends and family held as political prisoners at Abu Ghraib jail under Saddam Hussein.
Although Iraq features strongly his art, Karim says that exhibiting in home country is not a priority for the time being.
"We have an ancient civilisation that is 6000 years old, and have always been able to resurrect it from the rubble, resurrect our homes and our spirits. So the last thing I am thinking of right now is exhibiting in Baghdad, the priority is for so many other things that need to be resurrected, before art and before exhibitions, we have to resurrect our spirits," he said.
Ahmed Alsoudani fled Iraq during the first Gulf war to Syria, but the most recent Iraq war is depicted with hoods and shackled men, insinuating the horrors of Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo.
Reflecting his own reality, Palestinian artist Wafa Hourani created five scale models envisioning the future of a refugee camp. The work takes its name from the main checkpoint crossing through the West Bank Security Fence, Qalandia.
"The message that I would like to get across is to make a political suggestion to the Palestinians. I talk about a new political party called the "Mirror Party" that appears in the future in Palestine after Fatah and Hamas. It gives each Palestinian a small mirror so that they can see themselves, examine themselves and their mistakes, the political mistakes that were made over the course of the Palestinian revolution, especially during the Second Intifada, when the Palestinians attained the highest level of expression of their anger and also violence, through martyrdom operations, a path that led them to a dead end, devoid of any hope," Hourani said.
One of the exhibition's most provocative artists is Shirin Fakhim, who uses ordinary objects and clothing to assemble grotesque looking sculptures depicting Tehran prostitutes. This exhibition is a first for Iranian-based Fakhim whose work cannot be displayed in Iran.
Another striking work on display is "Ghost" by French-Algerian artist Kader Attia, comprising more than 200 life-sized figures of Muslim women in hijabs bowing in prayer, each made out of aluminium foil.
Only when the visitor reaches the far end of the gallery and looks back does it become clear that the forms are empty shells.
The gallery says that "Unveiled" will reveal a vibrant, relatively unknown contemporary Middle East art scene and bring attention to artists across the region. The Middle East is being touted as the "next big thing" in contemporary art, taking over from China where artists have seen values for their works skyrocket.
The Saatchi Gallery recently relocated to the Duke of York Headquarters building in the heart of London. The inaugural exhibition featuring new art from China was seen by over 400,000 visitors.
"Unveiled: New Art from the Middle East" is running from Jan.
29 to May 6, alongside "Perspectives: Arab and Iranian Modern Masters", a group show featuring pioneering Arab and Iranian Modern artists.
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