The third season of World Art Dubai opens at Dubai World Trade Centre tomorrow, bringing together a collection of more than 3,000 paintings, prints, sculptures and photographs from more than 150 local, regional and international artists. This accessible and affordable art fair embraces different cultures, artistic styles and, most importantly, budgets, with prices range from $100 to $20,000. If you’re planning on heading down, here are a few artists’ stands to make sure you visit.
Jani Viswanath
Born into a traditional South Indian Brahmin family, Viswanath works with knives and blades to create oil canvases that are raw, sharp and mesmerising to the eye. Having painted with various mediums from a very young age, Viswanath eventually settled on a palette knife and oils to create her work, each piece of which is inspired by a place, person or poet.
Nguyen Hung Cuong
If you think you know origami, think again. This Vietnamese artist transforms handmade Vietnamese paper called ‘dó’ into everything from large-scale gorillas and apples to sharks. Cuong’s work has been showcased in galleries from Tokyo to New York, and some of his largest sculptures can take up to eight weeks to fold – all created from just one single piece of paper.
Mohamed El Banna
The third season of World Art Dubai is shining a light on the culture and heritage of Arabia with Exhibition Islam, an area dedicated to pioneering artists either from, or with roots in, the Middle East. One such artist is Egyptian-born architect Mohamed El Banna, who focuses much of his work on Arabic calligraphy. “Nowadays you’ll find several contemporary artists taking the lead towards a new vision of this art,” says El Banna. “From Morocco to India, you can enjoy countless beautiful pieces of ancient Islamic art that are inspiring many of today’s contemporary artists.”
Agnethe Maagaard
With each piece having its own special design and history, Maagaard creates work using only raw glass. The Dane has earned international recognition at galleries throughout America and not only does she count the Queen of Denmark among regular visitors to her gallery, she’s also created bespoke pieces for the Danish Royal Family.
Junaid Sénéchal-Senekal
Hailing from South Africa, Sénéchal-Senekal makes use of acrylic and mixed mediums on wooden boards to paint everything from dancing figures, abstract subjects, wild African animals and architectural structures. His work been displayed in a number of private collections across New York, London and Paris, and he also has his own self-titled gallery in Franschhoek, in the Western Cape of South Africa.
Sarvanez Rahgozar
The youngest talent at World Art Dubai, eight-year-old Rahgozar is a paintbrush-yielding art genius. Inspired by famous Iranian books and her travels to the old cities and villages around Iran, Rahgozar works with coloured pencils, water colour, gouache and acrylic paints. This ‘mini Monet’s’ flamboyant work might remind certain audiences of those long, flimsy, childlike characters crafted by Quentin Blake for the illustrated works of Roald Dahl.
World Art Dubai 2017, April 12-15, Dubai World Trade Centre. Entry is, Dhs20 on the door or Dhs15 in advance by registering at worldartdubai.com
