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ART lovers around the kingdom are rejoicing as the first edition of ArtBahrain is underway, with a specially-designed marquee housing a melting pot of paintings, sculptures, exhibitions, artists and admirers alike.
Representatives from galleries across the globe have travelled to Bahrain to feature their work, with the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Asia all having displays in their individual style.
Running until Friday, the event is also hosting a series of interactive workshops and forums conducted by experts to encourage new collectors and the next generation of artists. Art investors of various backgrounds are on hand to share their first-hand experiences with visitors on collecting, with the goal of elevating awareness about the art world.
There is also an opportunity for visitors, of any degree of artistic talent, to sample the Art Lounge, which is a fair that provides an interactive platform, both social and cultural, which encompasses a bookshop, an art supplies store and an artists’ working arena.
GulfWeekly reporter Kristian Harrison went in search of culture and found some eye-opening discoveries at the show …
Now, regular readers of GulfWeekly might be aware of my cripplingly poor art skills and possibly think that because of such a handicap, I would have very little interest in the subject. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, my final university dissertation was a mammoth discussion of art and sculpture in the ancient world, so I hold a vested interest in it.
It was with glee, then, that I spent a good couple of hours wandering round the ArtBahrain marquee and admiring the pieces on offer, chatting with the artists and learning the stories behind the work.
There truly is something for everyone at the exhibition, from classic acrylic to sculpture, oil paintings to wood and metalwork, and digital photography to new age installation.
The first gallery that really caught my eye was the work of Tommaso Arscone, a member of the Trade Art Gallery in Milan. His work aims to capture the heart of Italy in a unique three-dimensional style. The centrepiece of the work is painted normally onto canvas in bright acrylic that looks like it is emerging from water, but the rest is painted on Plexiglas and blurred so it looks like you are seeing the image through a camera lens.
The contrast between lucid and distorted gives a 3D-effect like the picture is actually moving, especially on my personal favourite image of Michael Schumacher driving his 2005 Ferrari F1 car. Casually asking the price of the piece and being told BD8,500 had me reeling though.
After I’d had my fill of paintings, I decided to check out the sculpture section and enjoyed a very friendly chat with local artist Fuad Albinfalah, who has two sections of his work on show.
He explained: “Firstly, I have my wooden ‘Intertwined’ collection. I really want to emphasise – through my art – that we may have differences in colour, race, gender, language and culture, but ultimately we are one species and we must coexist in one space.
“The second is my bronze ‘When Points Do Not Meet’ sculptures, which reflect two distant points going in opposite directions. You think they’ll eventually meet but they do not, and this reflects that sometimes we may have similar paths, but we are always slightly different and our lives have diversity from each other.”
My final and longest port of call was Christine Allison’s exhibition which features vast paintings of eagles, owls and other birds of prey. We discovered that we actually hailed from the same town back in England, so after the obligatory ‘wow, it’s a small world!’ conversation she told me about her artwork.
She said: “I’ve been an artist for as long as I can remember, but it was only five years ago that I took a particular interest in birds of prey. I have no particular falconry background, but I just love the power and royalty they portray and they are majestic to paint.
“I know there’s a huge falconry culture in the Middle East, so I thought this would be the perfect collection to bring out here, and hopefully visitors will like my work.”
Unfortunately, the opening of the exhibition coincided with GulfWeekly’s deadline day, so my mobile phone was erupting with the volcanic voice of the Editor to come back to the office and write up this report.
It would need another visit (or two) to see everything on offer, but it’s fair to say this event is a major coup for the kingdom and will appeal to anyone with an interest in art. See it while you can!
