Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Artists, sculptors and photographers from around the world united under one roof to share a variety of their colourful creations with the kingdom’s art lovers in a bid to spread the message of peace, love and culture through expressive designs.
More than 60 artists, galleries and curators from Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and the United States participated in the second Art Bahrain Across Borders (ArtBAB 2017) fair staged at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Conference Centre.
The five-day contemporary art show, which included a Bahraini art pavilion, a gallery arena, individual artist stands and a merchandise section with cafes, was held under the Patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka Bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, wife of His Majesty the King and President of the Supreme Council for Women, and was spearheaded by Tamkeen.
It was also managed and executed by international art investment and consultancy firm Art Select and its founder Kaneka Subberwal, pictured top left, was delighted by the exhibition’s success.
Kaneka, ArtBAB 2017’s fair director, said: “The fusion of talent that was showcased at this year’s international art fair was exemplary.
“Our objective from the start was to strike the right balance between local talent and international names representing all aspects of the vast art spectrum, and I can say we have achieved this.
“We have seen participation increase by 20 per cent since the last edition with new countries taking part.”
The ArtBAB Pavilion, a section dedicated exclusively to Bahraini artists who are being funded by Tamkeen, featured 36 Bahrainis including Aysha Al Moayyed, Marwa Bint Rashid Al Khalifa, Othman Khunji and Areej Rajab.
The Gallery Pavilion showcased 10 galleries such as Bait Muzna Art Gallery from Oman, Maddox Gallery from the UK and Samara Art Gallery from India. In addition, there was a separate pavilion for general entry artists, both established local and reputed international names such as Jamal Abdulrahim, Khaled Farhan, Lulwa Bint Abdulaziz Al Khalifa and Mariam Fakhro.
Kaneka added: “We wanted to bring everybody under one platform to speak a common language of nothing but expressionism, love, culture and peace. And obviously, art was the communicator.
“More than 650 people attend the opening and guests continued to flock in afterwards to enjoy the different art work on display.”
The exhibition, which showcased brightly-hued canvases, striking steel figurines, wooden elements and clay sculptors, already started off on a high note during opening ceremony when it wowed visitors with giant video installations entitled Floating World. It showcased 32 international art videos, alongside excerpts from Bahraini documentaries.
The installations acted like a sea of moving imagery, featuring large scale suspended projections that are six metres wide screening video films from artists such as Alice Cattaneo from Italy, Beat Streuli from Switzerland, Cao Fei from China, Cornelia Parker from the UK, Cristina Lucas from Spain, Ebtisam Abdulaziz from Sharjah and more.
The Floating World was curated by Jonathan Watkins, director of the Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, and chairman of artist selection which is the ArtBAB International Selection Committee.
He did this with the support from Alistair Hicks, a former senior curator at Deutsche Bank for nearly 20 years, author of The Global Art Compass and a member of the ArtBAB International Selection Committee.
Visitors were taken on an artistic journey from the moment they stepped foot into the exhibition centre which was transformed into a giant art gallery.
Clean white walls divided the different spaces allowing for each work of art to captivate guests.
Large ‘pop art’ canvases from the UK Maddox Gallery featuring the British head of the royal family and the late American actress Marilyn Monroe blowing bubbles made people smile while gold-plated guns collaged with butterflies’ mesmerised onlookers.
Every stand offered a different look, texture and feel. Some showcased landscapes and portraitures while others captured the beauty of animals such as Dorte Tuladhar Equestrian artist from Copenhagen. The 38-year-old mother-of-four, originally from Nepal, turned her passion for horses into works of art.
Her series of fine art pieces with gold elements showcased in the exhibition was entitled Bahraini Horses and was based on a series of photographs she captured of the royal family’s horses.
Dorte said: “Bahrain is famous throughout the world for the preservation of its ancient breeds of horses and that’s why I wanted to capture it.
“I printed photographs of the beautiful horses and then later painted 22.75 carats gold on it to add depth and an organic feeling. It’s printed photography, but in a way that portrays the horse in a unique perspective and that was my mission, for the viewer to see the horse in a new way. You don’t see the gold immediately. It blends in and that was the whole idea.”
Her work was being snapped up by visitors for between BD2,070 to BD2,640.
Dorte’s horses weren’t the only ones that sparkled as Indian artist and gallerist, pictured top right, Sonal Ambani’s galloping stainless steel sculptures attracted onlookers.
Sonal’s large His Majesty timepiece-designed horse, one of a series of stallions, was given as a gift to Princess Sabeeka during the launch.
Her stand also featured an array of sculptures as well as the works of talented artists from India such as Farhad Hussain and Tushar Kamble.
She had flown in with her children, Amar, 23, who works in the IT industry, and Anjali, 24, who is studying business in Colombia University.
Amar, who is proud of his mum, said: “We wanted to showcase various artists from India as well as my mum’s work. Farhad uses a lot of bright colours and likes to capture the emotions and faces of different people while Tushar is more abstract.
“My mum’s work is timeless, just like her horse. There’s a total of four and we were honoured to present one to the princess. They are made using gears and other time pieces to show the concept of running time and a constant flow.”
The horses fetch between BD4,500 and BD5,650 depending on size. Another stunning sculpture featured an elephant entitled Inception and lions called Courage in Red.
Sonal said: “I’m inspired by nature, my children and the world around me.”
Each of Sonal’s pieces is adorned with her symbolic peace sign, a theme that is at the core of her work and many pieces adorn properties and galleries across the globe.
Her stainless steel elephant, Elegance in Steel, for example, displayed at the India Art Fair, found a home in Switzerland. And, a vineyard in Nashik, has been named ‘The Red Tree Vineyard’ after her towering 25 feet tall, majestic sculpture entitled Tree of Serenity.
Individual artists also had their day in the sun such as Bahrain-based Pamela Arent, pictured bottom right, originally from the US, who was featured in last week’s GulfWeekly.
She said: “It’s fantastic to have international and local artists come together under one roof to share their visions and works of art. It’s such a wonderful community initiative and an opportunity to meet other like-minded people.
“I have already met so many artists and dealers who want to collaborate with me or showcase my work. This is such a wonderful exhibition to be a part of and I do believe that Bahrain is turning into an art hub.”
Visitor Rania Abed, 40, pictured bottom left, from Amwaj Islands, also loved the exhibition. The mother-of-three who is studying interior design at the Royal University for Women (RUW), said: “The level of this art exhibition is amazing and has blown me away. I have picked up so many great ideas and I can’t wait to see more exhibitions like this.”
She also volunteered at the RUW stand and had one of her art pieces on display.
