In addition to the monthly list, I will add “What’s On?!” a link to most active initiatives, hubs and museums across the Middle East & the world such as V&A, MoMA, ArtintheCity, AlSerkal Avenue, Ashkal Alwan and more! The list keeps updating throughout the month, so keep passing by to stay in touch with the latest! To check ongoing exhibitions from February, click here.
If you have a non-profit or commercial gallery and like to be featured in upcoming lists, drop us an email.
What’s On?!
Alhondiga Cultural & Art Center: Laida Lertxundi’s film
Alserkal Avenue: 50 Portraits by George Heisler
ArtintheCity: THIS IS PALESTINE
Ashkal Alwan: ANIMISM – CURATED BY ANSELM FRANKE
Bayt Lothan: Classes | Exhibitions | Workshops
CAP Kuwait: Keep Your Eye on the Wall
DUCTAC: SLICE OF LIFE
Guggenheim (NYC): Italian Futurism, 1909–1944: Reconstructing the Universe
Guggenheim (Bilbao – Spain): Ernesto Neto: The Body that Carries Me
Guggenheim (Venice): Themes & Variations: The Empire Of Light
Maraya Art Center: Artist Wafaa Bilal conversation with Curator Sara Raza
MoMA: Isa Genzken: Retrospective
Tate: Richard Deacon
TheJamJar: 3rd Mondays | Sketch Night
Sharjah Art Foundation: Ahmed Mater: 100 Found Objects
V&A: The Jameel Prize
Whitney Museum: American Legends: From Calder to O’Keeffe
CHRISTIE’S
MODERN & CONTEMPORARY ARAB, IRANIAN & TURKISH ART
Occasion: From the Modern masters who helped shape 20th Century Middle Eastern art to the region’s leading Contemporary artists, the 16th auction season at Christie’s Dubai for the first time coincides with Dubai Art Week, aligning the very best of art and design in one dynamic moment. The sale is an unprecedented showcase of the distinctive visions of key artists from across the region, with a carefully curated and exceptionally large section of rare Modern artworks, led by 43 Modern Egyptian Masterpieces from the Pharos Art Collection, 21 Modern Iraqi from the Maath Alousi Collection and 6 works to be sold to benefit the H&H Mecenat Foundation.
To view online catalog of auctioned works, click here.
Viewing Times: Dubai
Mar 16, 2pm – 6pm
Mar 17, 2pm – 10pm
Mar 18, 2pm – 10pm
Mar 19, 10am – 1:30pm
Auction Day: March 19, 2014
Location: Christie’s Saleroom, Jumeirah Emirates Towers, Dubai.
Tashkeel
Turning Point
Occasion: Tashkeel invites you to the opening reception of *Turning Point* Group exhibition of works in progress, shedding light on the creative process. featuring young artists from the middle east: Afra Bin Daher, Alia Lootah, Alina Amer, Ammar Al Attar, Anood Obaidy, Hind Mezaina, Jessica Mein, Layla Juma, Maitha Demithan, Mark Pikington, Mobius Design Studio, Mohamed Hussein, Mohammed Hindash, Vikram Divech and Walid Al Wawi.
Opening Reception: 7pm Wednesday 12 March 2014
Duration: from 13 March – 30 April 2014
Location: Tashkeel, Dubai.
Barbra Davis Gallery
Suraya Shaheen
Occasion: Barbara Davis Gallery is pleased to announce Encounters, a solo-exhibition by Sueraya Shaheen in conjunction with FotoFest 2014 Biennial.
In her exhibition Encounters, Sueraya Shaheen presents a collection of documentary-style portraits of internationally known Middle Eastern artists, which she has archived over the past two years. Born in Beirut to Syrian parents, Shaheen left Lebanon in 1975 after the outbreak of war. For her latest group of portraits, Shaheen returns to the Middle East to investigate her roots and examine a demographic of working artists in a developing art world. Traveling extensively throughout the Arab region to find her subjects, Shaheen’s portraits are shot on location and illustrate the essence of the artist in his or her surrounding environment. Shaheen allows the viewer to see these iconic figures in raw form, removed from the identification as ‘other’ and realized purely as ‘artist’. In an era of constant change, Shaheen’s intimate portraits capture the artists and visionaries who are reshaping the cultural landscape of the Middle East.
Opening Reception: Friday, March 21, 2014, with an artist reception from 6:30 – 8:30pm.
Duration: March 21, 2014 – April 19, 2014
Location: Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston, Texas.
Picasso Art Gallery
Attyat Sayed
Occasion: Picasso Art Gallery (Cairo) invites you to solo exhibition by acclaimed Egyptian artist Attyat Sayed ‘Color, Vision, Angles’. Born in Cairo 1935, Attyat Sayed do not begin a painting with the image of the whole work previously complete in her mind’s eye, but gradually discovers every detail, making use of the cues of what have been materialized, by alteration, replacing, adding or deleting to capture whatever connotations that would lead to an unexpected painterly form that gives way to interaction of all colors and lines in mixed volumes that surprises even herself, and comprises all elements that becomes endowed with new touches of distortions that depart and simultaneously adhere to the actual real features of her models, landscapes .or still-life objects.
Opening Reception: Sunday, March 16, 2014.
Duration: March 16 – April 2, 2014.
Location: Picasso Art Gallery, Cairo.
XVA
WALID SITI
Occasion: In this upcoming exhibition at the XVA Gallery, Walid Siti, a Kurdish Iraqi artist, who has been integral in placing Iraq on the global contemporary art stage, explores the theme of transformation through the story of King Gilgamesh.
The Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest known literary text, tells the dramatic tale of man’s journey tinted with arrogance, trauma, and the quest for immortality.
Siti’s latest body of work comprised of drawings, paintings and installation, interprets these timeless ancient writings; applying them to present day preoccupations. As we wander through an ever uncertain and insecure world, Siti’s oeuvres offer a unique perspective on the basic premises of life.
Opening Reception: 15 March, 10am – 9pm
Duration: 15 March – 17 April, 2014
Location: XVA Gallery, Al Fahidi Historical, Dubai
Art Circle
Anas Homsi
Occasion: Anas Homsi comes again, and as afore, his paintings are tumultuous & intense; his brush invades the canvases of massive, strong strokes. Bunched up on the surface of his paintings, the warm colors and impressive hues make you sense the effect of his emotions upon his soul. The faces depicted disappear at times behind heavy impasto that appear as if hiding secrets away.
Duration: From 1 – 29, March, 2014.
Location: Art Circle, Hamra, Beirut.
Nubuke Foundation
Du Bois in our time
Occasion: Final presentations of works by Ghanaian and UK artists, Bernard Akoi-Jackson, Adwoa Amoah, Ato Annan, Yaganoma Baatuolkuu, Serge Clottey, Mary Evans, Kelvin Haizel, Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh and Mawuli Toffah.
Opening Reception: 5 March 2014 at 3:00pm
Duration: 5 March to 13 April 2014
Location: Nubuke Foundation, Akkra, Ghana.
Boushahri Art Gallery
Fatima El Hajj
Occasion: Boushahri Art Gallery cordially invites you to attend
The preview of Lebanese artist Fatima El Hajj.
Opening Reception: Tuesday, March 4th at 7 pm
Location: Boushahri Art Gallery, Kuwait.
Dar Al Funoon
Shohei Takasaki
Occasion: The view from behind any “surface” and “border line” of the surface is a totally unseen world you have never experienced before. Japanese artist, Shohei Takasaki is making a name for himself as an unstoppably expressive and talented artist in the Japan contemporary art scene and abroad. He is now living and working in Portland, USA. Unafraid to walk the tightrope between abstraction and figuration, Takasaki distills his perception of the outside world and its inner individual passions, including his own, with neo-expressionist flair.
Opening Reception: Monday 10th March at 7pm
Duration: March 10 – 21, 2014
Location: Dar Al Funoon, Kuwait.
Beirut Exhibition Centre
Biography of a Head
Occasion: The Beirut Art Exhibition Centre is pleased to present, Biography of a Head, an exhibition of drawings, paintings and videos by renowned Iraqi artist, Sadik Alfraji.
Duration: From 6 March to 13 April, 2014
Location: The Beirut Art Exhibition Centre, Beirut.
GALERIE DANIEL TEMPLON
CLAUDE VIALLAT
Occasion: For his sixth exhibition at Galerie Templon since 1998, Claude Viallat (born 1936), an emblematic figure in the Supports/Surfaces movement, is presenting a previously unseen series of paintings on fabric.
The new exhibition sees Claude Viallat applying what has become his signature motif to printed fabrics. Covered in astonishing graffiti, layered advertising blurb, dots and ornaments, they create a dizzying mise en abîme based on the principle of repetition favored by the artist. This systematic approach combined with artificial colors, shiny textures and the commercial aspect of a number of the materials – a scarf, a Christmas tablecloth – introduces an unexpected hint of New Realism and Pop Art.
Opening Reception: March 1st, 2014 from noon to 8pm
Duration: From March 1st to April 5, 2014
Location: GALERIE DANIEL TEMPLON, Paris.
BEN: La théorie de l’ego
Occasion: Ben, who has been represented by the gallery since 1970, is presenting a new exhibition at Impasse Beaubourg. This show combining historical pieces and recent works explores the notion of ego.
Opening Reception: March 1st, 2014 from noon to 8pm
Duration: From March 1st to April 5, 2014
Location: GALERIE DANIEL TEMPLON, Paris.
Gallery Tilal
Mohamad Al Ameri
Occasion: Color has a tune just like music; it can be both seen and heard. Gallery Tilal invites you to Artist Mohamad Al Ameri solo exhibition. Al Ameri is fascinated by colors, their brightness & hues. He has adapted abstract-expressionism as his style. This approach surpasses the natural boundaries & the physical reality in pursuit of infinity and absolute.
Opening Reception: March 2, 2014 from 6 PM – 9 PM
Duration: From March 2nd – 5th 2014.
Location: Gallery Tilal, Kuwait.
Berloni Gallery
Steve Sabella
Occasion: BERLONI is proud to present the first UK solo exhibition of Berlin-based Palestinian artist Steve Sabella. Cecile Elise Sabella (2008), In Exile (2008), Metamorphosis (2012) and 38 Days of Re-Collection (2014) will be on display.
Sabella is a visual investigator, researching the origin and function of images. He explores the visual components of the world by looking into the image itself-much like in scientific research. He studies images, their characteristics, the connections between them, and their origin by looking at them directly and not in comparison with reality. This has allowed him to discover the infinite realities that are hidden in images. In his work, he photographs from several different angles, after which he creates or reveals new forms. Akin to an archeologist who is intrigued to find fragments from the past in order to make sense of history, Sabella engages in a process of positioning images, like in a visual puzzle, to decode the origin of the image and the question of what existed first: the image or the world?
Opening Reception: March 6th from 6 PM – 9 PM
Duration: March 7th – May 10th, 2014.
Location: Berloni Gallery, London.
Gallery 6
Art Bazaar
Occasion: Gallery 6 is celebrating its sixth birthday with a special event for artists and art buyers “Art Bazaar” where art students, recent graduates, emerging talents and known artists will bring their work to sell on substantially discounted prices. Paintings, prints, sculptures, photographs from our own stock will also be offered on very special rates.
Duration: One Day Event on March 9th, 2014 from 11:30 AM – 6 PM
Location: Gallery 6, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Ayyam Gallery
Young Collectors Auction | Jeddah
100 x 100cm. Courtesy: Ayyam Gallery
Occasion: Ayyam Gallery Jeddah is pleased to announce that it will hold the second edition of The Young Collectors Auction in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Young Collectors Auction is the ideal setting to venture into the world of art collecting with the majority of estimates well under $12,000 and many lots offered in the entry-level range of $3,000 to $5,000. The second edition of the Young Collectors Auction will feature 40 lots of painting, sculpture, photography and limited edition prints from acclaimed and emerging artists throughout the region.
Emerging talents will be showcased alongside renowned established artists from the Middle East. Reflecting Ayyam Gallery’s wider commitment to strengthening creative infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, it is especially important to note that the auction will include lots by various important and emerging Saudi artists, providing a platform for artists from the Kingdom to gain exposure to new audiences and continued success. To view catalog, click here.
Viewing: March 9th – 11th from 10:00 am – 9:00pm
Auction Date: Wednesday, 12 March at 9:00pm
Location: AYYAM GALLERY, JEDDAH.
Al Mahha Art Magazine 
Thanks 🙂
Sent from my iPhone