This season there is plenty of excellent art to see in Dubai. Here are some of our favourite exhibits in the city.
Ayesha Sultana Fragility and Resilience Ishara Art Foundation
The Ishara Art Foundation is currently showcasing Fragility and Resilience, the first comprehensive solo exhibition in the GCC by acclaimed Bangladeshi artist Ayesha Sultana.
The exhibition delves into the delicate interplay between vulnerability and strength, challenging binary perceptions by revealing fragility as a form of resilience. The exhibition showcases Sultana’s multifaceted practice, unveiling new works including hand-blown glass sculptures, oil paintings, watercolors on Japanese silk tissue, and clay-coated paper pieces.
Accompanying these are her photographic explorations and a rare glimpse into her sketchbooks and unfinished projects. A striking highlight is Sultana’s glass sculptures, created through a process that mirrors the tension between brittleness and strength. These organic forms evoke droplets, organs, and bubbles, encapsulating the exhibition’s thematic essence. Surrounding these sculptures, her Breath Count series scratches time-marking gestures onto clay-coated paper, transforming her own breath into a meditative, performative score reflecting the fragility of life, particularly during the pandemic.
Edgar Orlaineta What We See of Things is the Things Carbon 12
Carbon 12 recently unveiled What We See of Things is the Things, Edgar Orlaineta’s debut solo exhibition with the gallery. The exhibition delves into philosophical inquiries surrounding perception and the essence of objects, drawing inspiration from Fernando Pessoa’s poetic musings in Poemas de Alberto Caeiro.
Orlaineta’s work bridges art and philosophy, challenging the notions of functionality and materiality. Through his sculptures and paintings, the artist emphasizes the raw quality of objects, stripping them of preconceptions and allowing them to exist in their purest form. This approach reflects Aristotle’s concept of techne—the craft of creation—and poiein, the act of making, exploring the transformation of material into meaning.
The exhibition features organic and geometric forms that interact dynamically with their environment, highlighting the transformative journey of raw materials. Orlaineta’s practice emphasizes the immediacy of seeing, transcending analytical interpretation. He juxtaposes traditional notions of art as imitation with the novel authenticity emerging from his meticulous processes.
Chaouki Choukini Citadelles of Today Green Art Gallery
In the labyrinth of Chaouki Choukini’s sculptures, viewers find themselves navigating a poetic confluence of textures, forms, and memories. Since the 1970s, Choukini has defied traditional sculptural norms, crafting works that balance organic and mechanical, abstract and figurative, rough and soft.
His creations, described as “plateaus,” are less monuments and more meditative landscapes, offering an open-ended journey through spaces that evoke healing and rediscovery. Choukini’s mastery lies in his ability to evoke the tactile intimacy of handcrafted traditions – tile making, engraving, pottery – while simultaneously challenging our perception of space. Like a poet weaving words into rhythm, he sculpts wood with an engineer’s precision, creating forms that echo the fragility and resilience of West Asian landscapes.
His current exhibition, Citadelles of Today, pays homage to the architecture of Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, where cities rise and fall, their structures simultaneously delicate and enduring.Chaouki Choukini’s sculptures stand as citadels of reflection, urging us to look inward as we navigate their complex landscapes.
Thaier Helal Navigating Through Nothing Ayyam Gallery
Ayyam Gallery recently unveiled Navigating Through Nothing, a groundbreaking solo exhibition by renowned contemporary artist Thaier Helal. This latest body of work marks a profound evolution in Helal’s artistic journey, embracing a raw, immediate style that amplifies his deeply emotive and philosophical explorations.
At the heart of the exhibition lies the tension of absurdism, resonating with Albert Camus’s exploration of inherent lack of meaning. Helal channels this philosophy into vibrant abstract compositions that reject traditional constraints. His earlier reliance on structured grids has given way to a fluid approach, with sweeping brush strokes and layered textures that evoke movement and renewal.
The interplay of light and shadow mirrors the mysteries of nature, reflecting themes of growth, erosion, and transformation. Helal’s works draw comparisons to abstract expressionists such as Joan Mitchell, yet retain a unique Middle Eastern perspective shaped by his experiences with conflict and displacement. His use of unconventional materials—coal, sand, and found objects—bridges the sensory and the conceptual, embedding narratives of loss, hope, and cultural endurance into his canvases.
