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 But at the annual Art Dubai fair this week, some Mideast artists
among the scores of worldwide participants channeled in paint
the chaos swirling around this bubble of calm luxury.
Tucked among the mostly apolitical photography, sculpture and
installation art adorning the vast open-plan space,
black-and-white paintings of war scenes in the Gaza Strip --
devoid of people and any sharp detail -- stand out.
"It's like a monster, isn't it?" says Palestinian artist Aissa
Deebi, holding his arms menacingly above his head in the rough
shape of a fireball from an Israeli war plan he painted
exploding on top of building.
"I turned images from the TV into oil on canvas, which has its
history in this tradition going back to Goya and Picasso," he
added, alluding to the latter's iconic image of chaos brought on
by a bloody air raid on the Spanish town of Guernica.
Myrna Ayad, Art Dubai's director, said the event featuring
artists from 48 countries does not seek to dwell on the region's
miseries, but noted that as Dubai's star has risen in the art
world the art on offer cannot flinch from harsh realities.
"The sad reality is that as Baghdad, Beirut, Damascus and even
Cairo have suffered due to political and economic strife, the
UAE is in a position to build on its openness and multicultural
aspect to lead in the art scene."
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"Conflict and problems aren't all there is to art in the Middle East
and our exhibition celebrates modernists and visionaries from here
and all over the world ... artists do make incredible historians and
documentarians, though", Ayad added.
While she declined to name precise target for sales in the three-day
event, she noted that works were on offer for between a few hundred
and a few hundred thousand dollars: "There's something for every
pocket!"
Ead Samawi knows that well. A partner from the Ayyam Gallery, he has
sold most of their handful of war-themed canvases for between thirty
and fifty thousand dollars each to clients ranging from the United
States to Lebanon, and insists profit and painful subjects can go
together.
Arranged in a tense jumble of colorful shapes and splotches forming
the rough shape of buildings and people, the work of Syrian artist
Tammam Azzam evokes the broken cityscapes and refugee throngs from
his homeland.
"It's not commodifying, this is human life: there's war and
migration that happens all over. Artists have always had their
distinct, creative way of presenting it that people have been
attracted to," Samawi said.
(Editing by Richard Balmforth)
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