Welcome to Art14 London. The second edition of London’s global art fair, held in Olympia’s Grand Hall, opens its doors on Friday 28 February and runs until Sunday 2 March. With galleries from Lagos to Berlin, and from Beijing to Dubai, Art14 London will build on the success of the inaugural fair that welcomed 25,000 visitors, and deliver a truly international vision of contemporary and modern art.
The Galleries section of Art14 London will display a wide-range of works by artists represented by modern and contemporary galleries from around the world. Including paintings, sculptures, photographs, drawings, video and digital art by artists who range from modern masters through to emerging talents.
Here’s a rundown of those located in the Arab world or showcasing art by Arab artists;
ART ON 56TH, Lebanon
Art on 56th is an independent visual art gallery in Beirut, Lebanon. It was founded by Noha Wadi Moharram and partners in 2012.
In addition to presenting local artists to an international audience, the gallery’s mission is to promote established and emerging artists from around the world in Lebanon and the Middle East through various thematic exhibitions. This results in a colorful interchange that highlights the power and meaning of images within a society.
SABRINA AMRANI, Spain
The gallery collaborates with artists Marlon de Azambuja (Brazil), Younes Baba-Ali (Morocco), Amina Benbouchta (Morocco), Elvire Bonduelle (France), Zoulikha Bouabdellah (Algeria), Ayesha Jatoi (Pakistan), Waqas Khan (Pakistan), Nicène Kossentini (Tunisia), Larissa Sansour (Palestine) and UBIK (India). Established and emerging artists of many nationalities will come together in her space because, as stated by the gallerist: ‘Nor art, much less dialogue, have borders’. However, Amrani acknowledges that the project will pay particular attention to the new voices that are emerging in the Middle East and North Africa region.
ART SAWA, UAE
In 2008, the Art Sawa project began to find its roots in Dubai’s multi-cultural dynamism. Amidst the skyline of this incredible city it was still difficult to find Art, and yet she felt that there was a longing for art and culture that remained unmet. Filled with a passion for art and the promotion of talent, and despite difficult odds Amel B.Makkawi ,owner and director , set out to create an Art platform that would provide artists from the region with a space where they could present their work, a space of sufficient size and quality to create its own dynamic.
ARTSPACE, UAE & UK
http://www.artspace-dubai.com/
Founded in 2003, ARTSPACE Dubai is dedicated to the promotion of contemporary Middle Eastern Art and Artists. ARTSPACE caters to the tastes and trends of the sophisticated Dubai art scene and the gallery’s discerning worldwide collector base. In addition to hosting a series of diverse and regular highly acclaimed exhibitions, ARTSPACE also provides consulting for art investors as well as offering corporate art services to the business community.
Managing Director Maliha Al-Tabari opened a second ARTSPACE location in London in 2012 in order to further drive Middle Eastern art forward and provide artists with a link between the East and West. Additionally, the London gallery will cater to ARTSPACE’s vast client base residing in the UK and throughout Europe. 2013 marked ARTSPACE’s monumental 10th anniversary.
ATHR GALLERY, Saudi Arabia
Established in January 2009, Athr Gallery is a leading contemporary art gallery based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Athr Gallery represents a range of contemporary Saudi artists, working in a variety of media, across the country. Their support for emerging, as well as established, artists in promoting their work demonstrates Athr Gallery’s belief in a bottom up approach to their partnerships and active engagement in the developments involved. Through their in-gallery exhibitions, Athr Gallery provide a platform for Saudi and international artists alike. The Gallery creates an arena for dialogue and cultivates new understandings of collective meanings and value. Athr Gallery’s public space houses exhibitions that are at the forefront of the contemporary Middle Eastern Art scene. Additionally, Athr Gallery is actively involved in education projects, through public lectures and forums. They aim to generate dialogue and learning within a wider artistic sphere.
EOA PROJECTS, UK
EOA.Projects is an expanding gallery created to identify and exhibit leading artists from the Arab World with a focus on Saudi Arabia.
Born out of the international success of Edge of Arabia exhibitions in Jeddah, Riyadh, Dubai, London, Berlin, Istanbul, and twice at the Venice Biennale, EOA.Projects is committed to connecting the emerging regional scene with international artistic communities. With permanent spaces in London and Jeddah, EOA.Projects supports the long term careers of some of the most pioneering artistic voices from this region.
ART FACTUM GALLERY, Lebanon
http://www.artfactumgallery.com/
Art Factum Gallery is a fresh space devoted to presenting all forms of contemporary art and design. Founded in 2011, it is located in Beirut’s industrial Quarantine District, and exists as the renovated product of an old steel factory.
When it comes down to dealing with Contemporary Art, and as an establishment that focuses on bringing in international artists to the artistic/cultural scene of Beirut, Art Factum Gallery manages to emphasize its presence and project it forward by applying to several international art fairs and events, not to mention retaining a tight bond with several international galleries and institutions. That, along with collaborating with local cultural organizations and personnel, insures the subsequent spreading of the artistic message onto the masses_ one of the gallery’s main motives.
TAYMOUR GRAHNE, USA
Taymour Grahne Gallery opened its doors in September 2013, and is located in a 4,000 square foot space located in the heart of TriBeCa, New York City. The gallery seeks to foster a diverse, international program of groundbreaking contemporary art, and is committed to cultivating emerging talent and supporting established artists from around the world.
Having created the most comprehensive and widely read blog dedicated to contemporary art from the Middle East, www.artofthemideast.com, Taymour Grahne launched the gallery’s program with an appreciation for artists from the Middle East/North Africa and its diaspora, within an international context.
Reflecting the art world’s increasingly global reality, Taymour Grahne Gallery aims to showcase and highlight artists from across the world, including the Middle East, Africa, South East Asia, South America and their Diasporas. The gallery’s mission is to create a global space for the arts in the heart of New York City.
MARK HACHEM, USA & France & Lebanon
In 1996 Mark Hachem opened his first contemporary art gallery in the heart of Paris, on the Place de Vosges. A second gallery followed eleven years later, when Hachem inaugurated his Madison Avenue location in New York. Today the spotlight is on Beirut, where the latest addition to Mark Hachem’s triangle of galleries opened in June 2010.
Since the successful opening of the Beirut gallery, Hachem’s engagement with the currents of the Middle Eastern market has captured pioneers such as Lebanese photographer Samer MOHDAD and painter Mona TRAD DABAJI along with influential Syrian artists Ahmad MOUALLA, Sabhan ADAM, and emerging artist Yaser SAFI.
KASHYA HILDEBRAND, Switzerland & UK
http://www.kashyahildebrand.org/
The gallery’s artists challenge pre-conceived notions of nationality and cultural identity, creating an environment in which established norms become blurred and characterizations from seemingly contrasting cultures occupy the same visual space. This juxtaposition leads to a simultaneous renunciation and acceptance of the traditional and the contemporary, creating an environment that is in constant flux. Religion, politics, nationality and culture are treated as the foundation of identity, depicted and disseminated to varying degrees. Through painting, collage, sculpture, photography and installation work the artists convey the contestations of the contemporary political landscape.
JAMM, Kuwait
JAMM specializes in tailor-made cultural projects, large and small without geographical boundary. More than simply an art consultancy, JAMM is a vessel to promote cultural diplomacy. Our goal being to advance Arab & Iranian artists in the West, and Western artists in the East, and thus encourage further collaboration between the two.
Whilst we build both private and corporate art collections, the scope of our projects encompasses artistic representation, exhibitions, events and auctions. We are committed to the development of the contemporary art market in emerging markets including the Middle East, North Africa, Iran, Turkey, Latin America and Asia.
OCTOBER GALLERY, UK
http://www.octobergallery.co.uk/
October Gallery has been instrumental in bringing to worldwide attention many of the world’s leading international artists, including El Anatsui, Rachid Koraïchi, Romuald Hazoumè, Nnenna Okore, Laila Shawa and Kenji Yoshida. The Gallery promotes the Transvangarde, the very best in contemporary art from around the planet, as well as maintaining a cultural hub in central London for poets, writers, intellectuals and artists, and hosts talks, performances and seminars.
Founded in 1979, October Gallery is a charitable trust which is supported by sales of art, rental of the Gallery’s unique facilities, grants from various funding bodies and the active support of dedicated artists, musicians, writers and many friends from around the world.
THE PARK GALLERY, UK
The Park Gallery first opened in London in 1992 showing works by 19th century Orientalist artists, an area of specialisation and expertise that is still retained and offered to clients. In addition we have a broad range of knowledge of and have dealt and continue to deal in, works by British artists from the 18th through to early 19th centuries, Modern British artists from late 19th century to the mid 20th century and contemporary British art, whilst acting as agents for private clients within all these disciplines.
A long held interest in travel in the Middle-East, coupled with a passion for art from the region has ensured continuing visits to Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and the Sultanate of Oman to meet with artists, collectors, museum curators, university professors and teachers. These travels have allowed us to gain a deep insight into the background of the current market for both Modern and Contemporary Arab art.
JANET RADY, UK
http://www.janetradyfineart.com/html/home.asp
Now in its fifth successful year, Janet Rady Fine Art represents a wide range of cutting edge Contemporary Arab and Iranian artists as well as International artists whose work references the Middle East.
Based between London and the United Arab Emirates, Gallery Director and Curator, Janet Rady is a Specialist in Contemporary Art from the Middle East, with twenty five years’ experience of the International Art Market including Leading Auction Houses and Major Commercial Galleries.
GALERIE JANINE RUBEIZ, Lebanon
http://www.galeriejaninerubeiz.com/pages/index.htm
This is how Janine Rubeiz, founder of the first Lebanese Cultural Center in 1967, of “Dar el Fan”, recounts its inception: “The sixties in Lebanon saw an exceptional time in the cultural domain… we were numerous and conversed in coffee shops, but we felt like we needed a place to meet and feel at home… so we decided to create Dar al Fan… inaugurated in 1967 with a conference by André Pieyre de Mandiargues.” In 1975 the locale of Dar al Fan was destroyed but Janine Rubeiz decided to pursuit her activities in her own apartment despite the war that continued. The public came as if to defy the battles. The war ended.
In 1992 Janine Rubeiz passed away. Her daughter Nadine Majdalani Begdache who assisted her since 1980 took the initiative to turn her apartment into a gallery retaining the name Janine Rubeiz. Beirut was being rebuilt. The country changed. Culture had no role to play until Lebanon was back on its feet.
Both the older and younger artistic talents continue in this frame of exhibitions that is often organized around a theme and or the precise selection is made sure to come across to the public as a clear message that is intelligent and sensible. After a long preparation each exhibition is accompanied by a limited edition of post cards, a catalogue, press reviews and an artist’s statement.
GALERIE TANIT, Lebanon
Galerie Tanit is an impressive showplace for contemporary art. It is dedicated to a selection of established, as well as emerging contemporary artists. The artists are both Lebanese and international, and share the purpose of the founder Naila Kettaneh Kunigk, which is to create an environment for creation that should reflect upon the meaning of art today.
The gallery brings new artists from around the world and the larger space provides the ability to present space related exhibitions, work with guest curators, and show part of the gallery’s collection. A space for film and videos is also available.
For more information, and to book your tickets to ART14, have a look here.