Article source: http://artofthemideast.com/2013/05/16/artnet-middle-eastern-pavilions-in-venice/

Article source: http://majnouna-blog.blogspot.com/2013/05/scribe-collection-now-available.html

Article source: http://majnouna-blog.blogspot.com/2013/05/porcelain-project.html

Follow Taymour Grahne Gallery on Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/TaymourGrahneGallery

and twitter here: 

https://twitter.com/TaymourGrahne

About these ads

div { margin-top: 1em; }
]]>

Article source: http://artofthemideast.com/2013/05/01/follow-taymour-grahne-gallery-on-facebook-and-twitter/

Article source: http://majnouna-blog.blogspot.com/2013/05/owl-sketches.html

Article source: http://majnouna-blog.blogspot.com/2013/04/quick-food-not-fast-food-indian-potato.html

Dear Readers,

It has been a fantastic 2+ years since I started Art of the Mid East. It has been an honor and a privilege to promote the exciting talent being created by artists from across the Middle East and its diaspora. I have learned a lot about the Middle Eastern art world while blogging, having travelled to major art fairs, conducted artist studio visits, interviews, and research.

I have decided to take my love, passion, and appreciation for Middle Eastern art to the next level, by opening a gallery in the heart of New York City. Taymour Grahne Gallery, which will be opening in Fall 2013, will foster an internationally diverse program of contemporary art aiming to serve as a platform for significant and groundbreaking work from across the world. Working closely with curators and critics, the gallery is committed to cultivating emerging talent and supporting established artists. I am launching this gallery with a deep appreciation for and understanding of Middle Eastern art, and am keen on breaking down boundaries, and presenting Middle Eastern art alongside fantastic artists from outside the Middle East.

Some of the Middle Eastern artists that I am starting my roster with include: Hassan Hajjaj, Tarek Al Ghoussein, Nermine Hammam, Walid Siti, Camille Zakharia, Nicky Nodjoumi, Farah Ossouli and Mohammed Kazem. 

Check out Taymour Grahne Gallery’s website here:

http://www.taymourgrahne.com

Like Taymour Grahne Gallery’s Facebook page here:

https://www.facebook.com/TaymourGrahneGallery

I will continue to blog, and Art of the Mid East will continue promoting Middle Eastern art to the world.

About these ads

div { margin-top: 1em; }
]]>

Article source: http://artofthemideast.com/2013/04/29/launching-the-taymour-grahne-gallery-in-new-york-city/

Rachid Koraïchi and Monir Farmanfarmaian, based in Algeria and Iran respectively, have adapted traditional techniques from their native countries and integrated these into their practice. Koraïchi’s tapestries are suspended from the main gallery’s ceiling, hanging just above the heads of visitors. The tapestries chronicle the lives of 14 great mystics of Islam, such as the poet Rumi, whose writings the artist believes are just as relevant in today’s society as they were in the 13th century. The tapestries are covered in ornate Arabic calligraphy and ciphers from a range of other cultures, as well as symbols imagined by the artist.

Monir Farmanfarmaian’s large-scale mirror installations combine two elements from traditional Islamic design: mirror mosaic and reverse glass painting. Her techniques, which are traditionally passed down from father to son, create kaleidoscopic and intricate avant-garde patterns that catch and refract the light in the room.

The video works of Adel Abidin and Fatima Al Qadiri Khalid al Gharaballi address the contradictions implicit in the social and cultural constructs of contemporary society. Adel Abidin’s three channel video installation ‘Three Love Songs’ will fill the American Room with films of sultry and seductive blonde women serenading the viewer with what initially seems to be poetic ballads sung in an Iraqi dialect of Arabic. However, these songs are actually odes dedicated to the former leader of Iraq, Saddam Hussein. With ‘Three Love Songs’, Abidin brings to the forefront the underlying cultural friction and political tension by creating an uncomfortable juxtaposition between the sexualised performance, replete with Western clichés, and the meaning of the lyrics.

Fatima Al Qadiri Khalid al Gharaballi’s film ‘Mendeel Um A7mad (NxIxSxM)’ recreates the Kuwaiti ritual of Chai Dhaha, a meeting of women for pre-noon tea. However, in Al Qadiri al Gharaballi’s version of the long-standing tradition, the middle-aged women are all played by a cast of young men and, instead of an intimate, residential setting, the film is set in a vast, opulent hotel ballroom, with each character sitting far away from the others. A small, bright pink tissue box – commonplace in every Kuwaiti household – sits on its own in the middle of the ballroom, far away from the women who might need them. The film is a satirical depiction of upper- class Kuwaiti social interactions, highlighting the absurdity of ritualized communications and shattering the sense of familiarity one would expect at a gathering of close friends and family.

Hassan Sharif — Slipper, 2012
Mixed media
210 x 60 cm

Article source: http://artofthemideast.com/2013/04/26/hauser-wirth-presents-trade-routes/

Article source: http://majnouna-blog.blogspot.com/2013/04/quick-food-not-fast-food-chorizo-pasta.html