Ramadan Art bEATs the hEAT in Abu Dhabi

This blog is dedicated to those who feel there is nothing much to do during Ramadan…

Just in case you are wondering why I capitalised EAT in the headline is because a casual Ramadan evening in Abu Dhabi gave me a wonderful opportunity to savour genuine art and unique food (for the soul too).

Al Mayass inside the Sheraton Corniche serves a unique mix of cuisine - Lebanese and Armenian. It was my first Armenian food experience… and it left me… in all senses speechless. Sometimes food can transport you to the places they come from. I actually felt like the Yerevans themselves… I could faintly hear the flute of the shepherds in the mountains!

 An 'Itch' to enjoy at the table by the bay… really this dish is called 'itch'… a tangier version of the turkish tabbouleh (salad)

Very creamy mushroom soup… much like the cream and mushroom soups anywhere else

This one was the star! Kebab el Karaz is succulent lamb kabab with sweet and sour karat (cherry) sauce

Halawet il Jiben, a damn cheesy dessert… they say it is essentially a savoury sweet. Its got cheese inside and cheese outside. Filled with fresh Ashta (Arabic style clotted cream) and rolled in another variety of cheese… and sealed with love… i mean pistachio crumbs and sweetened rose petals

This high-end diner offers a good view of the Corniche and gets almost full each iftar evening... so it is a good idea to book in advance.

Art time
After a full meal… a stroll was a good idea. A 10-minute drive to the ongoing Ramadan Art Bazaar at 'Space' inside the Park Rotana Complex in Sheikh Zayed Road [Abu Dhabi! of course] was just the thing the doctor ordered. This venue is open from 8pm till mid night (apart from morning hours 9am to 1pm) all week.

Here is a sneak peek at the Ramadan Art Bazaar here:

RP Cherian; Nature Feels the Music; 50 x 70 Dh3999

Reyan Hanafi; AlShahada; 40 x 60cm Dh4000

Jerrold Moses Ayque; The Majestic Falcon; 45 x 85cm Dh4000

Saggaf Al Hashmi; The Authenticity & Leadership; 80 x 80cm Dh4000

Jalal Luqman; From Gold to Grey Dh4000 

German Fernandez; Portrait 2; 50 x 50cm Dh4000

Dima Al Munajed; Mini Portrait 4; 30 x 20cm; Dh800

Noora Ramah; Do I Know You; 61 x 31 cm; Dh3000

Fahima Fattah; Childhood; 60 x 80cm; Dh4000

German Fernandez; El viaje del bambino; 100 x 100cm; Dh4000

Qing Zhu; The street scene of Jumeirah Road; 25 x 17cm; Dh800

Khalil Abdulwahid; Dh4000

Ramadan Art Bazaar is on till July 29, 2014.

The venue also offers a good collection of books for creative souls…the Space stocks all these:

The Space also screens selected movies from ADFF (Abu Dhabi Film Festival) during the week.

With a satiated palate, mind and soul… I could not ask for anything more. Wishing everyone a great weekend :)

PS: When in UAE be like the Arabs… [I mean get out in the nights during summer months].

Palette Knife Musings

If you're able to get butter onto a slice of bread, then you already know what to do to get paint onto a painting knife. There's no magic trick. It's just scrape the knife across the surface of the paint so it gathers up some paint, or dip it into the paint and flip out a bit. Now you are ready to attack the canvas! I know some of you may not get this unless you try it yourself. Preferably with oil colours please.

In pics are some of my oil works... under the knife [explorations]:

Alpine delight

Tunnel of Love

Reflections in the night

Dancing dusk in Water

The Pond in the Jungle

Snow caped under the moonlight

Valley of flowers

Reflections

Road to Tuscany

The Fallen Leaf

Freedom

Untouched

Try this technique with oil paints and you are in the league of masters like Van Gogh and MF Husain who made some of their popular works using just this technique. You wish I am kidding! I was intrigued into this method as a teenager and have been painting ever since with the knife and am completely in love with it. My goal is to spread the joy of palette knife smearing and etching… on canvas… to every human soul.

Yellow River

Sakura

Dreamy Lupins

Traditionally the knife was used to just mix paints to make a new shade that the artist would then use his brush to transfer to the canvas. But making a complete painting using the knife technique is not just unique because of the texture that it brings but also liberating.

Therapeutic

Squish, splatter, layer, texturize and blend to your heart’s content. Art is therapy. The creative process is therapeutic. It calms, it heals, it allows you to channel emotions, frustrations, fears, anger, all those things that we can’t look at face on. 

The Girl and the Rabbit 

A good painting session is when you get into the 'zone', where you don’t think, but just do, being that what you are and it all flows. Most importantly it allows you to play! That is when you start having the fun and start creating in the spirit it is all meant to be. This can be technically called the 'artist's process'… or creative process. So rejuvenating that nothing else can replace… or everything else feels better than before. Its addictive as much as it is healing!

From my live demo on knife painting in Dubai 

Painting knives are excellent for producing textured, impasto work and sweeping areas of flat color as well as tiny shapes of colour.  

Types of knives

Although there is a difference between a painting knife and a palette knife, many people use the terms interchangeably. Strictly speaking, a palette knife is a long, straight blade or spatula that is used for mixing paints and scraping a palette clean, not for applying paint onto a canvas. But normal is boring. That is perhaps why great masters thought of simply painting with it… and they stumbled upon ecstasy too.

The Tuscan Stairway

Kaiser's Crown

Dresden

The knives are available in most art shops. A palette knife can be made from metal, plastic, or wood and will either be completely straight or have a slightly cranked (bent) handle. A painting knife is most commonly made from metal with a wood handle, and has a large crank or bends in the handle, which takes your hand away from the painting surface and helps keep your knuckles out of the wet paint you've just applied. Painting knives come in numerous shapes (for example pear-, diamond-, or trowel-shaped) and are used for painting instead of a brush. There is, of course, nothing stopping you from using a painting knife for mixing paint on your palette… or directly on your canvas, like I do.

Sneak peak to my ongoing Dubai workshops on the palette knife application…

Currently there are seats available for my workshops at the Art*ry art gallery in Al Quoz on Saturdays. If you are keen to join click this link for more details… and book your space.

Here are some of my students with their first palette knife joys!

Diya with 'Journey'

Sheryl with 'My Canoe'

Clair with 'Azure is not a colour'

To buy art, attend art classes, book corporate workshops and/or commission an art write up please mail me at archanard@gmail.com… or if you wish to simply know what am up to follow my Facebook page B'lu.

PS: Currently my live workshops are available at these spaces upon pre registration:
Dubai: Artry Art Gallery, Al Quoz
Abu Dhabi: The Space, Part Rotana Complex 

Happy UAE Art Holiday

Who says the art season starts only later during the year? 

Everywhere I have been recently, there is an art exhibition… or a visiting artist doing a solo… or some demo… workshop… or talk… all around the art!

I guess Christie's decision to move its Hong Kong headquarters of Asia activities to Dubai… has had some serious after effects [even though the auction doors of its DIFC branch is closed for most of the year]. May be they chose Dubai for its cheaper rentals [in comparison to HK] and tax-free advantages etc but we Dubaiites, especially in the art segment are excited for those alone.

What's on today?

Did you know there is an 'Emirati artists wall' in Dubai? Today Fatma Lootah, UAE-born, widely recognised artist is going to do some magic here at 6pm. The venue is Fann -À-Porter gallery in Kempinski Mall of the Emirates lobby. 

The live panting coincides with the opening of an exhibition here by French artist Eric Peyret's Dubai landscapes. 

This painting of Dubai Marina by Eric Peyret was getting ready to be hung when I visited the gallery yesterday.

As you read the article… this work below would have come off display at Fann-A-Porter gallery. They are by Syrian artists Aboud Salman.

Love those bags...

The leather handbags/clutches on display here are designed by Jordanian Artist Ghada Kunash [who also owns the gallery]. The bags are art statement pieces priced Dh1000+. Each bag is limited art prints in other words… as they are prints of original art displayed here. There are only 50 numbers of each design and they are made in Italy.

If you wish to stop by this gallery… it is right next to Salero Tapas & Bodega. [Non-art-related Trivia: "The Kitchen Hero of the Year 2014 was awarded to Tarun Dogra from Salero Tapas & Bodega at Kempinski Dubai, Mall of the Emirates." - Hotelier Middle East. Wondering what chef Tarun plates best… will try some !]

The gallery has a busy schedule with artists booked to show until 2015!!

Golden books in Abu Dhabi

That was Dubai… and in Abu Dhabi's Art Hub Chadi Salama, a book maker, design professor and artist from Egypt has a unique display.

Chadi Salama, a bookmaker from Egypt, in residency at Abu Dhabi.

Chadi wants people to realise old is gold… literally. He uses 24 carat gold on old books to tell the significant of knowledge and the role of books in bringing them to us.

Chadi shares his art works among a chosen list of contemporary artists from Philippines, also in residency at the Abu Dhabi Art Hub, celebrating an art month here.

Precious Indian art

I also happened to come across this rare print of MF Husain at Ductac few weeks back.

MF Hussain rare print for Dh6000 with his own pencil signature on it

The exhibition also had other contemporary Indian art. I particularly liked this work titled Draupadi by Anjlie Vellody… from her series 'Monkey in the Mind.' 

Draupadi by Anjlie Vellody

Another flawless dry paste work that caught my eye this season was little-kown Saurin Vast's work Hunter also on display at Ductac previously, as a part of an event by Delhi-based De Art who brought 80 artworks to the UAE and showed them at various venues here.

Saurin Vast's Hunter in Soft Pastels

Ramadan Art

Yet to got to the Ramadan Art Bazaars in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. I have previously participated in Abu Dhabi's Ramadan Art Bazaar curated by artist and designer Sumayyah Al Suwaidi. It is on from the July 4… and on until the July 29, 2014. Jalal Luqman, Mattar Bin Lahej, Khalil Abdulwahid, Liz Ramos Prado, Khouloud Sinno, Michael Bernal, Fahima Fattah are amongst the artists featured this year.

So it may be a slow Ramadan for most in the country… but its a busy Art month… the saved hours during this festival can be best utilised at UAE galleries is what I reckon. They are good places to spend time in inner reflection…and/or take home original art. 

Happy art holidays! Ramadan Kareem!

Beautiful HeART

I am coming straight from Jumeirah's Gallery 76 art gallery inside the Dubai International Art Centre (DIAC) that hosted artist Zaahirah Muthy's humanitarian project to raise funds for the flood stricken Herzegovina.

Just in a single night... thousands of dirhams were raised in an art auction that materialised with artists donating their art works. Every buyer went back with a steal… because the bid was far below the actual art value… it was an investor's night with competitive bidding  that started in three digits and climbed higher with each rising hand.

Here are some pictures:

artists and art buyers at the art auction tonight

Satko Bitanga Bosnia and Herzegovina Deputy ambassador to UAE address the gathering

Khalid from Pioneer Auctioning knew his job so well... his amazing spirit… lung power and winkle in his eye... made the event… eventful!

Deputy Ambassador Satko Bitanga with Artist Dr Ashwin Pillai

Dr Ashwin with Nick Haulkhory

B'lu with Artist Minakhee [who is one of the artists who's work Henosis acquired tonight]

Team Henosis with DIAC director Jeff Scofield and Artist Zaahirah who organised the charity auction

"Artists are really different kind of humans… they will definitely… all of them… will go to jannat [heaven]," says an overwhelmed Deputy ambassador Satko Bitanga.

All 39 paintings on display by 32 artists did not sell on the auction night as some of them did not get touch the minimum bidding mark… the organisers inform me that those few will now go to the Bosnian Embassy in Abu Dhabi and will be auctioned at yet another art event. 

Art must get art's own buyers… even if it needs to travel a bit. Thumbs up to that!

Happy Birthday Gaugin

Paul Gaugin, born on June 7, 1848 [another Gemini!] happens to be my favourite Master's [Van Gogh] best friend. I should address the Masters with better reverence but that is an issue… completely personal though. Only when it is in a casual manner that I can offer my due attention/respect to anyone. I don’t connect well with people who demand it [dead or alive]… and for the same reason they don’t connect with me. Wasted line there sorry!

I admire Van Gogh beyond words. If not for him I would have never been fascinated to pick oil paint with knife – my favourite technique till date. I would not have otherwise saved to travel to Denmark... to study the twisted branches of olive tress, field full of dancing sun flowers and golden rolls of hay dotting pasture lands.

Yesterday, I was at Artery art space, a new gallery in the Al Quoz area in Dubai… at its inaugural show ‘Remembering  Masters’.  The gallery exhibits prints of Gaugin’s work. They gave an engaging presentation on life and works of Gaugin at the opening.

Where do we come from? Where are we? Where re we going?
Oil on canvas

Pres de la mer (By the sea)
1896, 96 x 128 cm, Oil on canvas

Nativity
1896, 96 x 128 cm, Oilon canvas

Parauapi (two women Tahiti)
1892, 67 x 91 cm, Oil on canvas

What I don’t ever approve of from the history is that most Masters became millionaires after they were gone for good. What fun! Another thing that bites me is that most were mad. Sorry for such a casual usage of the word. By using slightly over-rated/literature-friendly words like ‘lunacy’ or ‘demented’ doesn't make the situation any better… they were mad, broke… and lived and died depressing lives… except for brief instances of inspirational moments, genius-like, risk-taking, wondrous, rebellious, anti-social, movie-story-like sub-stories. Some of these make story-telling easier… or add value to curatorial notes!

My pet peeve also features Van Gogh. Not really him. His ear. I don’t understand why they make a big deal about Van Gogh’s chopped ear. Who did it? Did he chop it himself or Gaugin did that. Then what did he do with the chopped ear? Why is it such a big deal? Was tabloid gossips popular during post-impressionist era?

Nobody really cared for these artists then, nor does anybody now… unless when there was/is a need to sound all-knowing. Sorry, am tired of apologising… and hence I will skip apologising for this almost-ignorant generalisation.

Science meets art  
My reason for a particular disappointment today is a recent news in The Guardian that reminded me of the ear in concern. A German artist Diemut Strebe made a replica of Vincent van Gogh’s ear using genetic material from one of the artist's living relatives – thanks to his brother’s great-great-grandson.

The ear was grown at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, in the US, and is kept alive inside a case that contains a special concoction that could make it last for a few years. It is on display at the Centre for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany, and people can speak into it through a microphone.

“Convincing Lieuwe van Gogh, the great-great-grandson of Vincent’s beloved brother Theo van Gogh, to donate a few cells for an art project was easy. Lieuwe and Vincent share one sixteenth of the same genes, and he found the idea of creating a ‘living replica’ of his great-great-uncle’s ear simply fascinating,” said the paper.

Trivia: On December 23, 1888, Van Gogh had a very heated argument with artist and friend Paul Gaugin. Gaugin left and Van Gogh, in a fit of anger and lunacy, severed his left earlobe with a razor.

Van Gogh wrapped his ear in a tissue and then went to a brothel, where he presented the ear to a prostitute. The next day the police found him and took him to a hospital. Gauguin refused to see him again.

Van Gogh's Self Portrait with bandaged ear

The other theory 
Art historians Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans think the Dutchman didn't severe his own ear and that it was Gaugin who accidentally cut it with a sword either in anger or self-defence - Gauguin loved fencing and he has left his fencing mask and gloves in Van Gogh’s place in Arles, so their theory could be correct.  But whatever the real story, Van Gogh’s lack of ear is as popular as his art, and this 3D-printed copy of his severed earlobe is a huge deal for art lovers and pop culture aficionados. And the fact persists… everybody wants to ride on his name! Please! Let us admit how shameless we are.

“I use science basically like a type of brush, like Vincent used paint," said Strebe to the Associated Press. The artist plans to exhibit the ear in New York too — hope she brings it to the UAE as well.  So we can ask Van Gogh… to speak!

[Belated] Happy Birthday Gaugin… hope you are doing well [in your grave].

PS: 22 Ways to Kill Your Boss at Gallery of Light @ DUCTAC closed last night 10pm... lots to share... will post soon :)