Adonis: The Difference between a Poem and a Painting

The Daily Star interviews Syrian poet Adonis on the eve of the opening of “A,” an exhibition of his visual art in Paris. The exhibition runs until May 10, 2015 at the Galerie Azzedine Alaïa. Adonis' visual works incorporate poetry directly - as his "experiments with visual art began by taking verses by such great Arab poets as Bashar …

Etel Adnan Exhibition Opens Today

An exhibition by Lebanese-born artist and writer Etel Adnan opens today at Galerie Lelong. The exhibition runs through May 9, 2015. Etel Adnan's work has been widely exhibited but she has enjoyed something of a revival in recent years as this article in the Wall Street Journal notes: "The fact that artistic renown has descended …

The Wanly Brothers

Egyptian artist Seif Wanly (1906 -1979) and his brother Adham were two of the first artists to introduce modern art to the Arab world. Born in Alexandria, the brothers studied at the studio of the Italian artist Otorino Becchi. They later set up their own studio in Cairo in 1942, together with the painter Ahmad Fahmi and the …

Syrian Artists Amid the Horror

Syrian artists are continuing to work amidst the horror of war and the difficulties of exile, Tim Cornwell writes. Among the artists discussed in the article are Thaier Helal and Mohannad Orabi both of whom have struggled with visas and travelling to exhibitions. These artists' work has undergone a transformation as they have been affected by the war. …

Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here in Dearborn

From March 6 to July 12, the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here exhibition will be on display at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn. The Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Collection, founded by San Francisco bookseller Beau Beausoleil in the weeks after the bombing, includes broadsides, artist books, prints and an anthology of essays and poetry. Exhibits have been …

Arab Artists Reacting to ISIL

In a recent Al Monitor article, Mona Alami writes about the work of artists from Iraq, Lebanon and Syria who are reacting to ISIL. Alami discusses the work of  Lebanese artist Raouf Rifai, and Iraqi artists Nada al-Hasnawi, and Aqeel Khreef and Syrian Kais Salman.   Alami writes: All these artists have learned to scrutinize the country’s political and social reality, …

Take Away Art Project Visits Oman

The Oman Times reports on the Take Away Art Project (TAAP), which works to create ties between international and French artists. TAAP, founded by Jessica Poignard, is now seeking to connect French and Arab artists, beginning with Oman. For more on cultural collaboration between France and Oman, take a look at The Omani French Centre  The unusual choice of …

Palestinian Art at The Jerusalem Fund Gallery

Mark Jenkins writes about Palestinian art at The Washington Post, reviewing Helen Zughaib’s show “Fractured Spring” on exhibition at The Jerusalem Fund Gallery Al-Quds. The gallery is one of three divisions of the Jerusalem Fund, created in 1977 to raise money for philanthropic projects in the Palestinian territories. However, the gallery, which was founded in …

Aga Khan Museum

 The Aga Khan Museum, the first museum devoted to Islamic arts and culture in North America  will open on the  the 18th of September.  The museum was eight years in the making. Initially intended to be located in  central London on the Thames, the museum was eventually built in  the "unlikely" location of the Don …

Paint a Vulgar Picture

Lebanese artist Dona Timani’s exhibition “Paint a Vulgar Picture: On Bordering and Othering in the Arab World" is a series of self-described "controversial portraits" which "dissects Arab communities and the underlying ideologies of power." The works are intended to highlight and elucidate "the politics of exclusion and alienation, identity crises, and myriad conflicting ideologies across …

Here and Elsewhere

The “Here and Elsewhere” exhibition at the New Museum begins on July 16 and runs until 28 September. This exhibition of contemporary art from and about the Arab world brings together forty-five artists.       The exhibition borrows its title from a 1976 film-essay by French directors Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Gorin, and Anne-Marie Miéville. Their …

Houmam Al Sayed’s Pickles

Syrian artist Houmam Al Sayed explores the effects of oppression on the individual in the Arab world in “Pickles”, on exhibition at Beirut's Mark Hachem gallery until June 30 As the name suggests, the exhibition takes a darkly comical or satiric angle on its theme, as represented by the squat deformed figures in his works. …

Bilqis by Kamal Boullata

Palestinian artist and art historian Kamal Boullata's latest body of work, Bilqis, is running at Meem Gallery until July 31.The series of fifteen abstract paintings comprising five triptychs borrows its name from the name of the queen of Sheba. The exhibition takes up the myth of Bilqis’ visit to King Solomon's court, where she mistook …

Space and Power: Dina Haddadin

As a practicisng architect, multidisciplinary artist Dina Haddadin's work often focuses on the visual tension between the clean architectural lines of construction and the disordered, unorganized aspects of empty spaces and the ephemereality of place. Her bio from her site describes her work as dealing with "the struggle over the right to the city and …

From Iraq to Syria

I recently came across "Roads to Damascus", a musical and visual art collaboration by the composer Kinan Abou-afach and Armenian-Syrian visual artist Kevork Mourad, which uses music and live painting as vehicles to create a new way of storytelling, making usually static paintings that people stand and look at for a few seconds into works …

When Absurdity Becomes The Form

The two works of art above, by Lebanese artist Youssef Shawki, are described in an article in The National as at the centre of his exhibition, Acid Fields, "a collection of abstract works featuring tormented and distorted figures." The only two paintings that veer from illustrating bodies are the maps: Arab World Map Construct / …

Art Exhibition: Despite

"Despite brings together the work of a group of contemporary artists from Palestine – both the West Bank and Gaza, and includes work by artists such as Mohammed Joha, Hani Zurob, Majed Shala, Mohammed Abusal, Nidal Abu Oun and Raed Issa." The exhibition starts today and goes to the 28th.I love the title! Earlier this …

Art Exhibition The Libyan

"The Libyan, curated by Noon Art and supported by the British Council, will bring together, for the very first time in London at the Arab British Centre, the work of eight living Libyan artists." So there is an art exhibition that highlights the work of eight Libyan artists, both men and women, until 30 November. …