Looking inward: 5 local exhibitions

The UAE’s art and design scene is bringing thoughtful, engaging and provocative artists to galleries, museums and interdisciplinary venues throughout the city. As international guests arrive to explore our top trade shows, Dubai Design Week, Downtown Design and the id Design Awards, we hope they will take a moment to explore these venues.

Sabine Blanchard, DHOW

Belgian-born French artist Sabine Blanchard has embraced the complex reality of experiencing everyday objects. Her exhibition Détournement revisits provides allegories of form deconstructing images, particularly in the MENA region, to discard clichés with a vision of curiosity.

19 September – 19 October, La Galerie, Alliance Française Dubaï, Oud Metha / afdubai.org

Marguerite Sérusier (1879–1950) Rolling Landscape, 1900
Four-leaved screen, oil on canvas, wood frame
© Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrice Schmidt

The Louvre Abu Dhabi has two exceptional exhibitions this fall.

Japanese Connections: The Birth of Modern Décor (through 24 November) traces the influence of the iconic Japanese Ukiyo-e aesthetic on French decorative artists. Roads of Arabia, (8 November 2018 – 16 February 2019) will explore the diverse history of the Arabian Peninsula.

Louvre Abu Dhabi / louvreabudhabi.ae

HARRY II (BODY), 2017
JSP Photography; courtesy of tMarguerite Humeau and C L E A R I N G New York / Brussels

Al Serkal Avenue, home to region’s top art galleries, is hosting the

Adapt to Survive: Notes from the Future exhibition in Concrete with Hayward Gallery 7-21 November. For the full experience: head to Galleries Night, 12 November, 6-10PM to programming for Abu Dhabi Art and Dubai Design Week.

Al Serkal Avenue / alserkalavenue.ae

Images courtesy of NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery

NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery, the university’s academic museum-gallery, opens its fall exhibition Ways of Seeing. An homage to the John Berger classic, 26 artists present 41 works spanning a variety of media. This is its third iteration after first opening in Istanbul.

Through 17 November, NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery / nyuad-artgallery.org

Elias Izoli, Untitled, 180 x 180 cm Mixed media on canvas, 2017

Elias Izoli’ s Seven Years features figurative paintings representative what’s he’s witnessed living in Syria over the past seven years. Drawing from the overarching atmosphere, the somber yet softly-coloured paintings depict the gazes of children to draw into their private spaces.

17 September – 31 October 2018, Ayyam Gallery / ayyamgallery.com