zawyeh gallery

Art Dubai 2021

/ Art Fairs / Art Dubai 2021, Bashar Alhroub, Ruba Salameh, yazan abu salameh, zawyeh gallery /

Zawyeh Gallery at Art Dubai 2021

29 March – 3 April 2021

Zawyeh Gallery features three Palestinian artists at Art Dubai this year: Yazan Abu Salameh, Ruba Salameh, and Bashar Alhroub. They participate in projects discussing politics and childhood while using a variety of materials.

The emerging young artist Yazan Abu Salameh examines home and separation. He uses a mixture of materials such as concrete, pebbles, and wires mixed with Lego blocks and drawings. He places colorful Lego blocks with smooth plastic texture next to the rough grey concrete, to highlight the fragility of life and emphasize its contradictions. His concrete artworks can be seen as miniature maps that reflect remnants of childhood memories, concrete blockades and watch tours, as well as Palestinian neighborhoods from a bird’s eye view. In many instances, he directs the attention of the viewer to a certain spot on the surface of his artwork by drawing a circle. The circle acts as a magnifying glass, pointing towards what might be his location on “the map” or perhaps his vision of what is the focal point on the canvas, where viewers should focus their gaze.

Yazan Abu Salameh, Tight Space (2020), mixed media, 54 X 59.5 x 3 cm

Ruba Salameh, on the other hand, participates with works from her latest series, “Tensegrity,” executed with acrylic on linen. In this project, Ruba breaks the rules and breaks free from the authority of the art form. She builds geometrical shapes and distributes them carefully around the canvas, then rather unexpectedly introduces hordes of ants around them. The ants gather in the corners as if stuck in search of their nest or are scattering around in conflicting paths. In a sense, one can feel these ants as an extraterrestrial element imposed on the artworks to disrupt the neat symmetrical aesthetic arrangement, although as organic creatures of the earth, their presence on a piece of natural linen canvas shouldn’t be viewed as disruptive. Ruba plays on this contradiction consciously, putting ants in the center of attention, despite their discrete existence on the canvas, similar to their organic discrete survival on earth.

Ruba Salameh, Ants Work (2005), acrylic on canvas, D 120 cm

In his series of artworks titled “My Son’s World”, Bashar Alhroub continues experimenting with the spherical shape, but this time by placing his son’s tiny toys similar in color on top of each shape. The aesthetics of his project can be viewed as a continuation of his previous project, “War and Desire,” where he placed golden toy soldiers on several spherical shapes. Yet the colorfulness of this series tells the story of the world or, in specific, a world that his son dreams of living in and perhaps attempts to predict the future. A spherical shape resembles, to a great extent, a crystal ball, or a fortune-telling object that can predict the future. In this sense, the artist might have been attempting to predict his son’s future, and it might also be wishful thinking given wars and pandemics permeating our world at the moment. It is also rooted in the constant search for his inner self through visual memoirs and now through fortune telling. This project can also be viewed as a continuation of Bashar’s interest in the subject of Saints and Sufism which he previously presented through a series of art projects.

Bashar Alhroub, My Son’s World (2021), C print on archival paper, 100 x 100 cm / 3 editions + AP

Intersect 21

/ Art Fairs / Asma Ghanem, Bashar Alhroub, Intersect 21, Intersect21, Jack Persekian, Khaled Hourani, Nabil Anani, Rana Samara, Ruba Salameh, Sliman Mansour, yazan abu salameh, zawyeh gallery /

Zawyeh Gallery at Intersect 2021

16 – 22 February 2021

Zawyeh Gallery is excited to announce its participation in Intersect 21, a virtual art fair featuring art, design, and photography by 21 galleries in Southern California, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Exhibiting artists:

Join us for the Opening Event at noon Eastern on February 16; the Opening will feature an introduction and overview by Intersect Art and Design’s Managing Director Becca Hoffman, CEO Tim von Gal, and curatorial advisor Rebecca Anne Proctor, followed by notable video highlights from exhibitors and cultural partners. Register HERE to receive information about how to join via Zoom.

Intersect 21 will be live at Intersect2021.com from February 16 through 22, 2021, and on Artsy from February 16 through March 15, 2021.

Intersect 21 Art and Design comprises three art fairs: Intersect Aspen (formerly Art Aspen), Intersect Chicago (formerly SOFA Chicago), and Intersect 21 Palm Springs (formerly Art Palm Springs). Intersect 21 Art and Design’s core values include working with integrity, decency, credibility, and transparency. Through art and the diverse voices of our exhibitors and their artists, we encourage discussions that promote social awareness and foster positive change. Intersect is a partnership of brothers Tim and Dirk von Gal, who are event industry veterans with more than 50 years of combined experience creating successful trade shows and conferences for business, consumer, and art industry sectors. The three fairs had been under the umbrella of Tim von Gal’s former company Urban Expositions (founded in 1995), which was acquired by Clarion in 2015. The von Gal brothers’ launch of Intersect in April 2020 brings the fairs back under their management once again. Intersect 21 is part of vGMgt LLC, a team of dedicated professionals focused on customer service, integrity, and the experiential value of Intersect 21 Art and Design. Managing Director Becca Hoffman, who joined Intersect Art and Design in April 2020, was the Director of the Outsider Art Fair from 2013 – 2020 and was formerly the director of Peter Findlay Gallery and Andrew Edlin Gallery. Hoffman received her B.A. in Fine Art Photography from Dartmouth, where she helped start the first student art gallery and worked at the Hood Museum of Art. From there, Hoffman achieved her M.A. in Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s in London.

: Nabil Anani, In Pursuit of Utopia #17 (2020), mixed media on canvas, 100 x 100 cm

: Yazan Abu Salameh, The Master (2020), mixed media on paper, 75 x 110 cm

: Yazan Abu Salameh, Maze (2020), mixed media on paper, 50 x 65 cm

: Yazan Abu Salameh, On the Abyssal Edge (2020), mixed media on paper, 45 x 75 cm

: Asma Ghanem, Freedom Bird (2020), mixed media on paper, 21 x 14 cm

: Asma Ghanem, 12'len (2020), mixed media on paper, 23 x 33 cm

: Asma Ghanem, Sunflower Black Girl (2020), mixed media on paper, 43 x 33 cm

: Ruba Salameh, Lisa (2020), acrylic on linen, 87 x 133 cm

: Khaled Hourani, Picasso in Palestine #2, 2019, oil on canvas, 125 x 170 cm

: Sliman Mansour, Holy Land, 2019, mud and acrylic on wood, 110 x 100 cm

: Rana Samara, Intimate Space #9, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 170 x 290 cm

: Bashar Alhroub, Invasion, 2016, mixed media sculpture (Resin and Plastic), edition 4/5, 40 x 40 x 46 cm

Abu Dhabi Art 2020 – Zawyeh Gallery

/ Art Fairs / abu dhabi art 2020, Nabil Anani, Ruba Salameh, Sliman Mansour, zawyeh gallery /

Abu Dhabi Art 2020 Zawyeh Gallery Dubai Abu Dhabi Art 2020

Zawyeh Gallery at Abu Dhabi Art 2020

Zawyeh Gallery participates this year in Abu Dhabi Art 2020 with the artworks of three Palestinian artists: Nabil Anani, Ruba Salameh and Sliman Mansour. The works examine different manifestations of concepts of confinement, borders and connection in Palestine.

Nabil Anani introduces new materials in his series “Olive Groves”, using natural desiccated plants, straw, and mixed media. His artworks capture an empty semi-arid landscape in which plants grow scarcely while olive trees thrive. The scenery of olive groves spreading over the horizon through the Palestinian landscape reflect the sturdy nature of this plant that remains rooted in the earth despite adversities.

In her recent artwork series titled “Tensegrity”, Ruba Salameh breaks the rules or rather breaks free from the authority of the art form. Salameh builds concrete structures of abstract arrangements compromised of geometrical shapes using cold pastel colors and distributing the shapes carefully and minimally on the canvas.

Yet, this monotonous harmony is disrupted suddenly and in a rather unexpected way. Salameh discretely introduces hordes of small chaotic ants crawling about in curiosity, assembling around the shapes as if trying to jointly carry them away. They gather in the corners as if stuck in search for their nest or are scattering around in conflicting paths. The artworks bring to mind a striking similarity of the notion of resilience of an indigenous population in a situation where their own living space diminishes continuously as a result of an incessant expanding domination by a colonial power. Slowly and discretely, the indigenous population daily motions transform to a form of disruption to the supremacy of the dominant power.

In Sliman Mansour’s artworks, the combination between areas painted in acrylic colors and areas of cracked mud is focal. This combination of two contrasting materials emphasizes the tension between the roughness of the mud cracks which is dominant, and the contrasting adjacent areas of smoothly painted acrylic colors. Mansour’s paintings could be a representation of the stalemate situation in the Palestinian current reality and the changes that permeate the nature of Palestinians as people. His figures as if transforming slowly and discretely from being colorful and vibrant into disintegrated and fragmented characters broken into colorless pieces. Yet, it’s not all dim and gloomy, his “Temporary Escape” gives some hope that this transformation is only transient.

View our virtual booth at Abu Dhabi Art

Ruba Salameh, Urbahn Pink (2020), acrylic on linen, 146 x 178 cm

Ruba Salameh, Carmel (2020), acrylic on linen, 128 x 183 cm

Ruba Salameh, Tangram (2020), acrylic on linen, 111 x 111 cm

Ruba Salameh, Malaga (2020), acrylic on linen, 119 x 129 cm

Ruba Salameh, Ants Work (2005), acrylic on canvas, D120 cm

Sliman Mansour, Survival (2018), mud on wood, 120 x 120 cm

Sliman Mansour, Absent Presence (2018), mud and acrylic on wood, 145 x 110 cm

Nabil Anani, Olive Groves #1, 2019, mixed media on canvas, 112 x 100 cm

Sliman Mansour, Holy Land (2019), mud and acrylic on wood, 110 x 100 cm

Sliman Mansour, Absent Presence (2019), mud and acrylic on wood, 140 x 100 cm

Zawyeh Gallery’s new space at Alserkal Avenue

/ Press Release / alserkal avenue exhibitions, dubai art scene, dubai gallery, Ruba Salameh, zawyeh gallery, zawyeh new space /

$Zawyeh Gallery\'s new space$

Zawyeh Gallery\’s new space in Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

Zawyeh Gallery\'s new space at Alserkal Avenue in Dubai kicks off Saturday 17 October 2020 Tensegrity by Ruba Salameh is the first exhibition hosted at the new space

Zawyeh Gallery is pleased to announce the solo exhibition of contemporary young Palestinian artist Ruba Salameh, titled Tensegrity, at the gallery’s new permanent location at Alserkal Avenue in Dubai. Opening on 17 October 2020, the exhibition explores the tension between a set of geometrical shapes and hordes of ants taking over the aesthetically pleasing canvas. In this exhibition, Salameh breaks the rules or rather breaks free from the authority of the art form. She builds concrete structures of abstract arrangements compromised of geometrical shapes using cold pastel acrylic colors and distributing the shapes carefully and minimally on the canvas. Yet, this monotonous harmony is disrupted suddenly and in a rather unexpected way. Salameh discretely introduces hordes of small chaotic ants crawling about in curiosity, assembling around the shapes as if trying to jointly carry them away. They gather in the corners as if stuck in the search of their nest or are scattering around in conflicting paths.

$Zawyeh Gallery\'s new space$

Zawyeh Gallery\’s new space in Alserkal Avenue, Dubai | Exhibition by Ruba Salameh

The artworks bring to mind the notion of resilience of an indigenous population in a situation where their own living space diminishes continuously as a result of an incessant expanding domination by colonial powers. Slowly and discretely, the indigenous population motions transform into a form of disruption in a challenge to the supremacy of the dominant power. Taking all health and safety measures, Ziad Anani, Director of Zawyeh Gallery, expects audiences to be able to attend and enjoy this unique art exhibition, a first of its kind at Alserkal Avenue for a young emerging Palestinian artist especially that this is the first exhibition at the new permanent location of the gallery at Alserkal Avenue.

Ruba Salameh is a visual artist who was born in Nazareth in 1985. She obtained both B.A (2006-10) and M.F.A in Fine Arts at Bezalel Academy for Arts and Design in Jerusalem (2012-2014). She works with a variety of mediums including painting, video and installation. Salameh questions notions of land, geographies, displacement, nationalism and in-between temporalities, in attempt for contemplating various scenarios of the daily life which in many cases lead to state of dystopia, using cynicism and irony as tools for political suspension points.