Ara Gallery, Dubai : Saleh Al Shukairi, "Letters of Gold"

Al Shukairi has been transforming the Arabic calligraphy alphabet for the past 25 years with all manner of tools and materials, from traditional reed pens to fragments of glass and classical papers to hand-made recycled materials. As time has passed and experience and skill been gained, he now feels that he has reached a point where he can see that his artworks are more than letters on canvas, and have become “Letters of Gold”.

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Ayyam Gallery, London: Sadik Alfraji, "I Do Not Feel That I Am Free"

Townhouse Gallery, Cairo: "900 KM Mile City"

New York Public Library, New York: Sonallah Ibrahim: Literature and Revolution in Egypt. A conversation between Robyn Creswell.

A critic, translator, and scholar specializing in Arabic literature and comparative modernisms, Robyn Creswell is an Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature at Brown University and the poetry editor of The Paris Review. In 2010 he published a translation, from the French,  of Abdelfattah Kilito’s novel The Clash of Images.

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The Mosaic Rooms, London: Oral Histories Workshop with Tina Gharavi

Panel Discussion at Athr Gallery at ART13 London

Speakers will include the internationally acclaimed Hazem Harb, gallerist Mohammed Hafiz and Alia Al-Senussi.

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Ayyam Gallery, Dubai: Afshin Pirhashemi,"The Wrong Women"

March 11 - April 26
Opening March 11, 7pm

Ayyam Gallery DIFC, Dubai, is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of Iranian artist Afshin Pirhashemi, who will present "The Wrong Women", a series of 12 new paintings.

Pirhashemi is fascinated by the role of women in contemporary Iranian society, and their relationships with the world around them. His monochrome paintings are dominated by female figures swathed in black, veiled and glamorously-attired. The women he depicts are far from submissive; they are independent, confident, and sexually aware, seemingly defying the conservative dress and values of Iranian society.

For more information, click here. 

Muscat Art Festival, Oman: "The Creative Process"

The Muscat Art Festival runs until February the 28th. With Malek Bin Fahmy Al Hinai as organizer and Bertrand Epaud as consultant, it is a first collaborative major launch of the Muscat visual art world to establish itself in the local but also international limelight. Earlier on we announced the opening event “The Creative Process and the Islamic Art”, of February 6th with Venetia Porter and Charbel Dagher among others and the debate “The Creative Process in Art” at Bait Muzna, February the 12th.

Orient Gallery, Amman: Solo Exhibition by Syrian Artist Suheil Baddor

Suheil feels that the great artist Fateh Moudarres, who was a master, a brother, a friend, and a teacher to him, has definitely left his imprint on his artistic experience. But after years now, he feels that, no one inspires him anymore, and truly there is only what is engraved in his soul, in his days, and his mother's face.

Opening reception February 12 at 6:00 p.m.

For more information, click here. 

Apexart, New York: Performance by Ala' Diab, "Homeland Alakazam"

apexart, NY: Homeland Alakazam, Ala' Diab recounts his childhood in Kuwait through song and performance

In concjunction with the exhibition, Open Sesame organized by Ola El-Khalidi

22 years on, the memory of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait tends to either fade completely or be replaced with new stories about what transpired. The presenter Ala' Diab relates his own personal account of his life in Kuwait through storytelling and musical performance.

Ala' Diab is a designer of games and interactive experiences. Music had always been an important part of his life in Kuwait. Growing up he was heavily involved in school music bands and composed music on his own. Using his favorite instrument of that era, the accordion, Diab will discuss how music affected his childhood in Kuwait and will perform pieces connected to the memory of his time there.

For more information, please click here.

Guggenheim, New York: Conversations with Contemporary Artists, Mohammed Kazem and Reem Fadda

Reem Fadda, Associate Curator, Middle Eastern Art, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project, and recently appointed curator for the National Pavilion of the United Arab Emirates at the Venice Biennale, presents “The Contemporary History of the UAE Art Scene.” In the talk, she discusses discourse in art practice from the mid-1970s to the present as it developed in parallel to the formation of the independent nation-state of the United Arab Emirates. Fadda examines the landscape of the UAE's vanguard artists and the institutional framework that laid the ground for three future generations of contemporary artists in the UAE, among whom Mohammed Kazem, featured artist for the National Pavilion of the UAE at the 55th Venice Biennale, is acknowledged as a key member. After the lecture, Kazem joins Fadda to discuss his artistic practice. A lively question and answer session follows.

ArteEast readers can get a $4 discount with the code SPRING2013CCA when you purchase your tickets here. 

Jeddah Art Week

Al M. Gallery, Kuwait City: Nabil Al Shamman

Safar Khan Gallery, Cairo: Ahmed Kassim's 'Endgame'

But Kassim believes that his painting addresses individual freedoms as well the concept of respecting human rights. The viewer is engaged at once trying to decipher the characters, codes and symbols though loosely scattered around the canvas, yet the message is deliberate.

For more information, click here.

Kassim's ability lies in defying large canvases by his effective control of this large space creating a multitude of sarcastic details from an unusual perspective. His work reveals itself through his own beliefs and understanding of the world around him thus resulting in a both a conceptual and an aesthetic artwork.

He uses the widely known rubrics of games to symbolize how life is exactly like a game, where individuals are subjected to the forces of good or evil in their daily lives and how chaotic and unpredictable life has become in modern day Egypt.