ArtPerspective > The Blue Issue > Art

Pro Art Gallery was founded by the Faure family and has been a bedrock of quality art in Dubai for years, standing tall in a nascent art scene.  There are hundreds of works rotated each month from the vast stores and this month sees the colour blue take centre stage until 16 September 2015, when Iranian artist Maryam Ghanbarian is showcased in her exhibition "Talking to Nature". 

 

Banksy - Police Kids, Jack and Jill (2005)

The ever topical street artist is represented in one of his earlier works in the gallery. Possibly a comment on the police state that monitor and controls us from an early age or that in our supposed age of innocence we still need all the protection we can.

 

Lalla Essaydi - Harem #2 (1956)

One of the few celebrated Arabic artists around the world.  Essaydi from Morocco explores the transparency of women in Arabic culture through her photography.  Her images shot on film use none of today's quick Photoshop fixes, each image is painstakingly fabricated to the intricate writing over her body, which incidentally does not have any literal meaning as it is constructed from individual words without sequence.

 

 

Lilli Derakhshani - The Rose Garden in Mind (1961)

Derakhshani uses deep oil as a medium to create her background at the end of the painting process in this shimmering representation of a rose garden in one's mind.  She is the sister of Razad Derakhshani who is featured in the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

 

Saif (Abu Dhabi, Born 1990)

Pro Art supports local artists as well as the international stalwarts and is epitomized in  collecting works from Saif even before he had finished university.  Currently studying graphic design in Canada, we understand Saif aims to take up a role in the exciting Louvre, Abu Dhabi, when it opens.

 

Ali Ajali - Untitled (1939)

Without any religious connotations, Ajali's visual representation of Arabic caligraphy appears to be for the sheer stimulation of the flow and form of the Arabic language.  The intense cacophony of letters can be placed in any direction as the artist has signed the painting in all four corners.  

 

Maryam Ghanbarian (Iran, Born 1987)

Driven by a fascination with human communication and how she can bring people together Marayam attempts to bring people together by bridging the gap of different languages and scripts to explore a commonality.  Maryam's work is displayed in the Museum of Calligraphy in Kula Lumpa, Malaysia and many prominent Middle Eastern galleries in London. 

Pro Art Gallery Website: http://www.proartuae.com/index.htm