65 Miami Beach Premier international art show - Modern and Contemporary artworks - 300 international galleries - Over 2000 artists - 60,000 visitors - 39th edition - Thought-provoking panel discussions - Canvas looks back at Art Basel 2008 1 arab art 2 panel discussion Miami Beach 1 middle eastern art 2 panel discussion A survey of art from the Middle East and Arab world at Art Basel Miami Beach 2008 T E X T A N D P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y M Y R N A A Y A D the near east in south beach 1 middle eastern art Detail of Kader Attia’s Untitled work at Galerie Christian Nagel. 67 e very Art Basel fair features a predominance of select artists. Despite the credit crunch and its varying effects on the art market, the likes of some of the art world’s big wigs – Jean Dubuffet, Fernando Botero, Joan Miró and John Chamberlain – appeared in full force at the 2008 edition of Art Basel Miami Beach (ABMB). Wherever one turned, Chamberlain’s colourful sculptures made out of parts from old automobiles came into view; the Helly Nahmad Gallery’s grand solo presentation of Dubuffet’s works was also hard to miss, while chubby Botero figures and Miró’s distinct Surrealist paintings arguably occupied one too many gallery booths. Scattered among a number of galleries were works by Picasso, Léger and Stella, perhaps occupying second place in terms of ubiquity at ABMB’s seventh edition. ArABiA in MiAMi Of the 250-plus participating galleries, 13 featured works by artists from the Middle East and Arab world. Some galleries like the New York-based Paula Cooper Gallery and the London-based Anthony Reynolds Gallery (both of whom represent Lebanese artist Walid Raad), showed Raad’s work in Basel but chose not to bring his work to Miami. The trek around the fair scouting for works by Middle Eastern artists was indeed a long and arduous one; while some artists have Middle Eastern names, they are born and bred in the West and consider themselves Western through and through. One of Dubai’s leading galleries, The Third Line, made its freshman foray into the ABMB scene through its participation at the fair’s Art Supernova section, where 20 galleries have an interconnected space as opposed to separate booths, created with the aim of linking galleries in an experimental group show. The 22 satellite fairs happening alongside ABMB also featured works from the region; participating at Scope were (among other galleries) New York’s Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller and Oman’s Al-Tarhal. At Design Miami, Kenny Schachter presented a dazzling display of Zaha Hadid furniture pieces and Kuwait’s very own “Sheikh of Chic”, Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah, owner and founder of the Villa Moda fashion chain, debuted the Alef exhibition highlighting pieces from the Al-Sabah Art and Design Collection at the Chatham/Mosaic Building in Miami’s Design District. The Collection is set to launch at the DIFC Gate Village during Art Dubai 2009. Sheikh Majed’s branching out from the fashion world featured the Bokja furniture line, created by Lebanese designers Huda Baroudi and Maria Hibri, Dutch designer Pieke Bergman’s marquetry work with glass and Dubai-based Lebanese designer Nadine Kanso’s Bil Arabi jewellery line (featured in Canvas 4.5). Sheikh Majed managed One could not ignore Kader Attia’s magnetising artwork at Galerie Christian nagel. Cube by Mona Hatoum at Galerie Max Hetzler. Lulu Al-Sabah. Mona Hatoum’s Every Door a Wall at Galerie Chantal Crousel. 68 to infuse a truly Arabian feel to the space – from the California dates on offer to the burning incense, with Kanso’s display even incorporating Arabian coffee cups. Looking in ABMB’s CRG Gallery booth, one would assume there was a single image contained within the copious number of frames in 180 Seconds , a work by Lebanese husband and wife team, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige. Joreige had found a video made by his late uncle, who disappeared during the Lebanese war, and printed each of the video’s slides, thereby building on the artwork’s allegorical message. Reflecting memory and loss, the gallery’s Glenn McMillan feels that “[ 180 Seconds ] is a perfect metaphor for memory and it is palpable, too.” The edition of five, sold to a European collector and priced at $35,000, drew crowds largely due to its physical and mysterious appeal. One edition had been sold to a French movie director and another to a museum in France. “The American world is so lacking in exposure to Lebanon,” believes McMillan, who noted the “slow and discerning” buying behaviour at ABMB. Owned by three partners, one of whom is Lebanese, CRG sold more than expected at ABMB. HAtOuM’s HAul If there were an ABMB award for most featured works by a Middle Eastern artist, it would go to Mona Hatoum. Besides regular appearances at Basel shows, Palestinian-born Hatoum was represented by a number of galleries at ABMB – New York’s Alexander and Bonin Gallery, Berlin’s Galerie Max Hetzler, Stockholm’s Galerie Nordenhake and Paris’s Galerie Chantal Crousel. “She’s just so good. She has a unique language people can relate to. Formally, it’s impeccable,” noted Samia Saouma of Galerie Max Hetzler. The gallery had sold Hatoum’s Cube (one of three editions) to a Latin American collector for $212,000 on the fair’s opening day. Not so much luck at Nordenhake; the gallery displayed one of Hatoum’s best- known works, Incommunicado , priced at $300,000. “She’s a good artist,” says the gallery’s Claes Nordenhake, “we’ve worked with her since 2000 and bringing this piece is not about the fair’s audience.” While not too optimistic about the fair as a whole, given the current economic crisis, Nordenhake noted the low number of European collectors, adding that, “it’s worse than we expected. We couldn’t pull out and we would lose face if we did.” Indeed, the art world held its breath before the ABMB fair. Speculators anticipated negative results given the shadow of economic gloom and the handful of attending collectors. “I came with low expectations,” said Chantal Crousel, “in the present situation, you cannot anticipate or expect.” And yet, Crousel’s Hatoum artwork Every Door a Wall (an edition of six) sold to a Mexican collector for $53,000. “I suppose it [ Every Door a Wall ] appeals to the public in the USA because it is about crossing borders and the whole issue of immigration.” Through dramatic images and anonymous silhouettes, the artwork combines beauty and appeal while conveying its message: either go through the wall or stop behind it. For Crousel, Hatoum’s success is “based on experience and speaks to all,” and as for the Middle Eastern art scene, “Hatoum was already there before Middle Eastern art got hot.” There is a plethora of interpretations that Hatoum’s Round and Round piece at Alexander and Bonin could trigger. The gallery’s Amy Levin points at the wit in Round and Round , “there is humour in using toys; it’s not all serious,” she says, if there were an ABMB award for most featured works by a Middle Eastern artist, it would go to Mona Hatoum. Incommunicado by Mona Hatoum at Galerie Nordenhake. 1 middle eastern art 69 noting the public’s curiosity towards the piece, an edition of eight, priced at $50,000. Known for scouring flea markets and using actual objects, Hatoum is “very hands-on” in terms of production and has frequently used toy soldiers in her artworks. Also represented by the gallery is Palestinian-born Emily Jacir, whose subtle photograph Afternoon in Sido’s House with Anton depicts the atmosphere of afternoons spent at her grandfather’s home amidst Arabic coffee and rich conversation. Jacir’s work does not regularly appear at Basel fairs, largely due to the sell- out of her smaller work and her renown for larger installations. OH PErsiA The Art Newspaper’s Miami Beach daily edition covered various aspects of the Middle East in its 4 December issue. An article reported the informal acquisitions team set up for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, appointed by Tom Krens, the Guggenheim Foundation’s former director and now senior advisor for international projects. The team, comprising 12 curators, includes Sharjah Biennial’s Jack Persekian, Cairo- based director of the Townhouse Gallery William Wells and Beirut-based Christine Tohme, director of the arts organisation Ashkal Alwan, among others. Then there was a full-page advertisement on the upcoming Sharjah Biennial, a clear indication of the biennial’s participation in the international art fair scene. And finally, there was the sale of Farhad Moshiri’s Run Like Hell , which made its way to the paper’s front page. Paris/Miami Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin discovered Moshiri in 2007 and took quite a leap of faith in showing only two works by the Iranian artist at ABMB’s VIP day. “I adore it [ Run Like Hell ]. It’s funny and ironic at the same time. People actually get scared of it because of the real knives used,” said the gallery’s Nathalie Brambilla. Measuring 200 x 450cm, the imposing piece, a cherry cake made of oil, acrylic and glitter on canvas using cake decorating utensils, was sold to a Belgian collector for $250,000. An American collector bought a production still by Shirin Neshat from New York’s Gladstone Gallery. The image, from Neshat’s upcoming, much-anticipated feature film, was a crowd-puller because of the unfamiliarity of the character. “She [Neshat] is divine, beautiful, articulate and charming,” said the gallery’s Barbara Gladstone. “She has absorbed both cultures and has retained her ‘Iranian-ness’.” While Neshat’s earlier work featured charged subjects and carried heavy tones, her newer work continues to bridge cultures in a subtle manner. Farhad Moshiri’s Run Like Hell at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin; artwork detail on adjacent image. “i adore it [ run like Hell]. it’s funny and ironic at the same time. People actually get scared of it because of the real knives used.” – nathalie Brambilla, Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin on Farhad Moshiri’s artwork. 1 middle eastern art 70 tHE nOrtH AFriCAn COntinGEnt One could not ignore Kader Attia’s magnetising artwork at Galerie Christian Nagel. The 250 x 150 x 25cm stainless steel work, while instantly intriguing, possessed a seemingly aggressive facet, largely due to its jagged, cyclical twirl. “It’s a frozen moment in the universe with a violent component to it,” said the gallery’s Florian Baron, “and he [Attia] does so in a very stylish way of course.” Mysterious and reflective of the unknown, Attia’s work certainly turned heads at the fair, but for the ABMB audience, the piece was “more of a design object.” While relatively unknown in the USA, the Algerian- born Paris-based artist has shown at the Seattle Art Museum and Baron believes that Attia is “more a museum guy.” Having met the artist in Basel three years ago, Baron applauds Attia’s “fearlessness” in creating big sculptural work. Moroccan artist Lalla Essaydi can be considered an Art Basel ‘regular’. Hinting at the theme of Orientalism, Essaydi’s photographs of women covered in henna writings aroused the ABMB audience’s curiosity. The triptych, sold at $18,500 from Essaydi’s Les Femmes du Maroc series possesses “a sense of exoticism,” according to the gallery’s Edwynn Houk. The creation of her photographs is a long and laborious procedure which Essaydi approaches, “like a performance.” Houk believes people are attracted to Essaydi’s work because she is Middle Eastern, a region that “is the most mysterious and exotic” for the American public, who are avid collectors of her work. Cairo-born Ghada Amer and Iranian artist Reza Farkhondeh were flatmates in New York and produced collective work which was exhibited at the Kukje Gallery alongside solo work by Amer. “You get a strong sense of shared dialogue in this organic piece,” said the gallery’s Jaime Schwartz of Do not Ruin the Day , which incorporates Amer’s signature stitching and Farkhondeh’s love for pattern imagery. Do not Ruin the Day retailed at $25,000, while Amer’s Leila was priced at $100,000. Schwartz felt a difference in this year’s fair given the current economic downturn. “It hasn’t been doom and gloom but it’s not fantastic either,” she said. For her, Amer’s success and appeal is simply due to “the type of work and not the artist’s background.” When surveying Basel fairs, Western galleries representing Middle Eastern artists can be classified into one of two categories – those that do not place importance on an artist’s background and thereby deem art as art, regardless of the artist’s nationality; and those that do, believing in the artwork or artist’s ‘appeal’ due to the artist’s roots. While both categories convey valid rationales, the fact remains that the Middle East is at the front of gallerists’ minds thanks to its standing as the next emerging art market. Through the growing number of Middle Eastern initiatives, activities and exhibitions in the global art scene, the art world is taking note of the region’s focus on art and culture. From one Basel fair to the next, one can sense an increasing level of interest in the region and its art, and with that, stereotypes are erased, media-placed political labels diminish, art appreciation and education are cultivated and art does what it is meant to do: inform and inspire. Detail of Ghada Amer’s Leila at Kukje Gallery. Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige’s 180 Seconds at CRG Gallery. 1 middle eastern art 71 2 panel discussion j udging by the nature of questions after the hour-long Canvas -organised talk, Will Art Transform the Face of the Middle East ? it was evident that the panel’s chosen subject was appropriate for a Western audience at one of North America’s most important fairs. “Are there Western artists whose art is influenced by the Middle East?” and “Will the Arabian Gulf be an artistic centre like Miami is?” were just some of the questions which tackled the crossover of artistic trends and developments between East and West and the international contextualisation of the Middle Eastern art scene. Moderated by author and art collector, Judith Greer, the panellists included Canvas Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Ali Khadra, prominent artists Shirin Neshat and Lara Baladi, and Dubai-based Dr Lamees Hamdan from the commissioner office of the UAE pavilion for the Venice Biennale. changing perceptions Canvas organises panel discussion at Art Basel Miami Beach T E X T A N D P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y M Y R N A A Y A D Greer kicked off the discussion by pitching the question: which face of the Middle East is being tackled? Cairo-based Baladi then showed a presentation of the work she would be showing at the Cairo Biennial, a response to issues such as censorship and lack of freedom of speech. “It’s all kinds of constraints put on us from various authorities,” continued Baladi, whose body of work is a retort to the illegal construction and poor living conditions of Egypt’s Red City on the outskirts of Cairo. Voicing her concerns on a facet of the Middle East that is left unaddressed by relevant authorities, the Lebanese/Egyptian artist chose to compare the Red City to “what is probably the most expensive real estate project taking place in central Cairo.” Through her work, Baladi not through her work, Baladi not only demonstrated the gravity of the red City’s construction in the face of human carelessness, but also reflected a deep-rooted passion: here is a Contemporary Middle Eastern artist, moved by people’s plight and making it heard through her art. Moderator Judith Greer, artists Lara Baladi and Shirin Neshat, representative from the commissions office from the UAE pavilion for the Venice Biennale, Dr Lamees Hamdan and Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Canvas magazine Ali Khadra. 72 only demonstrated the gravity of the Red City’s construction in the face of human carelessness, but also reflected a deep- rooted passion: here is a Contemporary Middle Eastern artist, moved by people’s plight and making it heard through her art. On the world stage, Iranian-born Neshat is perhaps the best known artist as far as the Middle East is concerned. Noting the fact that she is an artist from the region but one that is also part of the great Diaspora, Neshat emphasised that her work accordingly “has a very distant relationship from Iran because I am psychologically, physically, intellectually and logically not there.” In bringing this point to the fore, the New York-based artist touched on another facet of the Middle East: the categorisation of artists and their work being reflective of their nations. “You must go to Iran to see what it’s like to be an artist living in Iran,” continued Neshat, “I am not that person.” Currently in the final editing stages of her upcoming movie, Women Without Men , based on the novella by Iranian author Shahrnush Parsipur, Neshat commended the cultural initiatives being set in the Middle East but sounded a word of caution on the “economic” determining factors that classify the merit of Middle Eastern artists. “Auctions and art fairs are how [Middle Eastern] artists are perceived, and they are not the best venue to learn about artists,” she noted, highlighting the incorrect assumption that “if you sell for a lot of money, you’re a good artist and vice versa.” Laudable as they are, while the Gulf’s activities and planned projects have put the region on the world map in terms of culture (among other things), Khadra drew attention to the broadness and diversity that comprises the region. “From a publishing perspective, we look at a larger scope of the Middle East, which includes Turkey and Iran,” he added, going on to explain that the public and private sectors of the region have worked in collaboration with Canvas to “let everybody on the international circuit spread the word on Middle Eastern art.” Khadra went on to discuss the region’s cultural wealth in terms of undiscovered talents, patrons, collectors, galleries and more, who work in synergy and promise prolonged achievement for the world’s next emerging market. On the topic of public and private sectors, Hamdan addressed the cultural initiatives set forth by the UAE’s private sector. “While it is in fact the public sector who can afford to build the museums and so on, the private sector is as important for the grass roots projects,” she said. Given that the UAE has only recently celebrated its 37th anniversary of nationhood, Hamdan added that it was a “natural progression” for the country to celebrate art and culture now. So will all of the above lead to a greater openness? Will it provoke freedom of expression? “Finally I can show my work in my region, to be part of the community that I belong to. It’s an incredible wave of energy, intellectually and artistically and I want to be a part of it,” expressed Neshat. “The centre of the art world is still the West and it is generally in [Middle Eastern] private sectors that things are growing,” added Baladi. Hopeful and ambitious as the panel was, the objective of this discussion was essentially to educate and inspire the public. An audience member made a comment on US president Barack Obama’s foreign policy: “We have a rare opportunity for somebody to get this president [Obama] involved in the art we are talking about now.” Suffice to say, it seems the public understood the panel’s message. 2 panel discussion “Auctions and art fairs are how [Middle Eastern] artists are perceived, and they are not the best venue to learn about artists,” she [neshat] noted, highlighting the incorrect assumption that “if you sell for a lot of money, you’re a good artist and vice versa.”