“Made in Tashkeel 2014” is a celebration of the creativity of Tashkeel members and of artists from the UAE and abroad who have participated in the workshops, residencies and exhibitions hosted by the Dubai-based contemporary arts organisation during the past year.
The works on display range from design pieces and conceptual art to photography, printmaking and digital art.
“Tashkeel was established in 2008 by Lateefa Bint Maktoum with the aim of fostering creativity in art and design, facilitating cross-cultural dialogue and engaging the local community with art and culture. It supports the UAE’s creative community by providing studio facilities to artists, hosting artists’ residencies, and organising art workshops, seminars, international fellowships and a programme of art exhibitions and events.
“Through our annual summer show we are proud to present to the public the outcome of the creative and cross-cultural exchange between artists that we have facilitated. The works in this show have all been created using the facilities at Tashkeel, and reflect the support and dedication of our team,” says Salama Nasib, studio coordinator at Tashkeel and curator of the show.
The two international artists featured in the show, London-based Amartey Golding and Spanish artist Ruben Sanchez, were Tashkeel’s first guest artists under its residency programme. The programme gives upcoming artists an opportunity to use Tashkeel’s excellent resources for research and developing new projects, while also showcasing their work and sharing their skills and ideas with the local community through exhibitions, talks, seminars and workshops.
For both artists, the year they spent living and working in Dubai proved to be a significant turning point in their artistic journeys.
Golding experimented with the new medium of dry point printing to develop a new artistic vocabulary. His work in the show, “The Dawn of the Sacrifice”, is part of a series titled “Ga.Bo.Sia”, based on a contemporary mythology created by the artist.
“This residency has been a period of self examination, during which I have deconstructed and rebuilt my art practice. The issue of identity has been an important one for me because my mother is Scottish, my father was from Ghana, my step-father was Jamaican and I grew up in London as a mixed race person. In my new work I decided to deal with it in terms of the mythology that guides the way we see ourselves and the world.
“As a mixed-race person, I have found it difficult to relate to Greek or any other mythology, so I decided to forge a new mythology for myself that is not associated with any particular geographical area or culture. It is a mythology that the new nomads of a globalised, interconnected generation can relate to and take guidance from,” Golding says.
Sanchez is a street artist and has been painting on walls and skateboards since childhood. His distinct signature style is inspired by cubism, Spanish culture and colours and mythology. But his first ever residency gave him the opportunity to work in the studio, to experiment with new techniques and to include Emirati influences in his work. His acrylic painting in the show is done on panels of wood that he found in the Dubai desert.
“This residency allowed me to focus totally on my art. The support from Tashkeel was excellent in terms of materials, studio facilities and opportunities to teach and create street art. I used the time to do studio work, which is important for developing my artistic career, because you cannot earn a living from street art,” Sanchez says.
Other pieces in the show are drawn from Tashkeel’s art programme. These include Emirati photographer Hind Mezaina’s Polaroid images of Deira, that capture the changing urban landscape of Dubai; Greek artist Sofia Chatzisaranti’s abstract self-portraits that juxtapose classical iconography with present socio-political references; and Philippine artist Darwin Gueverra’s witty and thought provoking ink drawings on wood.
British artist Marwan Shakarchi, who works under the pseudonym Myneandyours, is showcasing a spray painted stencil on wood and digital prints on paper featuring his well-known “cloud” character. And curator Nasib’s own work in the show is a set of silk screen prints on paper from her 2014 series “Bu Darya”, illustrating her version of the popular Arabian folk tale about the genie of the sea.
Saudi artist Manal Al Dowayan, who often uses Tashkeel’s facilities, is showcasing some silk screen prints that she created at Tashkeel for “Crash”, her recent exhibition in Dubai.
The design part of the show features limited edition pieces by various Emirati designers. These include Latifa Al Saeed’s sofas made from braided cushion tubes; Zeinab Al Hashemi’s rug made from pieces of sand-filled leather; and Khalid Mezaina’s silk screen prints on fabric. Telecommunications engineer turned artist Nasir Nasrallah is presenting “The Stories Machine”. This vending machine which dispenses limited edition artworks by UAE-based graphic designers for Dh200 per print, is an innovative attempt to make art accessible to all.
The professional development workshops at Tashkeel are showcased through a book binding project created by Al Yazia Al Suwaidi, and Lara Assauad Khoury’s work.
Lara, who was the tutor of the book binding workshop, used her time at Tashkeel to attend some courses, and is exhibiting the playful Arabic lettering she developed in the Modular Arabic Type Design workshop.
The show will run at Tashkeel until August 28. (The gallery is closed until Eid).
Box:
Tashkeel Summer Camp for children:
Tashkeel’s annual summer camp for children aged eight to 16 will be held from August 10 to August 21, and will feature a variety of fun workshops conducted by Tashkeel’s resident artists. The workshops will be held daily from 10am to 1pm. The fee is Dh250 per session or Dh1200 per week, including food and beverages for participants.
The courses include:
Jigsaw Radio with Fari Bradley: where participants will learn to make a mini radio package by recording acoustic sounds digitally, and edit it for broadcast or podcast on audio free software.
The Ultimate Sketchbook with Ruben Sanchez: where students will create sketchbooks based on their daily lives, using different ways to record their thoughts, feelings and experiences.
Clay Modelling with Darwin Guevarra: where students will learn techniques to create their own characters and models.
Photoshop with Jill Smith: for learning skills of manipulating and creating digital images using a variety of programmes and techniques.
Make Your Own Tee with Khalid Mezaina: where students will use screen printing and stencil making to design their own customised T-shirt.
Illustrator with Myneandyours: where students will learn to create designs from sketch to vector using Adobe Illustrator, and prepare artwork for print.
Sticker Design with Myneandyours: is for students with basic understanding of Adobe Illustrator and the pen tool.
Stencil Making & Graffiti with eL Seed and Ruben Sanchez: where participants will learn to design their own stencils and use them with acrylic paints and spray cans to create a collaborative graffiti project.
For more information and registration, please visit www.tashkeel.org
–Jyoti Kalsi is an arts enthusiast based in Dubai
