Khaled Jarrar, one of the newest artists to join Ayyam Gallery, is showcasing a show solo at renowned European gallery, Guy Bartschli.
Shurooq Amin's work discussed in the Financial Times
One Stop Arts reviews Ayyam Gallery London's current show 'Shooting the Cloud' by Nadim Karam.
Jadaliyya features Samia Halaby's article on her painting 'Homage to Leonardo' and its tribute to Leonardo's 'Last Supper'.
Over 700 people attended the recent opening of Art Dubai 2013 exhibitor Ayyam Gallery’s London outpost. Art Dubai Blog shares the before and after.
On today’s show an in-depth interview with Lebanese sculptor, painter and architect Nadim Karam. Ayyam Gallery, who host this solo show, also get a word in about this inaugural exhibition by Karam, an artist whose work you have likely seen here in London, as it occupies an outdoor space by Notting Hill tube entrance. But how does his work fair indoors? The visual language and forms that Karam has developed over the years play with public space, motion, mirrored light and colour both within and without the work. This current London solo show Shooting the Cloud unusually for him, features mostly paintings, the ideas behind which Karam explains eruditely in this interview. The exhibition launches a new gallery for Middle Eastern art here in London, The Ayyam Gallery in New Bond Street is part of a series of galleries run by cousins Khaled and Hisham Samawi who began Ayyam in Damascus, Syria where there was no contemporary art scene at the time. Next stop for Ayyam: Jeddah, Saudi! Broadcasts Friday 1st Feb 7.30-8pm repeats Wednesday 1.30-2pm on 104.4FM in London or http://www.resonancefm.com/listen elsewhere
Ayyam Gallery London's inaugural exhibition 'Shooting the Cloud' by Nadim Karam is featured on EuroNews.
For its seventh year at Art Dubai, Ayyam Gallery is pleased to present a diverse selection of painting, sculpture and installation from prominent artists such as Nadim Karam, Khaled Jarrar, Ammar Al Beik, Mehdi Nabavi, Oussama Diab and Mouteea Murad to highlight some of the major innovations and trends that have come to define visual culture within the region.
Ayyam Gallery Al Quoz is pleased to announce a special artist-led tour on 29 January 2013 of Syrian artist and filmmaker Ammar Al Beik’s current exhibition, 'Boya Boya Boya' (continues until 22 February). This will be followed by a screening of Al Beik’s film 'Aspirin and a Bullet', which has only previously been screened at the Dubai International Film Festival in 2011.
On behalf of the Ayyam Gallery family, we would like to wish you and your loved ones happy holidays and prosperous New Year!
Khaled Takreti was named 101 greatest artists living in France by contemporary French magazine Art Absolument in its 10 year review.
Ayyam Gallery's photographer and film maker, Ammar Al Beik will be returning to the 9th Dubai International Film Festival with his latest film 'Swings'.
Sadik Alfraji was recently named Artist of the Year at the Esquire Middle East Awards ceremony.
Ayyam Gallery's Safwan Dahoul, Nadim Karam and Sadik Alfraji are featured in the exhibition, '25 Years of Arab Creativity’, at Paris's Institut du Monde Arabe from October 16 until February 3.
Ayyam Gallery is pleased to announce its participation in the forthcoming Abu Dhabi Art Fair. Having participated since its inception, Ayyam Gallery returns once more for the fourth edition of the Abu Dhabi Art Fair and will showcase the classically abstract works of Palestinian artist Samia Halaby and the exceptional figural paintings of Iranian artist Afshin Pirhashemi and Iraqi artist Sadik Alfraji alongside the compelling conceptual installation pieces of Saudi artist Qaswra Hafez, Lebanese artist Pierre Koukjian and Iranian artist Mehdi Nabavi.
Ayyam Gallery's Sadik Alfraji will be featured alongside thirty artists from the Middle East in the exhibition, 'Arab Express’, at Mori Art Museum in Tokyo from June 16 until October 28.
Nadim Karam is one of the twenty artists taking part in the collective exhibition, ‘Art is the answer!’, at Boghossian Foundation's Villa Empain in Brussels.
Watch the video of artist Nadim Karam's collaboration with Louis Vuitton, where he conducted a workshop with Dubai school children to create 'The Travelling Elephant' which was displayed at the Louis Vuitton store in Dubai.
Ayyam Gallery's multidisciplinary artist, Nadim Karam will speaking at the panel discussion 'Public Art Tomorrow: The Practitioners viewpoints' at IMAGINATION 3, Suitable Cultural Institutions symposium in Beirut on February 16 from 7-8PM.
Click Here to Watch VideoWar, philosophy, culture, change and alienation have contributed to shaping Iraqi artist Sadik Kwaish Alfraji both as a creator of art and human being. Alfraji discusses the context and meaning behind his most recent work, The House That My Father Built, and the deep, emotional force it releases. Examples of his very early graphic work, more recent print work, and video clips and images of his family, city and war help put art and design into both global and intimately personal contexts.Speaker bioBorn in Baghdad in 1960, Sadik Kwaish Alfraji studied at the Institute of Fine Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts in Iraq. In 2000, he earned a high diploma in graphic design from the CHK Constantijn Huygens in the Netherlands, where he is now based. Having participated in countless exhibitions in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the United States since the 1980s, he has work housed in the collections of the National Museum of Modern Art in Iraq, the National Gallery of Fine Arts, the Shoman Foundation in Jordan, the Novosibirsk State Art Museum in Russia and the Cluj-Napoca Art Museum in Romania. Recently, he was commissioned to produce new work for Told/Untold/Retold, one of the inaugural exhibitions of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar. His pursuit of art as a profession began in the 1980s in Baghdad. Much of his work explores the expressionistic intensity of the graphic, and focuses on the ideas and concepts of human existence. A visual artist, print maker and designer, Alfraji has often blended art and philosophy as a means of expanding the formulistic and conceptual boundaries of his aesthetic. His haunting mixed media compositions explore a variety of themes, including everything from the universal human condition to experiences of exile and fragmentation.
The Mead Art Museum established in 1821 is part of Amherst College, Massachusetts. Recently one of Samia Halaby's paintings, donated by collectors Anne and Jack Thompson in 1972, was put on permanent display in the museum's galleries devoted to contemporary art. In conjunction with this, Samia has been invited by Randall Griffey, Curator of American Art, to present a lecture about her work. This will take place on February 16, 2012, at 4 p.m.
Ayyam Gallery is proud to announce that the films “Aspirin and a Bullet” and “The Sun’s Incubator” (Hadinat Al Shams), by Director and Filmmaker Ammar Al-Beik will be presented for the first time in four upcoming screenings at the Mall of the Emirates. “Aspirin and a bullet” is the first full length feature film created by Al Beik. Here are the timings for the films. We recommend you all get your tickets as soon as possible before they sell out:(1) “Aspirin and Bullet”, Mall of Emirates, Cinema 5: Sunday, December 11 2011, 09:45PM; (2) “Aspirin and Bullet”, Mall of Emirates, Cinema 11 : Tuesday, December 13 2011, 09:00PM; (3) “The Sun’s Incubator”(Hadinat Al Shams), Mall of Emirates, Cinema 8: Sunday, December 11 2011, 07:30PM;(4) “The Sun’s Incubator”(Hadinat Al Shams), Mall of Emirates, Cinema 4: Tuesday, December 13 2011, 03:00PM.More information on Suns IncubatorMore information on Aspirin and a Bullet
The winners of the Shabab Ayyam Photography Competition are:1st Ad Achkar2nd Lara Attalah3rd Shyrine Haddad4th Lara Zankoul5th Mohamad Badr.Congratulations to them and all the artists who participated as this truly was an incredible exhibition.
16 September - 30 October 2011Sotheby's will once again bring contemporary sculpture to the relaxed setting of the historic garden. Discover work by a diverse range of artists. Sotheby's Beyond Limits is now firmly established as one of the leading events in the artistic calendar.Works by more than 20 leading artists from around the world, including René Magritte, Nadim Karam, Takashi Murakami, William Turnbull, Marc Quinn, Ju Ming, Jaume Plensa and Barry Flanagan, will be on display with many showing in the UK for the first time.Some sculptures reach up to five metres in height and all are available for sale to collectors through Sotheby's.Click here for more information
We are pleased to announce the 15 finalists of the Shabab Ayyam Photography Competition. The competition received over 150 submissions and we would like to thank everyone who sent us their proposals.
Ayyam Gallery has donated several artworks for the 'Art4Sight' auction organized by Noor Dubai Foundation. The charity auction will feature artworks from Mohannad Orabi, Walid El Masri, Thaier Helal, Tammam Azzam and Asma Fayoumi.
Ayyam Gallery (DIFC) coincided its Mouteea Murad opening at the relaunch of Art Nights @ Gate Village on May 2. The series of events aimed at celebrating different elements of art, music, film and design saw a great turnout. The evening featured different exhibition receptions at the Gate Village galleries, live outdoor music performances, and an exclusive dinner giveaway. The monthly event will return to the DIFC Gate Village after the summer.
Ayyam Gallery artist Nadim Karam was recently invited to conduct a workshop with Dubai school children at the reopening of the city’s Louis Vuitton outpost. The Travelling Elephant, a large painting that is the result of a collective effort between Karam and a dozen young participants will be on view in the luxury brand’s Mall of the Emirates location for three months, after which it will be donated to START, a non-profit arts organization that reaches out to impoverished and special needs children across the region and is a joint project of ArtDubai and Al Madad Foundation.
Event: “Safwan Dahoul Live from Ayyam Gallery Damascus” on www.ayyamgallery.com Launch Date: January 24, 2011 Ayyam Gallery is pleased to announce the launch of “Safwan Dahoul Live from Ayyam Gallery Damascus,” a new video stream that will broadcast (and document) the prominent Syrian painter’s current artist residency. Available through ayyamgallery.com, this live stream will provide unique access to one of the Middle East’s most prominent contemporary artists as he completes three large-scale works, one of which will premiere at this year’s installment of Art Dubai in March.Click Here For Live Video Feed
Ayyam Gallery’s diverse selection of painting and sculpture for this year’s Art Dubai represents a wide spectrum of contemporary Arab art with significant examples by Mustafa Ali, Nadim Karam, Samia Halaby and Safwan Dahoul, underscoring some of the major innovations and trends that have come to define regional visual culture.
From February 1 until March 31, the Ayyam Art Center in Dubai will proudly present “Selections from the Samawi Collection,” a large-scale exhibition that will feature several periods of Arab art through three distinct curatorial themes. By identifying particular threads amidst three-dozen seminal works, this museum-quality show will provide unique insight into one of the region’s most significant collections of international art, demonstrating the ways in which the Middle East has increasingly obtained global leverage with a broadening scope of patronage.Beginning with works that boldly explore pertinent sociopolitical issues, “Then What?” draws its title from a 1965 painting by Syrian modernist Louay Kayyali. The last surviving canvas from the artist’s most revered series, the large, nearly monochromatic painting speaks of the plight of Palestinians in the post-Nakba Arab world with an astounding sense of foreboding. With the monumental work as a point of departure, the exhibition is divided into two periods, from 1960- 2000 and from 2001 to 2010, bringing together several groundbreaking artists, including Naeem Ismail, Assad Arabi and Safwan Dahoul while simultaneously drawing attention to the longstanding tradition of committed art in the region with examples by budding talent such as Oussama Diab.
Khaled Takreti is part of a collection exhibition called "Told, Untold, Retold" at the Mathaf Museum in Doha, Qatar. "Told/Untold/Retold", curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, co-founders of Art Reoriented brings together twenty-three artists with twenty-three commissioned works that mark a significant departure, a new way of looking at both art and the world. It is the first and largest exhibition of contemporary art on this scale within a museum context in the history of the Arab world. In a world where everything is in motion, artists are not confined within rigid cultural identities based on the traditional geography. The exhibition invites you to look at artists, not as national representatives but as 'transmodern' artists in consistent metamorphosis. "Told/Untold/Retold" seeks simply to let the artists speak, free of stereotypes or contrived connections.The exhibition opens to the public on December 30th and runs until the end of May.
Ayyam Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of its new location in the DIFC district of Dubai alongside the revamping of its Al Quoz branch into Ayyam Art Center (AAC), a multifaceted venue that will host regional and international large-scale exhibitions, installations, film screenings, a permanent collection and Ayyam Auctions. AAC will also have a special emphasis on video art and conceptual and installation work. Over the course of four years, Ayyam Gallery has invested in long-term initiatives that have expanded the boundaries of local culture while engaging global audiences. These latest developments will build upon its reputation for high-caliber art shows and groundbreaking proposals, which include an impressive publishing house, a highly successful auctions branch and a widely respected program for fostering young talent. With 10,000 sq feet of exhibition space, AAC is expected to become one of the Gulf’s premier art venues, as it will allow for the hosting of a variety of events while creating a vibrant new space that aims to represent the many sides of regional art and the diverse community of art aficionados that supports it.
Is the recently 'flourishing' Syrian art scene a bubble of money and fame? Or are we witnessing the coining of a genuine Young Syrian Artists Movement? By Ruba Saqr and Hamzeh Abu-FakherClick Here to See Article
Contemporary Middle EastBy BROOKE ANDERSON and DON DUNCAN Amid the abandoned real-estate projects, bailout plans and downsized dreams of Dubai, an art market is flourishing.Click Here to See ArticleClick Here to See Video
We are pleased to inform you that Nadim Karam will be presenting a lecture entitled "The Fisherman and the Cloud" at The Cooper Union, New York City on April 9th. The lecture will consist mainly of urban art projects by Nadim Karam and Hapsitus in different cities of the world, with special emphasis on The Cloud Project for Dubai and the art installation "The Fisherman and the Cloud" which is to be exhibited at the Katzen Arts Center. Let's walk on a cloud.Download PDF
The Daily StarA dream halfway between a happening and a situationNadim Karam discusses his latest sculpture, part of a show of Lebanese artists in Washington DC
Here is a photograph taken of Samia Halaby during her recent panel discussion in Abu Dhabi
Setting up an art collection by buying an original work by one of the greatest names of 20th-century art might seem little more than a dream for most art-lovers. Yet it is possible: just think prints, rather than paintings.Click here to download full article
Date: Sunday, January 24Time: 5:30 to 7:30Location: Gallery One at Emirates Palace Hotel, United Arab EmiratesPanelists: Ibtisam Abdulaziz, Adam Hanein, Kamal Boullata, Samia HalabyModerator: Dr. Nasser Rabbat
Ayyam Gallery will be featured in a documentary produced by the United Arab Emirates National Media Council. This documentary is being prepared for the Shanghai 2010 Expo where the UAE will have its own pavilion.
Ayyam Gallery artists featured: Safwan Dahoul, Samia Halaby, Assad Arabi, Thaier Helal, Abdullah Murad and Moustafa Fathi Click here to view e-catalog Click here to bid
Ayyam Gallery has been named winner of Best Gallery at the Best in Dubai Awards 2009.
May 30th marks the one year anniversary of Ayyam Gallery's opening in Dubai. What a year it has been... We'd like to thank everyone for their support and we look forward to many more years of great shows and events. Watch this space!
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Ayyam Gallery will open its 3rd location this fall in Beirut. The 500 square meter gallery is located at the base of the newy built Beirut Tower which in one of the most prominent areas in Beirut A short walk from Solidaire directly across from the new Marina, Ayyam Gallery is a great addition to Ayyam Gallery.