A generation next is always a generation better. The young generation is talented and focused. However, they are not provided with the perfect platform to showcase their talent. If given a chance they can be outstanding and astonishing at the same time. First time an effort has been made to provide a strong platform for the talented people.
Suspended precariously from a column platform, a large stone ball is held in place by an oversized yellow elastic band that is balanced only by the weight of another ball hanging on the other side. At least this is the visual illusion. In reality, the stone balls are made of terracotta and the elastic band is powder-¬coated steel. It is the most recent piece of art from a very promising young Emirati artist, Shaikha Al Mazrou, who is not only interested in the formal aspects of minimalism, but also has a fascination with materiality in art. Hence she chose to play with perspective for this sculpture series, titled Tension.
Al Mazrou is one of six young artists chosen for a new annual art exhibition to be presented under the theme and title A Public Privacy for the inaugural edition of UAE Unlimited Arab Exploration, a platform promoted by and under the patronage of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, who is an avid art collector. Each year, the exhibition will bear a new subtitle and this year A Public Privacy opens at Dubai Community Theatre & Arts Centre, where new works by a group of emerging Emirati, locally based and GCC artists, will be presented.
The curators, Cristiana de Marchi and Mohammed Kazem, have carefully selected those artists who are at points in their career where they are not fully established but far enough along to show true dedication to the field.
Al Mazrou’s work, which cleverly deals with the gap between perception and reality, is juxtaposed with Shamma Al Amri’s paintings and drawings. Where Al Mazrou uses sculpture and form, Al Amri, who is also Emirati, uses more
traditional artistic materials in a contemporary way.Carefully constructed drawings are presented next to others layered with inkblots and ink spills that do not depict any form or reflect any control.
For Kazem, the choice to include this artist was essential because of her medium. “In fact, we don’t have that many really good painters in the UAE in the contemporary art scene from the younger generation. We chose her also for that reason.” The other two Emiratis in the show are true multitaskers: Hamad Al Falasi, a physician who is working as a photographer and designer while developing his own clothing line, and Mohammed Jumairy, who is still in his early 20s.
Alongside the four Emiratis are two other artists: Vikram Divecha from Indian, and the Kuwaiti Monira Al Qadiri
Divecha, whose work responds deeply to the urban environment, will be showing Negative Heaps (of Designated Waste). For this, Divecha collected negative cut-outs from the tiles that decorate underpass road tunnels in the UAE, arranging them along the wall of the Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Centre (Ductac) to make a social comment on pieces that do not reach public visibility and are not worth celebrating.
It is very important to showcase the talent and provide the opportunity to them who are having talent to impress anyone. De Marchi concluded that all support and platform is given to the young generation and voices are heard now to take them as high as possible.
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