Lawrie Shabibi

Shaikha Al Mazrou
‘Measuring the Physicality of Void’ (2022)
Commissioned by Desert X, Alula
📍Displayed in Alula, Saudi Arabia

Shaikha Al Mazrou’s “Measuring the Physicality of Void” features airy, metal sculptures resembling inflated pillows. These site-specific works lie flat, stand, or rest in rocks, balancing tension and comfort.
They explore the relationship between stasis and movement, figuration and abstraction. Distorted industrial metal sheets suggest a violent, irrational process.

This silent yet imposing installation blends awkwardly yet harmoniously with its natural surroundings, mimicking and contrasting the landscape’s voids and spaces, capturing the inertia of our environment.

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Dima Srouji:
Grave Goods 3 , 2024
Hand blown glass
20.5 x 8.5 x 8.5 cm
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Srouji’s “Grave Goods” series are glass replicas of vessels that historically used as gifts to the dead for their afterlives. Produced in Jaba (Palestine) using traditional techniques that have been passed on generation to generation, the vessels are fragile reminders of our histories and mortality.

The series is part of Srouji’s show “Charts for a Resurrection” now on view until 23rd July, 2024

Detail and Installation shots from s “All that I Lost” 2019, from his group show “Normopathies”, on view at until 1 January, 2025.

The exhibition showcases works from the museum’s collection, spanning from the European postwar period to the early 21st century, exploring the relationship between writing as a technique of power and its normative influence.

View of the exhibition “Normopathies. Works from the Es Baluard Museu Collection”,
Es Baluard Museu d’Art Contemporani de Palma, 14.06.24-12.01.25. ©️ Es Baluard
Museu, 2024. Photograph: David Bonet

Artwork: Mounir Fatmi, “All that i Lost” 2019
Barbed wire and metal calligraphies
Dimensions vary

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Dima Srouji’s ‘Charts for a Resurrection’ is extended until 20 July, 2024.

On view at Lawrie Shabibi, the artist and architect’s acclaimed, first solo show shouldn’t be missed.

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Timo Nasseri
I am a Sky where Spirits Live #3, 2022
Acrylic and oil on canvas
225 x 190 x 4.5 cm

Yazan Khalili
‘Colour Correction 1’, 2007-2010
Lightjet on Kodak Premier
150 x 244.7 cm

From the artist’s ‘Camp Series’

The loss of their homeland in 1948 left Palestinians in a perpetual state of emergency, unable to think or live in the present. This project aims to recreate space using architectural elements that reflect this history, fostering hope by allowing the imagination of a better future.

Khalili focuses on the Al-Amari Refugee Camp near Ramallah, where the camp’s form symbolizes political loss through its ephemeral structures and living conditions. By changing the camp’s colors, Khalili performs a symbolic act to fill the void of loss, akin to a child coloring a book, and seeks to transform memory into a vision for a desired future.

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Nathaniel Rackowe
‘FL01’ 2021
Coretex GRP, dichroic film, paint, MDF
35 x 55 x 10 cm
From the artist’s solo ehibition “Passing Through” in 2021.

The works presented delve into the dynamic relationship between movement and space, inspired by his lockdown walks and rides through diverse landscapes. These artworks necessitate active engagement, shifting in color and form as viewers move around them, emphasizing the journey over the destination. ✴️

Following a year and a half of cancer treatment, Rackowe’s renewed mindfulness permeates this series. Utilizing advanced materials like dichroic films and aluminium honeycomb, he deconstructs and reconfigures these elements, transforming them into instinctual gestures that reflect his physical and emotional explorations.

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Código Atemporals (Timeless Codes) is series by Peruvian artist Ishmael Randall Weeks which consists of layered blocks of cement and grout, the shapes and cuts of which recall the aerial views of pre-Columbian temples, archaeological excavations, as well as of modern architectural blueprints, and even of 20th century European and Latin American geometric abstraction.

The layers of these “codes” entail a physical sedimentation of the earth, but also of time. Made with materials gathered by the artist in his daily life, the works constitute a sort of diary of everyday life; a compressed history.

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Ishmael Randall-Weeks
Código Atemporal #99, 2023
Grout 700, Yellow Stone + Sand, Sulfur + Plaster, White Clay, Chancay, Pink Soil, Lajas + Plaster, Cochineal + Cement, Grout 700, Pink Venetian Stucco, Aluminium, Wood
40 x 36 x 15 cm

From the late 1960s Mohamed Melehi created paintings, prints and graphic designs based on a ‘wave’ motif. This motif was inspired by the designs and patterns found in Berber crafts – objects like vases, rugs and jewellery as well as architecture. By referencing local abstract forms and combing this with the hard edge abstraction he encountered in New York, Melehi (together with his peers) created a new language of modernism – the Casablanca Art School.

This summer you can see some of his paintings at shows in Venice, Paris and Sharjah and

Together, with our colleagues internationally and locally, and as initiated by , we will all remain closed this Friday, 31st of May. As art galleries in Dubai, we stand firmly in solidarity with the people of Palestine and their right to freedom and safety.

We refuse to remain silent bystanders. The brutality inflicted upon the Palestinians in Gaza is morally reprehensible, devoid of humanity, and against the law. As advocates for culture, we urge you to reflect on the fundamental principles of fairness, equity, survival, and harmony that unite us all, and that the people of Palestine are entitled to. The time for action is now!

Image credits: Azra Khamissaazra

Today, May 15, we commemorate the Nakba (known as the Palestinian Catastrophe) which comprised the destruction of Palestinian society and homeland in 1948, and the permanent displacement of a majority of the Palestinian people.

We highlight sculptor, poet, and artist Mona Saudi who was dedicated in her practice to informing and advocating about the history of the occupation. 🕊️

Pictured in slide 2 is Saudi’s painting ‘That’s Her Image and This is Su***de of the Lover - #1’, which is based on Darwish’s poem of the same name.

Her series “Homage to Mahmud Darwish” is a collection of 7 paintings made and singed in 1979, as a tribute to the prominent Palestinian poet.

Written in the lower side of the painting is an excerpt from the poem: 
“I wear you and take off the days,
There is no history before your hands,
There is no history after your hands,
They call you the alternative,
I do not have language, between myself and my name there is a country,
And I want to incarnate the trees,
I bear witness that I have covered my name with silence,
Near the sea…”

Artwork #1: ‘Olive Tree’, 1999
Acrylic on a paper, 35 x 30 cm
Artwork #2: ‘That’s Her Image and This is Su***de of the Lover - #1’, 1977
Lithograph and watercolour on paper, 82.5 x 54 cm

Happy Nowruz! Today marks the first day of Spring, an auspicious occasion and time to welcome into our lives rebirth and renewal, prosperity and peace 💐💐
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Image
Farhad Ahrarnia
Tabiat Bijaan, no. 6, 2020
Oil and mixed media on canvas

Shahpour Pouyan has been named one of the five shortlisted artists to create the first AIDS memorial in London ()⁠
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Shortlisted artists include Ryan Gander, Anya Gallaccio, Harold Offeh and Diana Puntar. The public monument will be located close to Middlesex Hospital in London, where Princess Diana opened the U.K.’s first AIDS unit in 1987. ⁠
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The winning artist will be announced in the summer of 2024 and the monument will be unveiled in 2026.⁠
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Over seven years ago, playwright Ash Kotak first proposed the creation of a permanent HIV/AIDS Memorial in London. In December, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced £130,000 funding through The Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm.⁠
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The winning proposal will be selected by a panel of 11 judges that includes physician Jane Anderson, currently chair of The National AIDS Trust; AMUK founder Ash Kotak, art historian Satish Padiyar, artist Rana Begum, theater director Neil Bartlett, and writers Jack Guinness and Olivia Laing.⁠
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Link in bio to find out more 🔗⁠
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Photo: by Will Amlot⁠
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Driss Ouadahi’s artwork ‘Vue coupée’ (2009) is currently on view in ‘Not much to look at. Ways of Abstraction 1920 Until Today’, at the Von der Heydt Museum in Wuppertal, Germany.
 
Photo: Achim Kukulies

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We are excited to return to the 2024 edition of Art Basel Hong Kong with a solo presentation of works by Emirati artist Shaikha Al Mazrou. The presentation develops the forms and language of her practice, extending her investigations into materiality, tension and the interplay between structure and content.⁠
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VIP Preview: 26–27 March ⁠2024⁠
Public Days: 28–30 March ⁠2024⁠
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⁠Insights | Booth 3D27⁠
Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre⁠
1 Harbour Road, Wan Chai ⁠
Hong Kong, China⁠
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Link in bio to learn more ⁠🔗
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Dima Srouji’s sculptural work ‘Maternal Exhumations II’ (2023) ⁠is part of ⁠The Ford Foundation Gallery’s ‘Cantando Bajito: Testimonies’ exhibition, on view in New York until 4 May 2024. ⁠
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The exhibition features artists who explore forms of resistance in the wake of widespread violations of bodily autonomy and gender-based violence threatening to erode civic space and democratic values worldwide.⁠
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Srouji’s work contemplates colonial violence toward feminized bodies. Her work honors the Palestinian women who were part of the workforce that excavated the land during American and British archeological missions and centers the women’s deep connection to their land. Replicas of glass vessels and toilet flasks, used by women in cleansing and healing rituals, are placed in soil as though just excavated, an experiment in imagining the vessels’ return to the ground. ⁠
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Cantando Bajito is developed and brought together by curators Isis Awad, Roxana Fabius, Kobe Ko, Beya Othmani, Mindy Seu, and Susana Vargas Cervantes, with the advice of a larger curatorial group integrated by Maria Carri, Maria Catarina Duncan, Zasha Colah, and Marie Hélène Pereira. ⁠
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Link in bio to find out more ⁠🔗
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MaternalExhumations

Lawrie Shabibi is looking for a Digital Content Producer and Image Manager to join the team in Dubai. The candidate will be responsible for the digital marketing of the gallery, as well as the production of social media content and communications with the press. A lot of time will be spent communicating directly with the gallery artists to highlight their shows and news.⁠
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Link in bio to view the full job description ⁠🔗
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Please send your CV and design portfolio to [email protected]

Ramadan Mubarak 🌙
This Ramadan we pray for peace in Gaza, the Middle East and all over the world.
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Our opening hours are 11-4pm with other times by appointment only.

PUBLICATION | ‘Alcove: Intimate essays on Arab Modernist artists’ by Myrna Ayad, published by Kaph Books.

This book is a compilation of articles narrated by the relatives, friends and students of modernists from the Arab world, including Mohamed Melehi and Mona Saudi. Spanning a pivotal time in Arab art, from the 1950s through to the 1980s, the book celebrates the lives, careers, and personas of some of the region’s pioneering artists and features archival material, images of artworks as well as of the artists themselves.

Alcove, from the Arabic “al qubba”, meaning vault or chamber, reflects on the importance of these stories, inviting readers into a treasury of prized histories.

Texts & research by: Myrna Ayad
With a forword by: Dr Nada Shabout

Featured artists:
Shafic Abboud
Hamed Abdallah
Etel Adnan
Layla Al Attar
Nahil Bishara
Huguette Caland
Saloua Raouda Choucair
Ali Omar Ermes
Abdel Hadi El Gazzar
Paul Guiragossian
Mohammed Ghani Hikmat
Nabila Hilmi
Menhat Hilmy
Jumana El Husseini
Louay Kayyali
Helen Khal
Baya Mahieddine
Mohamed Melehi
Fateh Moudarres
Nuha Al Radi
Aref El Rayess
Mona Saudi
Juliana Seraphim
Abdullah Al Shaikh
Asim Abu Shakra
Hassan Sharif
Hussein Shariffe
Laila Shawa
Hedi Terki
Madiha Umar

Design: Kate Scott
English, 2023, 336 pages, 250 ill., Hardcover, 16.5 x 24 cm
ISBN: 978-614-8035-55-5

You can find the book online or in your nearest independent bookstore.
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Mohamed Melehi’s works are currently part of ‘The Casablanca Art School: Platforms and Patterns for a Postcolonial Avant-Garde (1962-1987)’ organised by with in collaboration with

On view until 16 June 2024⁠
📍 Sharjah Art Foundation, Al Hamriyah Studios and Old Al Diwan Al Amiri, Sharjah, UAE⁠
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Following Moroccan independence in 1956, staff and students at the Casablanca Art School radically reimagined Moroccan art, moving away from western teaching and integrating abstract art with Afro-Amazigh traditions.⁠
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This exhibition features works by more than 20 artist-activists from the School, including paintings, urban murals, typography, graphics and urban design.⁠
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Curated by Morad Montazami and Madeleine de Colnet for Zamân Books & Curating, with Hoor Al Qasimi, Director of Sharjah Art Foundation, May Algaydi, Assistant Curator of Sharjah Art Foundation.⁠
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To learn more, please visit the link in bio ⁠🔗
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Images: The Casablanca Art School: Platforms and Patterns for a Postcolonial Avant-Garde (1962–1987). Installation view at Sharjah Art Foundation, 2024. Photo: Motaz Mawid / Shanavas Jamaluddin.
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Last few days to see our booth at 2024!

Our final presentation under the theme ‘Ecoscapes’ includes works by Shaikha Al Mazrou, Nabil Nahas, Timo Nasseri, Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, Hamra Abbas and Rand Abdul Jabbar.

Booth D-4 | Hall 2
Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai

Link in bio to find out more 🔗
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Join us for a dialogue between artist Hamra Abbas and curator and writer Hammad Nasar, marking the launch of her monograph ‘Every Color is a Shade of Black’ published by COMO Museum of Art in Lahore, Pakistan. This academic work delves into Abbas’s two-decade-long artistic journey, offering a comprehensive exploration of her diverse and ⁠ever-evolving practice.
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Sunday, 3 March 2024 | 1-2 pm⁠
Common Room at Alserkal Arts Foundation⁠
Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, UAE⁠
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Hamra Abbas received formal training in sculpture and Indo-Persian style of miniature painting at the National College of Arts in Lahore. Departing from this traditional background, Abbas integrates contemporary mediums like digital art, installation and performance into her art. Throughout her artistic journey, she delves into the physical manifestations of faith, ritual, and tradition.⁠
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Link in bio to find out more ⁠🔗
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Art Dubai 2024 Preview Day 1! Our booth features contemporary artists deeply rooted in process-oriented practices under the theme ‘Ecoscapes’

Booth D-4, Hall 2
Madinat Jumeirah Conference & Events Centre

VIP Preview: 28–29 February
Public Days: 1–3 March

Link in bio to find out more 🔗
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‘Union of Artists’, the first permanent large-scale public sculpture of the newly launched Dubai Public Art Strategy, which was unveiled yesterday in the public gardens facing the Etihad Museum ✨
 
Congratulations to the FIVE winning artists — .almazrou, , , , and - who challenged the single artist competition process, and chose to come together to create a sculpture that clearly represents and blends their individual artistic practices. 

‘Union of Artists’ is commissioned by in collaboration with Art Dubai. It is part of the Dubai Public Art initiative, which aims to transform the emirate into an open, accessible, and global art capital, providing exceptional art experiences that contribute to enriching the cultural and artistic scene of the region.  This is the first landmark commission to be unveiled from a number of commissions with partner cultural institutions , , and .

Image: Courtesy of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority.

Link in bio to find out more 🔗

LIVE PERFORMANCE | Mandy El-Sayegh presents ‘Talisman’ (2024) as part of her exhibition ‘A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose’, co-created with movement artist Chelsea Gordon and sound artist Sami El-Enany, in collaboration with

Tuesday, 27 February | 8:30 PM
Lawrie Shabibi, Unit 21, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai
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The work draws on a range of sources, including diverse forms of prayer ritual which encompass repetition of chants and motion to incite trance-like states. Responding to the emotional, sensorial and physical happenings within the body, Chelsea Gordon uses movement within their practice to connect deeper to the self and transcend states. ⁠
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As performers move through the exhibition space, kaleidoscopic images are projected onto their clothing. These visuals are from a new video accompanying the performance, featuring found visual and audio material: videos taken from the artist’s studio, including the newspapers, gold-leaf and grid patterns from her paintings, as well as clips from news broadcasts, are all abstracted, unfolding into crystalline fractals. The video’s score, composed by Sami El-Enany uses found sound, including recordings made by an electronic stethoscope of the womb during pregnancy; rhythmic heartbeats; among others. The score’s deeply contemplative nature gives way to euphoric percussion for an all-encompassing sonic and visual experience.⁠
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Link in bio to find out more ⁠🔗
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Mandy El-Sayegh, ‘Induced States’, 2022, UTA Artist Space, Los Angeles. Performers: Alethia Antonia, Mandy El-Sayegh, Sierra Herrera and Leo Hishikawa. Photo: Josh S. Rose.
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Dima Srouji’s artwork ‘Maintaining the Sacred II: Transparent Histories’ is on view at the ‘’Arab Design Now’ exhibition at which opens today at .qatar

The exhibition is curated by with the support of

Srouji’s installation creates a speculative space to imagine a future archaeology of a liberated Jerusalem from below. The partition depicts architectural monuments from Jerusalem that are seminal to the history of architecture often understudied. The wall,itself an architectural element, becomes the storyteller of architectural history and of the history of craft through its material as well as its design.

The monuments engraved and carved through the surfaces take note from Piranesi’s Campo Marzio map of Rome and reconfigures it to the city of Jerusalem, Palestine. As Piranesi flattens time and space by inventing his own monuments inspired by the archaeological sites in Rome, this map does the same for architectural monuments in Jerusalem, a city convoluted in its strata with layers of hidden narratives to be excavated.

This project also aims to bring out a forgotten history of glass in architecture by celebrating historically significant techniques of stone carving and glass inlays as were used historically in the Middle East.

‘Arab Design Now’ is on view from 24 February – 5 August 2024
Link in bio to find out more 🔗
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We are thrilled to announce our participation in this year’s edition of Art Dubai Contemporary from 1–3 March 2024.
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Our booth showcases contemporary artists deeply rooted in process-oriented practices, exploring the dynamic relationships between forms and materials inspired by both nature and social structures, and delving into the interconnectedness of ecosystems. ⁠
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📍 Booth D-4
Johara Hall, Madinat Jumeirah ⁠
VIP Preview: 28–29 February ⁠
Public Days: 1–3 March ⁠
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Get your tickets and preview our presentation on the Art Dubai app. Link in bio to find out more 🔗⁠
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Artwork: Asad Faulwell, ‘Earth and Water’, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Lawrie Shabibi.⁠
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ON VIEW | Mandy El-Sayegh: ‘A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose,’ curated by Sara Raza. In collaboration with sound artist Sami El-Enany and movement artist Chelsea Gordon.⁠ ⁠
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The site-specific exhibition, encompassing painting, installation, video, sound, and performance, operates as an immersive environment for accessing multiple overlapping truths. Drawing from autobiographical Chinese and Palestinian symbols and motifs, alongside popular visual cultural materials and newsprint, El-Sayegh employs the studio art of bricolage interconnecting existing materials to create new meaning.⁠
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Borrowing its title from a line in American modernist writer Gertrude Stein’s poem ‘Sacred Emily’ (1913), the exhibition underscores the reclamation of words, actions, events, or things. The repeated use of the word ‘rose’ reinforces the poetic nature of ideas and language, which is especially poignant in times of censorship and diminished civil liberties.⁠
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A special thank you to Anna Pigott, Rory Strudwick, Rosa Wolf and Tamara Hart for their invaluable efforts in bringing this exhibition to life ✨
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On view through 4 April 2024⁠
Link in bio to find out more ⁠🔗
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Images: Installation views, Mandy El-Sayegh: ‘A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose’, curated by Sara Raza, 22 Feb – 4 Apr 2024, Dubai. Photo by Ismail Noor of Seeing Things. ⁠
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OPENING TOMORROW | Mandy El-Sayegh: ‘A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose,’ curated by Sara Raza. In collaboration with sound artist Sami El-Enany and movement artist Chelsea Gordon.⁠
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Opening Reception
Thursday, 22 February 2024 | 6 – 9 pm⁠
Walkthrough led by the artist & curator | Starts at 6 pm⁠
📍Lawrie Shabibi, Unit 21, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai
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Link in bio to find out more ⁠🔗
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Hamra Abbas takes part in the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale 2024 with ‘Mountain 5,’ the largest work in a series of mosaic panels depicting the world’s second highest peak, K2!

The second edition of the Biennale opened to the public today and will remain on view until 24 May 2024.

Based on a drawing by the artist, the work was created by cutting and joining lapis lazuli stone, fixing it to a granite base during the inlay process, and polishing it to reveal the final image-a striking landscape and, for the artist, a space of contemplation and harmony.
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