Feb/March 2014 Newsletter

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Albareh Art Gallery has started off the year with a major exhibition, hosting “50 Years of Printmaking” from January 19th, a retrospective of Sudanese painter and printmaker Mohammed Omar Khalil, one of the most influential artists in the Middle East. In a unique exhibition showcasing his printmaking work from the 1960s until our days, giving a rare glimpse into the body of work an artist that has remained at the center of interest in the region and long established as one of the pioneering Arab artists.

 
With the exhibition, we have also launched the first monograph on the printmaking work of the artist, with essays by renowned experts. The exhibition will run through February 26th before moving to CAP-Kuwait on the 25th of April and other venues to be announced. The show gathered crowds from across the Gulf region, after one long year of preparation and has marked a turning point in the career of an artist whose work has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide.
 

 
March 18-23, Albareh will be present in Art Dubai, with a duo show of Bahraini artists Rashid Al Khalifa and Nasser Al Yousif, in the new-curated section Dubai Modern, featuring the most influential modern art from the Middle East and South Asia, bringing a unique selection of works not shown previously outside of Bahrain. The exhibition will shed light on the position of Bahrain in modern Arab art and will present two of the most significant artists in Bahrain in the last half a century.
 
The gallery is preparing to host from the 7th of April the first solo exhibition in Bahrain of Egyptian artist Hossam Dirar, an interdisciplinary artist working across painting, photography, installation and video. The exhibition will feature new paintings in oil and acrylic and mixed media, portraying images of women, using traditional icons and patterns but embedded in a contemporary vision, exploring the timelessness of the female figure through a variety of emotions.
 
 
ABCAD, our art center, together with the newly inaugurated Printmaking Studio, has been active since the beginning of the year with workshops targeting both professional artists and curious laymen, under Ahmed Emam. The workshops were also present during the Art Market in Bab Al Bahrain and during his stay in Bahrain, renowned artist Mohammed Omar Khalil also offered printmaking workshops that were attended by many in the local arts community.
 
 
Our Artist Leadership Program, running in its second edition, hosted a workshop by Iraqi-Dutch artist Nedim Kufi, “The Concept of the Handbook”, dealing with visual culture and binding, on February 7th and 8th. Spanish artist Monia Touiss will hold the workshop “Color Mixing” through February 14th and 15th. The gallery also hosted Bahraini writer Ali Al Saeed for the launch of his book “The Randomist” on February 9, 2014.
In the coming months the gallery will announce our upcoming exhibitions for the following months and artists news and updates on our continued education programs. Our new website will be launched soon and the growing international presence of the gallery will begin to extend beyond the Gulf region, through partnerships and exhibitions that we will announce in due course. The team of the gallery will also be visiting art fairs and international exhibits in the art calendar throughout 2014.

 

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