Weekly UAE museum and gallery guide: From ancient Islamic art to the best of the GCC’s artists

Also, get to know more than 20 of the gulf’s most interesting creatives from the past five years

Green Art Gallery's Bound: Textiles Between Loss and Repair is an exploration of our relationship with fabric. Photo: Green Art Gallery

This week you can delve into two facets of the art world from the region. Experience the Middle East and India’s most impressive works – including old manuscripts, jewellery and rugs – while also discovering exciting contemporary artists from across the GCC.

Highlights include an eighth-century bronze buck sculpture on show at Sotheby’s Dubai and an exhibition focusing on our relationship with fabrics at Green Art Gallery in Alserkal Avenue.

Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds: Until Sunday at Christie’s Dubai

One of two watercolours offered in the exhibition is Lineated Barbet on a juniper tree by master artist Zayn al-Din dated 1778. Photo: Christie's

Before going on sale in London on October 24, highlights from Christie’s Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds collection will be on display at the DIFC space of the auction house.

A curated selection of carpets, ceramics, manuscripts, textiles, works on paper and metalwork from across the Islamic world will be on show. Highlights include a rare silk Safavid Polonaise carpet dating back to the early 17th century and a Florentine portrait of Ottoman sultan Suleyman the Magnificent painted in 1600.

Christie's will also display works from its Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art sale, including pieces from the Dalloul Collection. The works on show are by some of the region’s most renowned artists, including Palestinian artist Samia Halaby, Iraqi artist Shaker Hassan Al Said, Egyptian artist Mahmoud Said and Saudi artist Mohammed Al-Saleem.

Until October 6, 10am to 7pm from Monday to Friday, 12pm to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday, Gate Village DIFC, Dubai

Between the Tides: Until December 1 at NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi

Learn about and see works by the GCC artists who are making a name for themselves right now.

Taking place every five years, Between the Tides: A Gulf Quinquennial, is a snapshot of the current regional art scene, featuring highlights across various mediums, including architecture, design, paint, video, installation and sculpture. The exhibition will feature 21 artists whose presence and work are a reflection of the Gulf’s diverse art scene.

Until December 1, noon to 8pm from Tuesdays to Sundays, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi

Arts of the Islamic World and India: Until October 4 at Sotheby’s Dubai

The Umayyad bronze buck is on show at Sotheby's Dubai. Photo: Sotheby's

Sotheby's Dubai is displaying a number of significant works as part of its Arts of the Islamic World and India collection in its DIFC space. Before it goes to auction in London on October 23, the collection features jewellery, manuscripts art and an eighth-century bronze buck sculpture on display for the first time ever with an estimated sale price of up to £3 million ($4 million).

The exhibition also includes highlights from Sotheby's Modern and Contemporary Middle East auction with pieces by Lebanese artists Willy Aractingi, Aref El Rayess and Ayman Baalbaki also on display in Dubai.

Until Friday, 10am to 6pm on Wednesday and Thursday, 10am to 2pm on Friday, Gate Village DIFC, Dubai

Bound: Textiles Between Loss and Repair: Until November 2 at Green Art Gallery, Dubai

Green Art Gallery's Bound: Textiles Between Loss and Repair is on show until November 2. Photo: Green Art Gallery

Green Art Gallery is currently exhibiting the last in a series investigating contemporary approaches to fibre. Bound: Textiles Between Loss and Repair is a group show featuring works by five artists; Dana Awartani, Jumana Manna, Hana Miletic, Dala Nasser and Khalil Rabah.

The exhibition builds on the concepts and narratives of nurture and care that have long been associated with cloth. Covering our bodies from birth to death through different methodologies and styles, the collection explores the various ways fabrics have always been used to tend to our bodies when they are in pain and their role in rituals such as mourning and healing.

Until November 2, 11am to 6pm from Mondays to Saturdays, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

International Highlight

Divine Chaos: Until November 2, Aicon Contemporary, New York

Wish You Were Here by Emirati artist Noor Al Suwaidi. Photo: Aicon Contemporary

Emirati artist Noor Al Suwaidi’s solo exhibition at Aicon Contemporary gallery in New York is an abstract exploration of flat spaces where colour creates a balance between movement and stillness. In each piece, which are mostly large in scale, the artist plays with abstraction and space through the use of colour and gesture. Whether abstracted anatomical shapes or based on terrains, the use of acrylic and oil pastel on canvas creates a sense of flatness and gestures that are both organic and composed.

Until November 2, 10 am to 6pm from Tuesdays to Saturdays, New York, USA