This week’s exhibitions include a final chance to see Past of a Temporal Universe at NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery, an expansive survey of Ala Younis’s practice that brings together more than two decades of work tracing modernist ambition, mythmaking and the stories embedded in architecture.
Elsewhere, major institutional shows across Abu Dhabi and Sharjah continue to take stock of artistic practice in the region – from reflective group exhibitions and landmark solo presentations to photography and landscape-led shows that unfold across multiple venues and geographies.
Here are 10 exhibitions to see this week.
1. Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel study at Christie's Dubai
A red-chalk drawing attributed to Michelangelo Buonarroti is open to the public ahead of auction following its recent identification as a preparatory study for the famed Sistine Chapel ceiling. The sheet focuses on the right foot of the Libyan Sibyl, examining the tension and weight of the figure as she steps forward, and reflects the artist’s methodical approach to anatomy and movement.
The drawing, previously unrecorded and held in private hands, forms part of a small surviving group of figure studies made from live models during work on the Sistine ceiling. It is being shown in the UAE ahead of its presentation in New York as part of the auction house's Old Master and British Drawings sale.
Until January 15; Monday to Friday, 10am-7pm; Dubai
2. Past of a Temporal Universe at NYUAD Art Gallery
The individual components in Ala Younis’s works are small – tin soldiers, dioramas and archival materials – but the way they come together, as a constellation of stories touching upon mythmaking, urban planning and societal perception, is monumental.
The Kuwaiti-born Jordanian artist draws from her background as an architect to build sprawling bodies of work that reference landmark modernist structures as a departure point.
From the Le Corbusier-designed Baghdad Gymnasium to Egypt’s High Dam, Younis begins drawing an archival trail, citing films, music, video footage and literature, while inviting viewers to explore these personable stories.
Past of a Temporal Universe brings more than two decades' worth of work in one space, in an elegantly curated exhibition that offers a lot of food for thought, whether you are familiar with Younis’s works or experiencing them for the first time.
Until January 18; Tuesday to Sunday, noon-8pm; Abu Dhabi
3. I like to like what others are liking at Sharjah Art Foundation
Even from its title, Leda Catunda’s exhibition at Sharjah Art Foundation’s Al Mureijah Square seems like a self-reflective confession. And in a way, it is, prompting an introspection of desire, taste and identity.
I like to like what others are liking is Catunda’s largest solo presentation outside of Brazil. It brings together works dating back to the 1980s, including large-scale installations and watercolours that explore the overlap between the handmade and the mass-produced.
A leading voice of 1980s Brazilian art, Catunda fuses painting and sculpture, evolving from fabric-based pop assemblages to sensuous, baroque abstractions.
Until February 8; Saturday to Thursday, 9am-9pm; Friday, 4pm to 9pm; Sharjah
4. And After at Cultural Foundation Abu Dhabi
Curated by Dirwaza Curatorial Lab, And After features mixed-media works by 15 artists. The artworks explore the element of air through Arabian concepts such as sukoon, which denotes stillness; naseem, a gentle zephyr; and riyah, which refers to a turbulent gust.
Exhibiting artists include Yousif Abdulsaid – The florist from nothingness, Ammar Al Attar, Moza Al Falasi, Omar Al Gurg, Mariam Al Khoori, Jawad Al Malhi, Salmah Al Mansoori, Reem Al Mubarak, Abdulla Buhijji, Zara Mahmood, Iman Shaggag, Leila Shirazi, Mohammed Kazem, Ayman Zedani and Razan Al Sarraf. Together, their work invites visitors to reconsider their natural surroundings, particularly the subtle shifts that underline each season.
Until February 22; Saturday to Thursday, 9am-8pm; Friday, 2pm to 8pm; Abu Dhabi
5. Self-portrait with a cat I don’t have at Jameel Arts Centre
In his debut institutional solo exhibition in the UAE, Bady Dalloul presents an autobiography that touches upon collective memory.
The French-Syrian artist uses books, board games, matchboxes and magazines to create layered works, narrative epics that challenge Eurocentric perspectives and definitions of art.
A highlight of the show, and one made specifically for the exhibition, is Age of Empires. The series of 50 works on paper draws from a 19th-century Japanese astrology manual to reflect upon the rise and demise of imperial power. The exhibition also features a recreation of Dalloul’s home studio in Dubai, featuring works that shed light on his itinerant life and practice that have led to travels across France, Japan and the UAE.
Until February 22; Saturday to Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 10am-8pm; Friday, noon-8pm; Dubai
6. Two Clouds in the Night Sky at Cultural Foundation Abu Dhabi
Two Clouds in the Night Sky delves into the work and practice of Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, a pioneering Emirati artist with a singular process and aesthetic.
Much of his work is inspired by the geography and colour palette of his native Khor Fakkan. The city's cliffs and coral reefs feature in his art as allusions, or through their patterns and textures in paintings. In sculptures such as Fresh and Salt, they are used as a medium in themselves. In Between Sunrise and Sunset – the work he presented at the 2022 Venice Biennale – he reflects upon the changes in colour between dawn and dusk.
Until February 22; Saturday to Thursday, 9am-8pm; Friday, 2pm to 8pm; Abu Dhabi
7. Rays, Ripples, Residue at 421 Arts Campus
This exhibition marks the 10th anniversary of 421 Arts Campus, offering an opportunity to reflect on the practices that have emerged in this time, while also looking towards the future.
The works displayed in Rays, Ripples, Residue are diverse, encompassing video, performance, installations and multimedia. The works promote discussions on “what it means to produce art in the UAE today”, the exhibition literature reads, highlighting perspectives of emerging creatives, collectives and grassroots initiatives, while also nodding to the role of cultural institutions that have promoted these practices.
Rays, Ripples, Residue can be considered as three exhibitions that overlap and inform one another.
Munira Al Sayegh’s Leading to the Middle, for instance, celebrates the contributions of key instigators, from Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim to Lamya Gargash, Khaled Esguerra and Bait15, showing how their works have had a ripple effect on the local arts scene.
Where Al Sayegh unpacks a seminal moment in the earlier moment of the country’s contemporary arts landscape, Nadine Khalil considers what it was like to enter the scene after this trail-blazing moment from the early 2000s to the 2010s. Her Ghosts of Arrival shows, as the exhibition literature reads, “the quieter structures that continue to shape the present”. Artists and collectives featured here include Tarek Al-Ghoussein, Mona Ayyash, Nadine Ghandour, Bait Juma, Hashel Lamki, Sara Naim and Isaac Sullivan.
Finally, Murtaza Vali’s SUN™ takes its cue from the sun, not only as a source of life, but also through the way it governs rhythms of daily routine. Symbolically, it reflects “the growing complexity and maturity of artistic practice and discourse in the UAE”, reads the literature. “The diverse conceptual, material and process-based approaches on display are pitched between the sun’s eternal beauty and increasingly urgent critiques of consumption and climate change, revealing the contradictions embedded in narratives of modernity and progress.”
Artists included in this section are Charbel-Joseph H. Boutros, Khalid Jauffer, Raja'a Khalid, Nima Nabavi and Pratchaya Phinthong.
Until April 26; Tuesday to Sunday, 10am-8pm; Abu Dhabi
8. Image Keepers at Photography Gallery
The inaugural show at Sharjah Art Foundation's new venue in Al Manakh brings together works by 17 artists and collectives. The photographs are all drawn from the foundation’s collection and encompass studio portraits and multimedia installations.
Highlights include The Bride is Beautiful but She is Married to Another Man, a 2017 portrait series by Rula Halawani that depicts Palestinians just before the checks at the border crossing. Sunil Gupta’s Black Experience delves into the everyday lives of South Asian communities in the UK in the 1980s. Susan Hefuna’s Landscape/Cityscape shows Cairo and the Nile Delta through a pinhole camera. Mohammed Kazem’s Window shows the rapid urban development in the UAE, documenting the rise of a new building and the experiences of the workers constructing the structure.
Until April 26; Saturday to Thursday, 9am-9pm; Friday, 4pm-9pm; Sharjah
9. Of Land and Water at Kalba Ice Factory
Of Land and Water marks the first presentation of works from the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection in the emirate's east coast.
The exhibition presents large-scale works by nine international artists and collectives. The works ponder upon how borders sever stretches of open land and sea, dividing inhabitants and impacting their daily lives.
Until May 31; Saturday to Thursday, 9am-9pm; Friday, 4pm-9pm; Sharjah
10. Spectra of the Beautiful Past at Bait Sheikh Saeed bin Hamad Al Qasimi
Taking place in the heritage house in Kalba, Sharjah, the exhibition brings together works by prominent Emirati artists including Abdulrahim Salem and Najat Makki. The work on display is meant to evoke nostalgia and an appreciation for a bygone era.
The exhibition’s venue underscores its themes. Constructed at the turn of the 20th century, it was built by and named after the ruler of Kalba, Saeed bin Hamad Al Qasimi.
Until May 31; Saturday to Thursday, 8am-8pm; Friday, 4pm-8pm; Sharjah
