A handout image of Al Hayy by Art Noor. Image courtesy of the artist
A handout image of Al Hayy by Art Noor. Image courtesy of the artist

Five minutes with: Art Noor



Art Noor is an Sharjah-based artist who currently has an exhibition at the World Trade Centre Souk in Abu Dhabi of his calligraphic works that depict the 99 Names of Allah. The show will be up during Ramadan. Here we catch up with him for a quick chat.

Q: How would you describe your style as an artist?

A: Although I tend to experiment with various styles and techniques depending on the subject, medium and the situation, a substantial body of my work is in the style of what I call “Lyrical Abstraction”. Spontaneity and movement is what drives my work and it usually evolves into something

meaningful with the inspiration of the moment. Many times in the past my work has been interpreted as emotionally charged melodies.

Q: Would you describe your art as Islamic art and if so, is it only appreciated by Muslims?

A: Michelangelo created Christian art during the High Renaissance and to this day, the world admires and appreciates his genius and timeless masterpieces. There is a direct relationship between art and spirituality and everyone has a certain part of their brain wired for natural spirituality irrespective of the faith they may follow or born into. When I paint the 99 Names of Allah , it is about the Creator, who created the universe with everything and everyone in it. It’s a very human emotion and an attempt to connect - which is universal, not limited to any particular

faith or sect. Most of my patrons are non Muslims and appreciate the work, because it evokes the feelings and communicates to them (so I am told).

Q: Do you only paint the 99 Names of Allah and other calligraphy or do you have other series?

A: My biggest body of work consists of the 99 names. But I have painted the abstracts inspired by the poetry of Rumi and Nature. I have also been working on a series of black and white paintings, which I will exhibit later this year. I also did a series of nature inspired digital artworks last year for the Movenpick hotel on the theme of ‘desert and water’, which they incorporated in their luxury apartment project in Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai.

Q: Can you tell me more about the pointillism technique? Why did you choose to use that technique?

A: George Seurat first developed this technique in the nineteenth century and was used by Vincent Van Gogh in his works. Instead of blending the colours, the image is created using the dots or small strokes. I used this technique in my work titled Shukran Khalifa, because it was built slowly over many weeks and it was done live so visitors could see the painting evolve gradually over the weeks.

Q: How did the World Trade Centre exhibition come about?

A: In August 2013 received an email from Patrick Bell, General Manager of World Trade Center Abu Dhabi, inviting me to

display my work there. I came to see the location and was impressed by architecture of Norman Foster and the historical relevance of the spot.

Setting up the exhibition was not an easy task, given the distance of three hours from my studio at Sharjah Airport International Free Zone to Abu Dhabi and I had to do the installation at night, when there were no shoppers. However, it was done over a couple of months and it was worth the effort. The display was widely appreciated because of the energy it brought to the souk.

Q: Will there be more exhibitions?

A: This exhibition will continue until Ramadan, Inshallah. I intend to the 99 names, live through the month of the Ramadan. After that I will have an exhibition in Dubai. I also have an invitation from Chicago, which I have not yet decided as yet.

Q: Where else can we see your work other than in exhibitions? IE - do you have a website?

A: My website is here and it has some of my work and the studio tour.

I am in the process of the updating it with more workand I have just started to incorporate the section to provide the signed prints on canvas,It will also be fully functional soon, inshallah.

Jigra
Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Rated: 3.5/5
TRAP

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue

Director: M Night Shyamalan

Rating: 3/5

Your rights as an employee

The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.

The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.

If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.

Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.

The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.

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Draw

Quarter-finals

Real Madrid (ESP) or Manchester City (ENG) v Juventus (ITA) or Lyon (FRA)

RB Leipzig (GER) v Atletico Madrid (ESP)

Barcelona (ESP) or Napoli (ITA) v Bayern Munich (GER) or Chelsea (ENG)

Atalanta (ITA) v Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)

Ties to be played August 12-15 in Lisbon

Singham Again

Director: Rohit Shetty

Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone

Rating: 3/5

How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

Company%20Profile
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Also on December 7 to 9, the third edition of the Gulf Car Festival (www.gulfcarfestival.com) will take over Dubai Festival City Mall, a new venue for the event. Last year's festival brought together about 900 cars worth more than Dh300 million from across the Emirates and wider Gulf region – and that first figure is set to swell by several hundred this time around, with between 1,000 and 1,200 cars expected. The first day is themed around American muscle; the second centres on supercars, exotics, European cars and classics; and the final day will major in JDM (Japanese domestic market) cars, tuned vehicles and trucks. Individuals and car clubs can register their vehicles, although the festival isn’t all static displays, with stunt drifting, a rev battle, car pulls and a burnout competition.

COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlmouneer%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dr%20Noha%20Khater%20and%20Rania%20Kadry%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EEgypt%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E120%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBootstrapped%2C%20with%20support%20from%20Insead%20and%20Egyptian%20government%2C%20seed%20round%20of%20%3Cbr%3E%243.6%20million%20led%20by%20Global%20Ventures%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

Sheikh Zayed's poem

When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.

Your love is ruling over my heart

Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it

Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home

You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness

Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins

You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge

You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm

Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you

You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it

Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by. 

A%20QUIET%20PLACE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Lupita%20Nyong'o%2C%20Joseph%20Quinn%2C%20Djimon%20Hounsou%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMichael%20Sarnoski%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Thank You for Banking with Us

Director: Laila Abbas

Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum

Rating: 4/5

Getting%20there%20
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In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
  • Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000 
  • Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000 
  • Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000 
  • Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000 
  • HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000 
  • Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000 
  • Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000 
  • Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000 
  • Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000 
  • Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000 
  • Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000 
  • Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
  • Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
  • Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
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