Contemporary art

The second half of the 20th century was a time of dramatic shifts for the UAE and its neighbours. But amidst fields of rapid socioeconomic and cultural ...

She adds: “An exhibition like this is quite rare, a kind of opening salvo and call to action, offering new vistas on art history and art practice in this region. Reflecting on the exhibition, Stoby says it has been a “labour of love”. Having studied in London and co-founded the Emirates Fine Arts Society in 1980, he produced a series of experimental exhibitions, including the One Day Exhibition in 1984. For them, mastering their crafts and creating their art was just the beginning; from there they had to build the very foundations of a modern art movement. It looks at the period following the discovery and culmination of oil, and how that affected the landscape,” says Stoby. It represented the power of community in the nascent modern art movements. The Saudi-Kuwaiti artist was born in India and studied at London’s Central Saint Martins, before going on to have her works displayed at both Victoria & Albert and New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Al Dosari was a true pioneer, who held his first show in the early 1940s, before going on to study in London and Egypt. Stoby hopes the project will not only offer the region an opportunity to re-evaluate its own history, but contribute to wider understandings of modern visual art, geared towards a more nuanced and inclusive appreciation of global art histories. The second half of the 20th century was a time of dramatic shifts for the UAE and its neighbours. They had to not only produce their art, but contextualise it through the creation of spaces, galleries, communities and even audiences. Stoby says the exhibition, which covers an “extraordinary period" spanning the 1940s to late 2000s, represents a point of transition, a continued conversation between tradition and modernity.