Poetry and paint at The Space

Artist B'lu of Henosis today launched her grand solo exhibition, "Grandpa Says", in Abu Dhabi, with no less than the Ambassador of India snipping the ribbon. Spanning almost all of February and featuring a palette knife workshop run by the artist, works spanning diverse themes, sizes, and media adorned the display boards of The Space.

The artistic talent on display is evident in the attention to salient detail and the delicious harmony of colors, across works ranging from the very small to the very large. Some of my favorites were of the scenery perspectives: looking up into sky in a grove, or across a distant field at sunset, or down at reflections on a pond -- these are definitely her forte. A couple of paintings done in mainly grey, wintry tones stood out in particular.

Accompanying many of the paintings were short poems. Constructed mainly as narratives, these were notable for their simple flow and occasional colloquialisms that create a sense of intimacy.

Among other explorations of media, gold and coffee -- two among the most expensive commodities in the world, incidentally -- were used in a few works to very harmonious interplay of hue and luster.

STREETCON urban art fest and the new Al Ghurair Centre

Al Ghurair Centre seems determined to not disappear amid the deluge of new malls that has flooded Dubai in the last couple of decades. While geographic factors ensure that it will not be able to compete with Dubai Mall and the planned Mall of Arabia, its latest expansion is extremely bold, and is also timed to coincide with a re-branding that includes a new positioning, new marketing, a new logo, and community activities like the STREETCON urban art festival. If the momentum is sustained, it could result in a new lease of life for Dubai's first mall, and a revitalization of what used to be Dubai's high street.

Most of STREETCON is not actually on the street, except for a couple of murals painted along the road that runs through the mall's premises. One of them is a collaborative mural, to be completed by numerous artists over the ten days of the festival.

A small multi-artist gallery and studio called "The Mash-Up" was packed into a vacant space at the Spinneys block, in which customization toys were being worked on by artists, and urban/alternative art works, ranging from tin art to glass art to graffiti, were displayed.

The AGC expansion itself is actually quite revolutionary. It's a three-level complex with two large atria and many more shops and cafes, connected to the old mall, but with a brighter, swankier look. An expanded food court and entertainment centre have been added. AGC has also launched a magazine that, despite being an obvious promotion for the mall, actually has some low-spiel, interesting content.

Chinese Brush Painting at DUCTAC

I checked out this lovely brush painting exhibition at DUCTAC last week, featuring brush paintings by Mei Zhongzhi and Chen Hang. It was a good mix of two different styles of brush painting.

Mei's works were mostly of animals and plants, and more expressionist. He used a lot of color, mixing blurred, diluted strokes in the background, with sharp, bright ones to highlight parts of the scene.

Chen's works, on the other hand, centered mainly on inanimate objects or landscapes, with minimal color. They evoked a somber mood, as if the scene had been abandoned for a long time.

MONSTERS by Jennifer Stelco at 4 Walls

A lot of Dubai Drama Group members were promoting it on their feeds, which is how it came to my attention. MONSTERS by local expressionist Jennifer Stelco is exhibiting at 4 Walls Art Gallery in Al Quoz (a little difficult to find, but a really nice space). Stelco uses a palette of bright and earthy colors, with material layering in some places, and thick daubs of paint that result in a rich, lumpy topography. A number of them feature Indian motifs like topknots, multiple heads and arms, and dramatic Nataraja-like poses. Some paintings are more chaotic, with small irregular shapes in many colors fitting into each other. Others are cleaner - mostly the ones I personally liked.

Pop-up Painting in Safa Park

I had an hour on the last day of thejamjar's Pop-up Studio, an open walk-in painting studio near The Archive in Safa Park. Cut me some slack; it's the first time I painted since primary school.

Hyper-Realistic Acrylic Body Painting

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/hyperrealistic-acrylic-body
(My Modern Metropolis) Innovative DC artist applies acrylic paint on real people to make them look like they're in a painting. You HAVE to see this!

My Project MEGA

Having had my interest in Project MEGA sufficiently raised by the exhibition in DIFC this May, I managed to catch the last MEGA customization workshop held by DUCTAC in MoE today.

As I recall, I was busy designing my own hanfu shortly after this time last year, so I decided to paint my MEGA with hair buns (frustum-shaped, actually, due to the shape of the MEGA's ears), and use glue and the fabric DUCTAC staff kindly found for me to construct a dark blue hanfu for "MEGA gong zhu".

Took a bit of trial and error, some corrections, and some unfortunately hurried painting in the end, but I am proud of her.

Note: Many of the MEGA in the exhibit were customized by actual artists, using their own materials, and in more than just three hours. I just worked by myself with what I was given in that much time.