the third line at artparis-abudhabi
The Third Line is excited to join the hype of yet another international event which will put art from the region on the international stage. This month The Third Line will present regional contemporary Middle Eastern artists to the world at the first artparis-abudhabi art fair, an annual international event dedicated to modern and contemporary art at Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi from November 26 - 29, 2007.
The Third Line’s booth will be action packed with works by regional power-house Farhad Moshiri, Egyptian photographer, Youssef Nabil and contemporary calligraphy-based artists Pouran Jinchi and Golnaz Fathi (artist’s profiles included below). Other artists that will be featured are Arwa Aboun, Hassan Hajjan, Rana Begum, Fouad ElKoury, Remi Arora, Lamya Gargash, Huda Lutfi, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian and Shezad Dawood.
“The artparis-abudhabi fair is a fantastic opportunity, not only for international art to be exhibited in the Emirates, but offers a place for Middle Eastern artists to be seen on the world stage. This kind of international event reinforces that this area is fast becoming an international arts and cultural hub,” said Claudia Cellini, Co-Director of The Third Line.
Profiles of key artists featuring in the artparis-abudhabi fair – images attached
Farhad Moshiri
Farhad Moshiri’s work ranges from the ironically conceptual to the candidly beautiful, often within one piece. He is well-known for his series of grand canvases depicting antique vases and bowls inscribed with flowing calligraphic declarations of pop culture. In his more recent works, the painter takes a direct approach to sugar coating, using a cake icing dispenser to sculpt elaborate patterns on canvas. Despite over the top ornamentation, including Swarovsky Crystals and Baroque drapery, Moshiri’s paintings maintain a minimalist elegance, while simultaneously questioning the connotations of good taste and the implications of aesthetics.
Moshri was born in 1963 in Iran. He now lives and works in Tehran.
Youssef Nabil
Youssef Nabil grew up in a Cairo drenched in the golden age cinema of Hollywood on the Nile - a black and white film world in which he nostalgically recalls the glamour, ease, elegance and melodrama.
Nabil’s hand painted black and white photos evoke the deliciously outmoded feel of photo-novels which accompanied the cinema at the time. Each portrait highlights the extraordinary character of his models which include distinguished artists, actors, singers and friends.
Nabil’s work has been exhibited extensively internationally. In 2005 he received an International Photography Award in Los Angeles, and in 2003 received The Seydou Keita Prize for Portraiture.
Nabil was born in Egypt in 1972 and is now based in New York.
Pouran Jinchi
Pouran Jinchi studied calligraphy privately for three years while growing up in Mashad, Iran. Jinchi commonly extracts verses from the 12th Century poet Omar Khayyam and the 14th Century poet Hafiz, all the while melding the versatility of the Persian alphabet with Eastern minimalism.
Jinchi embraces organic form and design. Her cropped monochrome compositions hint towards microscopic images that expose nature’s minutiae qualities.
Jinchi has exhibited her paintings and sculptures in New York, Tokyo, Miami, Stockholm, Dusseldorf and Cologne. She has acquisitions in public collections in the Federal Reserve Bank, New York, Arthur M Sackler Gallery, Washington DC and the Sprint Corporation, Kansas.
Golnaz Fathi
Though trained as a calligrapher, Golnaz Fathi’s paintings break the rules of traditional calligraphy. Her letters are used merely as forms, for while one recognises script in her work, her paintings carry traces of meaning that have no known coded alphabet . The strength of her work stems from the drive to express emotions that cannot be pinned down into words. Fathi's works succeeds where language fails.
Born in Iran in 1972, Fathi has shown her works extensively around the world from Italy to New York. Her recent solo shows were in La Gallerie de Neuilly, Paris, and in the Espace SD, Beirut.
