Until 8 April 2026, Opera Gallery Dubai is holding Al Nayed, a solo exhibition by Abdul Qader Al Rais, one of the most influential figures in the development of modern Emirati art. The show features works from across more than five decades, including recent and previously unseen pieces. It offers a structured overview of the artist’s practice, while situating it within the broader cultural and historical context of the UAE.
Al Nayed brings together several of Al Rais’s major series. On display are early Impressionist landscape paintings that depict the UAE before large-scale urbanisation. The works focus on coastal views, desert terrains, and architecture, characterised by soft brushwork and an emphasis on atmospheric light. They carry a documentary dimension, capturing environments that have since undergone profound transformation.
From this, the exhibition moves toward the artist’s increasing engagement with abstraction and symbolic form. A central component of Al Nayed is Al Rais’s exploration of Arabic calligraphy associated with Hurufiyya. In these works, letters are visual and spiritual elements, detached from their linguistic function. Script becomes structure and gesture, oscillating between legibility and abstraction, and reflecting broader concerns within modern Arab art regarding the reinterpretation of cultural heritage.
Equally significant is the Alghaf series, which centres on the Ghaf tree embedded in the cultural and ecological identity of the UAE. In this series of paintings, the tree is both subject and symbol. It represents endurance and continuity within a changing landscape. Al Rais integrates the form of the tree into abstract compositions, where colour fields and geometric arrangements begin to dominate.
Geometry plays a defining role in the artist’s mature work. One of his most recognisable motifs, the floating square, appears throughout the exhibition. It functions as a compositional device and a conceptual marker. These elements introduce a sense of order and balance, and often structure otherwise fluid or atmospheric compositions. At times, they evoke architectural forms, referencing the built environment. At others, they suggest a more metaphysical framework and point to ideas of harmony and proportion.
The show also highlights Al Rais’s work in watercolour, particularly in the Alhaa series. These pieces demonstrate a more restrained and experimental approach. They emphasise transparency, tonal variation, and the material qualities of the medium. While smaller in scale, they offer insight into the artist’s process and his sustained interest in the interplay between control and spontaneity.
Al Nayed can be read as an individual survey and a reflection on wider cultural shifts. Apart from charting the evolution of a single artist, the exhibition also shows the transformation of the environment in which he has worked, from a pre-oil society to a globalised cultural hub. It highlights how art practice can both document and interpret such change.
About the artist
Abdul Qader Al Rais (b. 1951, the UAE) received a Bachelor of Sharia Law from the United Arab Emirates University (Al Ain) in 1982. Largely self-taught, he began painting in the 1960s. Over the decades, he has become a central figure in shaping the country’s visual culture, which includes helping found the Emirates Fine Arts Society.
Al Rais’s practice is based on sustained engagement with the relationship between tradition and modernity. His work integrates references to Islamic art, local landscapes, and architectural forms within a contemporary visual framework. This approach aligns with broader developments in post-1960s Arab art, while remaining rooted in the specific cultural context of the UAE.
Al Rais has displayed his art pieces in multiple exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale (Italy 2015) and the group shows held at the Meridian International Centre and the UAE Embassy in Washington (USA). Among his accolades are the Sheikh Khalifa Prize for Art and Literature (Abu Dhabi, 2006) and the first prize at the UAE Exhibition in China (1991). The artist’s works are part of major institutional collections, such as those of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the British Museum (London, UK), and Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts (Amman, Jordan), to name a few.
To get more information about Al Nayed, please go to the official web page of the exhibition.
In addition, you might be interested in visiting Rachid Koraïchi’s solo show and Hard Like Tears, Soft Like Glass by Shamsa Al Omaira.
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