Following its success last year, DIFC Sculpture Park has been turned into an impressive open-air art gallery once again. Under the theme Tales Under the Gate, this year’s edition features more than 70 art pieces exhibited both outside and inside, which represent a full range of art styles and are created by artists from all over the world. Artworks of prominent galleries (Firetti Contemporary, Leila Heller Gallery, Opera Gallery, Oblong Gallery, Belvedere Art Space, and others) as well as independent art practitioners are also on display.
The DIFC Sculpture Park, which covers the area from the Gate Building and through to Gate Avenue, encourages the use of various mediums: from traditional sculptures and paintings to digital art. Besides, it serves as a global platform for emerging artists to reach a wider audience. “The park allows the public to experience both art and the landscape of DIFC in an immersive and unique way”, Arif Amiri (CEO of DIFC Authority) says. “[The park] […] invites audiences to step outside of their day-to-day boundaries and open their minds to other realities and perceptions.”
The list of those who are showcasing their works at the 2nd edition of the DIFC Sculpture Park includes British-American sculptor Natalie Clark; British-American artist Anthony James; sculptor Lorenzo Quinn, artist Adonai Sebhatu, and sculptor Gianfranco Meggiato (all three are from Italy); Emirati jewellery artist and sculptor Azza Al Qubaisi; Lebanon-born architect and artist Michel Abboud; graphic designer and artist Emre Yusufi, sculptor Bilal Hakan Karakaya, and artist Mert Ege Kose (all of them are from Turkey); and many others.
Natalie Clark presents her Spirit of Hathor, a sculpture comprising interlocking horns. Paying homage to “the power of the divine feminine”, they symbolise ancient Egyptian solar goddess Hathor’s horns.
57 × 1 × 1 cm. Pyramids of Giza, Cairo, Egypt, 2022.
Anthony James is widely known for his mesmerising geometric sculptures and installations created using glass, steel, and LED light. He has two artworks on view: 60” Icosahedron (Silver Birch Grey) and 50” Triacontahedron (Solar Black) (2020).
152.4 × 152.4 × 152.4 cm. Edition of 50.
Lorenzo Quinn showcases his sculptures Together (composed of two giant hands touching each other with fingertips) and Love Dubai. The latter, when viewed from one side, spells “Love”, however, when viewed from the opposite side, the word changes to “Dubai”.
The theme of Digital Self, an installation by Adonai Sebhatu, is the constant and ever-faster technological development of our era. It leads us to build a new all-digital world which is drawing us away from nature. So while Sebhatu’s sculpture raises the question: “What should we keep human and what should we digitise?”, Sfera Conchiglia by Gianfranco Maggiato is inspired by the thorny path a man must go through to find himself.
Emirati artist Azza Al Qubaisi‘s sculpture titled Between the Dunes celebrates the natural landscape of the Emirates. To produce her art pieces, Al Qubaisi employs sustainable materials, so this work is no exception. By the way, currently, the artist is also displaying her creations in the Empty Spaces exhibition at ArtBooth.
156 × 290 × 126 cm.
The Totem XL sculpture created by Michel Abboud is his 1st public artwork in Dubai. It invites us to consider our relationship with technology, how it influences our beliefs and values, and how it shapes our relationship with ourselves and each other.
Through his sculpture, Hercules the DJ on display, Emre Yusufi comments on the power of music and its ability to connect people, whereas Bilal Hakan Karakaya‘s work called Realm reflects on a more profound matter: the increasing isolation one faces in modern city life.
In his mind-blowing Geometrical Explanation, Mert Ege Kose attempts to understand and explain the universe through geometry, as the artwork’s title suggests. He also pays tribute to such philosophers as Aristotle and Plato.
What makes this year’s edition of DIFC Sculpture Park special is the amazing opportunity it gives to visitors: they are welcome to admire Salvador Dali‘s four famous bronze sculptures. These are Space Elephant (1980); Woman of Time (1984); Profile of Time (1977), the most recognizable Dalinian symbol; and Dalinian Dancer (1949).
DIFC Sculpture Park will close on 30 September 2023. To learn more, please visit its official web page.
You might also be interested in looking at Formation III: The Dappled Light of the Sun by Conrad Shawcross and in visiting the Open-air Sculpture Museum in Jeddah.
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