This year, World Art Dubai is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a grand art event, bringing together more than 400 artists from around the world. Over its illuminating journey, the fair has developed into a global hub for art enthusiasts. Open Space presents ten brilliant artists of this exhibition and invites all art lovers to view diverse, unique contemporary art.
Jonathan Ausseresse is a glass artist and winner of the Atelier d’Art de France 2021 competition. Ausseresse designs unique glass for interior decoration and creates exceptional art objects and furniture. It was his father’s workshop where Ausseresse discovered the work of glass and the infinite possibilities of creation this protean material offers. His mastery of the chemistry of metallic oxides, firing techniques and lava stonework allows him to combine creative freedom with a high level of technicality in a constant process of innovation. His work focuses on manual enamelling and thermoforming processes, which are used in collaboration with decorators and the creation of art objects.
Seth P. Benzel says: “My work originates from a language developed during a career of over 40 years of painting. The process is rooted in deconstructionism, allowing the underpainting to dominate, and space to reveal the context of the subject. Through this technique, I am able to show multi-levels of experience […] whether it be spiritual, emotional, or transcendent. From a technical standpoint, this means a process that values mistakes and creates work that is fundamentally resolved but still open for interpretation. Aesthetically, this means an experience that is transformative and never stagnant. The work keeps changing within the unchanging. This is where art becomes provocative, challenging, and timeless […] when a painting never represents an ending, just another beginning.”
A multidisciplinary artist who graduated from the Haute École des Arts du Rhin (Strasbourg, FR), Evantias Chaudat places the living at the centre of her artistic approach. Her work brings natural elements, plants and animals to the fore to unfold their intimate sonorities, from the infinitely small to the infinitely large. Her collaborations with biological research institutes give her creations an almost scientific dimension that translates into her precise and extensive study of organic matter, thus positioning her work at the border between art and science.
Chaudat’s practice expands in the fields of film photography, video and writing that she uses to lay a sensitive gaze upon the real. Her film work has been projected in various festivals and public institutions, such as the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris, FR) or the InScience Film Festival (Nijmegen, NL). Her photography work has been the subject of various publications (Fisheye Magazine, revue Margelles) and exhibitions, including Cosmos sidéral, a solo show presented in 2024 at the gallery Follow 13 (Paris, FR).
The artist says: “I aspire to offer other ways of looking at what is before our eyes every day – a cloud, a plant, skin – in order to awaken a certain sensitivity for what surrounds us and to which we are related”.
Anne defines her art as offering an insight from microcosm to macrocosm. Her masterpieces appear differently depending on the space they occupy. With a rich historical knowledge of the arts, Anne Féat-Gaiss developed a unique technique in which she subtly engages paper in a dialogue with other materials, from copper foil to painting. Among other degrees, Anne is a graduate of the École du Louvre in the art of Mesopotamia, India and South-East Asia, and of the École Pratique des Hautes Études in comparative archaeology.
Anne says: “Inhabited by all these teachings, I gradually created my universe, a syncretism of these different influences, a confluence of the myths and mythologies of ancient peoples, a blend of philosophies and artistic techniques.” So, by marouflaging metal sheets on paper, incising this with a scalpel, painting it and merging other precise gestures, Anne gives life to impactful bas-relief sculptures, sometimes on a very large scale.
Humaid Al-Aufi is an Omani abstract artist and an active participant in local, regional, and international exhibitions. He says: “I paint abstract artistic paintings inspired by music, movies, and the people around me. I like my works to be abstract, strange, and unclear in order to let the recipient contemplate the painting in their own way.”
Against the backdrop of a rich cultural blend, he found his passion for art, which led him to a career as an architect, honing his skills in the bustling landscapes of Dubai and London. Matt’s artistic exploration took a unique turn when he discovered the transformative possibilities of leather as a medium. Equipped with surgical knives, he embarked on a journey of delicate precision, carving intricate narratives into the supple canvas of leather. This unconventional method, where each micro-incision unveils layers of the material beneath, is a dance of risk and reward.
Using blades in place of brushes brings a serene focus to Matt’s creative process. There is an inherent risk with every cut, leaving no room for correction, making every stroke a commitment to the art. This unyielding process demands unwavering patience and meticulous attention, resulting in artworks that encapsulate not just hundreds of hours of labour but also an accumulation of moments, each contributing to the unique narrative etched into every piece.
Abdollah Moghadasi, known by his artistic name Salman, was born in 1977 in Tehran. He is a calligrapher and painter who holds a master’s degree in visual communications. He has accumulated over 20 years of studies and experience in painting. Initially, in 2018, his works were exhibited in Russia, then in Iran and the UAE, showcasing abstract expressionism. Gradually, his unique perspective and technique gained recognition and attention from critics, art enthusiasts, and collectors. Salman’s artworks, acknowledged by experts as pioneering and globally significant, have the potential for international recognition.
Hend Rashed is an abstract artist based in Dubai. She has participated in different exhibitions inside the UAE and outside the country in Singapore, Oman and Italy. Her artworks express what is in her imagination, feelings, and challenge, as well as the situation the artist is going through, thus reflecting these thoughts and feelings on the artwork in a unique and beautiful way, using abstract art techniques and different colours without restrictions. Hend found herself in painting; drawing made her feel happy and self-peaceful from inside and outside, and she hopes the viewer of her art work feels the same and better.
Mireille Salti is an abstract expressionist artist whose work is variations and an evolution of the innovative fluid art technique. She has cultivated a unique process that controls chemical reactions between mediums and textures, combining the random flow of liquid with intentional brushstrokes. The outcome is an individual piece vibrant with colour combinations, movement, and the signature marks of her work. She finds her inspiration in the patterns and randomness of nature, and personal moments of awe and wonder. The emotional response triggered when the viewer makes a connection with her piece is the drive for Mireille’s work.
Mireille Salti holds a BA in Interior Architecture from the Lebanese American University in Beirut, Lebanon. After seven years in the design world working as an interior architect while painting part-time, she decided to use her knowledge and sense of design, redirecting her efforts entirely to the fine arts. She has since made a name for herself as a pioneer of fluid art in the UAE and has had her work featured in galleries, luxury furniture stores, and renowned publications.
Julia Smolenkova is an artist, PhD in the field of the history of art and architecture, corresponding member of Russian Academy of Arts, associate professor, curator of international art projects and symposiums. An award-winning contemporary artist, she is best known for her colourful art series Cities. The collection Cities is a reminder of our favourite places, beautiful cities that have remained in our hearts and memory. Each painting has its own history and reflects the place where it was created: either Spanish Toledo or vivid Chefchaouen, each city has left its portrait in the painting. Despite laconism of colour, sometimes verging on minimalism and abstract forms, the places in the paintings are recognizable as each city has its own unique colour, rhythm, dynamics and light. In the works, connections between the real and the abstract create new space levels. Julia’s success has been cemented with great demand from galleries in Europe, USA, Russia, the UAE. Julia’s art is regularly purchased by enthusiasts globally. An original piece can also be found in public and private collections around the world, as well as in the United Nations collection. Her monumental mosaics adorn streets of European cities. Her colourful paintings adorn the walls of hotels like Mandarin Oriental Jumeira in Dubai.
Additionally, we would recommend that you check out our top 10 exhibitions taking place in May 2024.
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