From November 19th to December 18th, 2022 XVA Gallery shows the latest collection of Richard Ketley’s abstract works.
The theme of his new exhibition is based upon the legend of the Tower of Babel. In this legend all people started to speak the same language and aspired to reach the heavens through the construction of the very high tower called Tower of Babel. Their insolence made their God angry, he destroyed the Tower and the people’s ability to communicate through a single language, saying: “If as one people all sharing a common language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be beyond them…”.
To Ketley it resembles Dubai, a city where people of different nationalities and languages are working together to design and build the tallest buildings on Earth.
Richard Ketley was born in South Africa in 1964. He studied in Johannesburg and holds a Masters in Fine Art degree from the University of the Witwatersrand.The artist is based in Dubai and Johannesburg.
He travels a lot, trying to capture the essence of a place he visited and its culture. His abstract art is mostly the reflection of his travel experience and “drawn from life but extend the viewer’s imagination” (from the gallery statement).
Richard Ketley works in a variety of media – acrylics, oil, charcoal, collage. His colours are bold, he likes to incorporate drawings and prints into his paintings. “I find meaning where others do not – in the fall of light on a sandy building in Riyadh, the chaos of the shacks of Kampala, the crowded taxi parks of Johannesburg. I travel widely in the Middle East and Africa, and am inspired by these places of contemporary significance”, the artist says.
XVA Gallery is one of the leading galleries in the Middle East that specializes in contemporary art from the Arab world, Iran and Africa. The gallery presents exhibitions of artist of different background, allowing them to express their cultural identities.
Both XVA Gallery and XVA Art Hotel are located in Dubai’s heritage district and commit to raise and support contemporary art in Dubai.
To get more information, please visit the official webpage of the exhibition.
You might also be interested in looking at Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, in the Metaverse.
