autumn ISSuE > 2013

Qatar

Rafik Majzoub, SaddaM aljuMaily and yaSeR Safi at al Markhiya Gallery, doha this septeMber

Figures FromAcross The crescenT

words: Rich ThoRnTon

Pre-eminent Doha gallery Al Markhiya has opened its cultural season with an exhibition featuring a trio of Arab artists who share a desire to examine the human form with a visceral expressionist palette. Each hailing from a different point along the Fertile Crescent, RafikMajzoub, Saddam Aljumaily and Yaser Safi come together in Qatar to

give the Gulf an insight into people and their bodies now.Born in Amman and working in Beirut, Majzoub

creates works which resonate with the nausea and fragility of self-identification and self-representation. Sometimes self-portrait, sometimes archetypal, his raw angular close-ups of faces in apathetic misery betray his self-taught background – yet, naturally enough, convey more about the destablising confusion of existence than many an art-schooled dilettante.

Aljumaily’s attachment to the Iraqi city of Basra is clear: he was born there in 1974 and now teaches Fine Arts at the local university. But don’t let the artist’s commitment to his hometown fool you into thinking his work is parochial; his colourful, erratic depictions of people

going about their daily business reveal an understanding of human essence that stretches into the universal. Following on from his solo exhibition at the Orfali Gallery in Amman in April of this year, this current juxtaposition of Aljumaily’s object-focused exploration of people and Majzoub’s ironic narcissism provokes the viewer into a hurricane of unsettling questions and comforting yet uncanny familiarities.

The most child-like, animated and perhaps unnerving of the three is Syrian artist Yaser Safi. Beyond the bright strokes of acrylic and disproportionate figures and things, Safi’s work pulsates with senseless, disingenuous, almost infantile violence. Whether hidden in the shape of a prostrate body or explicit in the outline of an un-held machine gun, the potential for suffering radiates from the canvas. Despite this fearful universe, Safi’s paintings also express a warming belief in human innocence – a sentiment which is made only more evident when his works are viewed alongside those of his peers, an experience which any visitor to Al Markhiya can currently indulge in.

facing page: Saddam Aljumaily,

Ceramic, 20 x 10 x 30 cm

top left: Rafik Mazjoub, Mixed

Media on Paper, 70 x 100 cm

top right: Yaser Safi, Acrylic

on Canvas, 120 x 100 cm

the burak was a beautiful white horse, brouGht to MuhaMMad by the anGel Gabriel. in a sinGle niGht, this wondrous aniMal is said to have transported the prophet froM Mecca to the doMe of the rock in JerusaleM and back. often depicted with feathered winGs and a huMan face, the burak recently becaMe the subJect of a strikinGly accoMplished installation by lebanese artist MohaMad-said baalbaki.

TransForming The Personal inTo The universAlwords: india SToughTon

Baalbaki created a faux museum display, built around a complex narrative in which three - entirely invented - scientists and historians discovered the remains of a winged steed in Jerusalem just after the First World War. Complete with fabricated letters and figurines and a handmade skeleton of the Pegasus-like

beast, this comprehensive installation, which was exhibited in Qatar’s Mathaf as part of Tea with Nefertiti last year, provides an example of the artist’s innovative conceptual work.

It is as a painter that Baalbaki trained, however, and that he is best known. His luminous oil paintings often contain an autobiographical element, he explains. “They are influenced by an experience of war, our childhood,” he says. “I was born in 1974. I had barely one year before the Civil War broke out in Lebanon and I think that my paintings are loaded with that experience of destruction, of migration, of immigration and of violence.”

Baalbaki, whose family was forced to move repeatedly as a result of the war, often employs suitcases as a motif in his work. A recent series entitled “Mon/t Lebanon,” a play on the French terms for “My Lebanon” and “Mount Lebanon,” captures heaps of debris - suitcases, shoes, clothes and other scattered belongings - which create a silhouette resembling a mountain range. “It’s Lebanon as we see it in tourist photos,” he explains, “and my lived experience of Lebanon.”

It was only after the 2006 war between Lebanon and Israel that Baalbaki began to work conceptually. Unusually, he now alternates between painting, which he describes as an instinctive, emotional process, and working on his

conceptual installations, for which a more intellectual, cerebral approach is needed. What is important in both practices, he says, is to ensure the viewer can relate.

“In the end I think the production of an artist must be more universal than local,” he says. “If we arrive at a universal language it will touch more people... Fear, fatigue, joy, sorrow -- these are experience that we can live everywhere in the world. What’s interesting is how one can transform this emotional language into a visual language.... In the end a piece of art is not an illustration. It’s a lived experience and it should transmit an emotion.”

Mohamad-Said Baalbaki’s solo exhibition “Once

to 15 Upon a Butterfly” is on show from September

.at Pearl Island’s Anima Gallery 15 November

left: Heap,

Mohamad-Said Baalbaki,

2012-2013

right: Belt,

Mohamad-Said Baalbaki,

2012-2013

JaGuar adds two hiGhly-toned creatures to its already exotic Motor ranGe

The Pride of The Big cATswords: Rich ThoRnTon o

riginally launched in 2011, this year’s rework of the luxury sport saloon Jaguar XJ features all-wheel drive and mighty new powertrains. Built to provide excessive comfort and car-ride enriching entertainment, a journey in the XJ feels more like that of a private jet than a ground-bound four-wheel roller. Sprightly and athletic,

the Jaguar XJ distinguishes itself from other stiff-collared luxury motor-makers by staying true to its inherent sporty driving character – it’s all about driver involvement. To aid this, Jaguar has promoted all its six-speed automatic transmissions to a new ZF eight-speed, while helping their owner maintain environmental dignity with an Intelligent Stop/Start system that minimises fuel consumption. Lightweight aluminium construction has become Jaguar’s trademark, and despite the extensive length of the XJ, the driver is never hindered from obtaining a carelessly thrilling on-road experience.

The new Jaguar XJ

Putting the fun back into fundamental driving experience, the Jaguar F-Type is the charming offspring of the car-maker’s soul-search into its pedigree heritage. An homage to the source of the marque’s fame, this all new two-seat soft-top convertible features a front-engine, rear-wheel drive approach which has been ‘engineered to be a true high-performance sports car’. Balancing the scales between aerodynamics and luxury comfort is a procedure the boffins at Jaguar navigate with ease, but the F-Type is hardly designed with a geek in mind. The convertible top folds in only 12 seconds and can be raised or lowered at speeds of up to 30mph – avoiding that inelegant pit-spot which so beguiles other less equipped road-users. Discretion is in fact a lead feature of the new F-Type, invisibly bedecked with hidden handles and boyishly spirited with the option of a rear-spoiler, although it may feel like one when you’re behind the while, this car is certainly no plaything.

the Jaguar f-type

With a mother who painted and an architect father, her career as an artist could have been a foregone conclusion. Yet, for Dechamby, painting was primarily therapeutic; a means of getting herself through difficult points in her life.

Her reasons for taking up painting may help to explain why Dechamby’s work, which falls naturally into the pop art genre led by Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, is so vibrant and uplifting. She famously never paints dark subjects.

Dechamby’s fun-filled subject matter also transposes perfectly onto her collection of limited edition, printed bags, which she conceptualises from her studio and gallery in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana where she lives.

Created entirely from leather in Italian workshops, Dechamby’s bags exude her passion for creativity, craftsmanship and artistic perfection.

The bags, which are available in two sizes, boast clever and useful detailing, such as an interior compartment and central zipped pocket. Each bag is also supported with six studs underneath for strength, and carries the Caroline Dechamby Crans-Montana motif.

Dechamby sees the women she designs for as ambitious, independent and blessed with good taste. As someone who has emerged from

personal crises, helps fund educational projects for disadvantaged girls and even holds a pilot’s licence, Dechamby could, it seems, almost be describing herself.

www.caroline-dechamby.com

CaRoline deChaMby’S foray into luxury fashion accessories has produced a fun, yet exquisitely crafted collection of Must-have baGs

ArT on Your ArMwords: MiRiaM dunn

Caroline Dechamby’s eye-catching, lively subjects, painted in bright, bold colours, are now reaching a whole new audience in the form of luxury bag lovers.

Tulips, poppies and butterflies, which have routinely found their way on to the Dutch-born painter’s canvas, are now also adorning exquisite

leather bags, bringing a feelgood factor to a woman’s most important accessory.

Dechamby is no stranger to the world of fashion, having worked as a model in Paris when she first left the Netherlands over 20 years ago.

above: Caroline Dechamby

right: Bags by

Caroline Dechamby

Pearls of wisdoM

ahead of the opening of the exhibition to the public, what thoughts are going through your mind about it?beatriz chadour-sampson, co-curator of pearls. It’s exciting to finally see the project coming together and to be at the stage where we are installing the objects in the gallery and seeing how they will be displayed to the public. We are only a few weeks away from opening so there is a lot still to do but I’m confident that it will be an intriguing exhibition for a wide audience. hubert bari, co-curator of pearls. Before the opening I’m always a bit nervous and excited at the same time. I really hope this exhibition will help the audience understand the real nature of pearls and forever dispel the myth of pearls created by a grain of sand.

What kind of feeback have you had so far from people that have been privy to a preview?b.c.s. The exhibition is currently in the process of being installed however those who have already learnt about the show seemed to be very surprised and interested by the details of how pearls are formed and by the broad spectrum of natural pearls that can be found. People also seem to be very inspired by the exceptional pieces of historical significance which will be on display, such as a pearl-drop earring worn by Charles I at his execution, a necklace which belonged to Queen Mary II, pearl-studded buttons once worn by George III, the ‘Dagmar necklace’ gifted to Princess

Alexandra on the occasion of her wedding to the future Edward VII and the list goes on!

We will also have some fabulous pieces from the QMA collection including Cartier necklaces from the 1920s and 1930s, exquisite examples of natural Gulf pearl necklaces, a collection of tiaras worn by British and European nobility, a pair of Elizabeth Taylor’s Bulgari pearl-drop pendant earrings, amongst many other significant objects. h.b. The exhibition in London is still being installed, so nobody has seen it yet.

People who visited a similar version of the exhibition in Doha in 2010 were really impressed with the variety of pearls displayed. In their mind pearls were associated with white and showcasing red, green, yellow, orange and blue pearls, along with the various types of molluscs they are produced by, was a surprise to them.

how much planning and work went into this exhibition and how has the Qatar-uk cultural relationship been strengthened by it?b.c.s. Pearls was an exhibition originated by QMA which was shown in Paris (2009), Qatar (2010) and Japan (2012). The exhibition has been reworked for the V&A to present a history of pearl jewellery from the early Roman Empire to the present; the refocusing of the show has taken just over a year to bring together. The V&A is motivated by a desire to promote cultural understanding and building partnerships with museums and galleries around the world; this exhibition is a collaborative project with the QMA to share one of the world’s best pearl collections alongside key pieces from the V&A’s own vast jewellery collections. Pearls will also be a highlight of the Qatar UK 2013 Year of Culture which will bring us a season of events celebrating and showcasing the deep-rooted bilateral relations between Qatar and the UK.h.b. The exhibition highlights an important part of

an exhibition at london's v&a MuseuM orGanised in partnership with the qatar MuseuMs authority is showcasinG More than 200 pieces of Jewellery and works of art that explore the history of pearls froM the early roMan eMpire to the present day. selections asked its two curators to share soMe personal insiGht on this exceptional event.

facign page: Frozen by Sam

Tho Duong, collection of

Qatar Museums Authority

© Marc Pelletreau &

Samaar Kassab, QMA

top: Necklace, pearls with

platinum and diamond clasps,

Cartier, 1930s. The QMA

collection. Photo © Sotheby's

Hair ornament, set with

pearls, emeralds and

sapphires, Roman, 3rd

Century © The Trustees

of the British Museum

What would you say to convince anyone to make the trip to visit the exhibition?b.c.s. We hope that visitors will discover that pearls are not just white and round, but that they will see for themselves that pearls come in an impressive variety of colours and shapes. Pearls have fascinated humanity across cultures, century after century; we hope that visitors will learn about this global passion for pearls and their symbolism. Not only will you see magnificent jewellery but the exhibition will also include wonderful examples of rare pearls and pearl-bearing molluscs as well as demonstrating how pearls have been used in textiles and accessories such as a 1920s vanity case and a state gown designed by Norman Hartnell for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1957.h.b. I would say this is a great chance for anyone to discover everything about pearls: from how they are really formed to the stories behind some of the most exquisite jewels made in history.

and if they can't make it in person, what would you say to convince them to buy the accompanying book?b.c.s. The book is not an exhibition catalogue as such but it does include the majority of the pieces on display in the exhibition. The book features a chapter on the natural history of pearls but is more about the history of pearls in jewellery with all its myths and legends through various cultures and centuries. h.b. I think the book is a great way to be introduced to the world of pearls and I’m sure it will make the reader fall in love with them.

Pearls, V&A and Qatar Museums Authority Exhibition,

runs from 21 September 2013 - 19 January 2014

as part of Qatar UK 2013 Year of Culture

www.vam.ac.uk

Qatar’s history. I think it’s important to show the public how people used to live before the oil boom when pearl diving was the only way to sustain the local economy in the Gulf. Archaeological excavations confirmed that pearls were being fished in the Arabian Gulf at least 7000 years ago and traded with Northern Europe and China since 3000 years ago. I think this is a story worth telling.

Which is your favourite piece in the exhibition and why?b.c.s. This question is frequently asked, but as curator it would not be professional for me to express which pieces are my favourites. However, secretly I would love to wear some of the pearls. h.b. My favourite is a superb abalone with a huge intruder, a worm that entered through the animal whorl and was transformed into a pearl. This unique treasure of natural history reminds us that pearls are not born from a grain of sand but formed in reaction to the attack or presence of an intruder in the shell.

What do pearls mean to you personally?b.c.s. I grew up in the pearl trade and have a great fascination for them. Pearls are wonders of nature, and the more perfect they are in their roundness, lustre and size the more miraculous – as the creation of a pearl happens by chance not by human intervention.h.b. To me pearls are the “Gems of Life”. They are the only gems produced by a living organism and I find this to be their most extraordinary peculiarity.

Bodice ornament George

Fouquet, Paris, c. 1900-1

Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim

Photo by Rüdiger Flöter

© ADAGP, Paris and

DACS, London 2013