Esma Stasiak

Biography

Mona Al Khaja

Mona Al Khaja is a visual artist whose work is known for its Islamic patterns, Arabic calligraphy and natural elements. She explores social issues and the struggles present in modern society through painting and multimedia. Al Khaja’s work has been shown in several solo exhibitions, including Observe + Absorb, Majlis Gallery, Dubai (2019);Melodies of the East, Sharjah University (2019); Colors, Dubai Women’s College (2019); Chromatic Horizons, Sharjah University (2015); Salutation and Endearment, Dubai Cultural and Scientific Association (2015); and Pearls, Honar Gallery, Dubai (2010). Al Khaja has additionally participated in the Sharjah Biennial, Art Dubai and has presented at Art Abu Dhabi. Mona Al Khaja has participated in a range of local and international group exhibitions, including shows at the Sharjah Art Museum, K Gallery in Dubai, the Embassy of Mexico in Abu Dhabi, and the Abu Dhabi Art exhibition, among others, over the years .Al Khaja has received numerous awards, including the Al Owais Award, Dubai (2019 and 2004); and L’Officiel Arab Women Award, Dubai (2010). Al Khaja also participated in the Fujairah International Arts Festival Residency in 2018.She holds a BFA from Helwan University, Cairo (1981). She is a member of the Emirates Association of Fine Arts and the Committee for the Creation of the Curriculum of Art Education in the UAE. Born in 1958 in Sharjah, Al Khaja currently lives and works in Dubai

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Glass Manifesto

Peter Bowles is recognised as one of Australia’s finest makers. Renowned for his technical mastery, his inventive approach to his craft and a dedication to a practice that spans object making, contemporary craft and public art. A prolific and fastidious artist, he has exhibited, lectured, researched and made work throughout the UK, Europe, Australia, Canada and the USA.

Anne Clifton brings an unparalleled enthusiasm and a sense of wonder to her work. Her innate curiosity drives her practice which has taken her throughout Europe, Australia, Asia and the USA. Her commitment, vision and deep regard for community engagement have positioned her as a significant member of the international studio glass movement.

View Abdul Glass Manifesto Portfolio

Davina Dutton

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25 Squared

25 Squared

In November 2014 we celebrated our 25th anniversary. Many of our artists contributed to a wonderful installation of identical sized priced and framed artwork, obviously with very varied content. We have a few of these iconic pieces left and now all at half price so 1250 instead of the original 2500. There are some real “corkers” from some very well known artists just waiting to be snapped up.

Nick Bashall

Nick Bashall is one of England’s leading portrait painters. 

Born in England and raised in Zimbabwe, Nick returned to the UK to study law at Cambridge – where he was also the heavyweight boxing blue. A stint in London with one of the big solicitors’ firms preceded six years working in Pakistan and Dubai, saving up the money to study painting full time. He then trained under the Spanish maestro Joaquin Torrents Llado in Majorca for five years before becoming a full time artist in London in 1997.

Now, nearly twenty five years later he has earned a reputation as a prolific portrait artist. His many illustrious commissions include: HRH Princess Anne, Bill Powers President of the University of Texas, HRH Princess Michael of Kent and the former head of the British army General Sir Michael Jackson. He is also renowned for his portraits of children, in both oil and charcoal. In addition Nick has a couple of intriguing side shows. As a war artist, he’s painted on the streets of Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq in front of hundreds of locals – guarded by the British Army.

He regularly performs as a painter at Glastonbury, Secret Garden Party and Wilderness. These festivals provide him with a large tent where he and some of his former students paint festival goers from life accompanied by DJs.

Nick works from life to commission. For details contact the gallery.

View Nick Bashall Portfolio

Peter Hayes

peter-featured“ I have always been interested in the history of ceramics – why and how ‘things’ are made of clay.  This interest was extended after I spent several years travelling through Africa working with various tribes and village potters and being intrigued how, with limited technology and basic tools, they were able to get such exquisite, beautiful surfaces.  I found the same inherent skills in India, Nepal Japan and New Mexico.  I tried to adopt the ideas picked up from my travels in my own work.  By building up layers of textured clay combined with burnishing and polishing of surfaces, I try to achieve opposites of rough and smooth.

I have been working on large scale ceramic forms which I have placed in the landscape.  My main aim is that the work should not compete with the landscape, but evolve within the environment.  With this in mind I have introduced other minerals into the Raku ceramic surface such as iron and copper.  With the elements of time and erosion, the individual piece takes on its own developing surface.

Recently, one of these large commissions has taken me again to India.  Ananya Singhal suggested I make it on site.  Now I have discovered Udaipur in Rajasthan where I come for inspiration, when my studio in Bath in England gets cold in the winter months.  This has introduced me to other artists and craftsmen enabling me to work with a range of different materials, such as glass, marble, stone and Damascus steel.

In practice I go by the seat of my pants. I have always worked this way, not going by any particular rules or methods.

I find it joyful to work with many different materials.  Each has its own character, its own limits, its own tolerance – some materials fight back,

 some play the game. Finally I think it’s the material that is in charge and it will only let you make what it wants. 

It is my job to push it to its limits and somehow an equilibrium is made between maker and material.”

Faramarz Mokhtarpour

studio_20161030_104138Dr. Faramarz Mokhtarpour was born in Mashhhad, Iran in 1964 into a family who loved art and culture. He was interested in painting from early childhood, drawing with perception from what he saw around him. He gradually experienced working with watercolor and gouache,  winning first prize in many  painting competitions across the country.

Family circumstances and academic talent led him to his college major course in 1982 when he was accepted in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. In 1989 he graduated as a medical doctor but he never deserted his artistic talents. Faramarz used every  spare opportunity to observe, draw  and paint. Guided by contemporary masters such as Espahbodi and  Mohseni Kermanshahi  and with further help from  art textbooks and  inspiration from Mother Nature  he developed his career as a painter alongside that of being a doctor.  Family connections in the UAE brought him to our door and we are delighted to have him join our group of New Orientalist painters.

Faramarz’s particular interest  in nature is reflected in many of his works. Realism with tendencies to impressionism  result in works that have an extreme sense of peace and  deep reverence for the wonders of the natural world. 

Martin Giesen

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Born and schooled in Germany, Martin Giesen started to paint at age 15. After school he studied art history at Heidelberg University. For a year he interned at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York followed by the completion of a PhD.

With marriage and children, Giesen entered into a career of university teaching. He has taught in Lebanon (AUB 1973-85), Saudi Arabia, Canada, and since 1997 in the UAE, where he was founding dean of the School of Architecture & Design at the American University of Sharjah. For some 35 years, Giesen has produced and exhibited watercolor paintings documenting the impact of development on the environment.

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His paintings produced in Lebanon during the years of the civil war received critical acclaim. His work has been shown in solo exhibits in Lebanon, Germany, Canada and the UAE. David Tannous, Washington corresponding editor for Art in America, called Giesen a “contemporary orientalist”.

Martin has the ability to “get under the skin” of a place and a culture. His paintings have “spirit” telling a story of a specific environment at a specific time, narratives that are more than just visual illustrative records.His paintings are to be found hanging in many prestigious collections around the world.

Udaybhanu

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Who said Fauvism or Impressionism is restricted to paintings and never makes it presence felt in photography, or photography lasts only for a glimpse, with nothing to delve beyond that, and who was it that instead a story cannot be delineated with a few abstract clicks of a photographer, or good photographs are those that undergo makeovers with the click of graphic software. Udaybhanu, who calls himself an environmental activist, is in a sole resolve to rewrite such preconceived myths about photography. This artist, who has an eye for the extraordinary, is leaving no stone unturned when he scurries about to narrate the heart-wrenching story of a tree. The series ‘Hues and Barks’ is nothing but spellbinding art captured with an implacable mind that doesn’t compromise on mediocrity. It takes a few minutes for you to come to terms with the fact that Udaybhanu’s pictures are no abstract art but photographs that resemble paintings in more way than one.

View Udaybhanu Portfolio