Group exhibition at Meem Gallery, Dubai (Sep 18 – Oct 30, 2018) Arab Print Vol IV

The first exhibition titled Arab Print was held at Meem Gallery in 2008, and the project was revived in 2016 with Arab Print Vol II, closely followed by Arab Print Vol III in 2017. Each edition of the exhibition focuses on a particular time period, method or country of origin. Meem Gallery has chosen to continue this exhibition with the intention of creating the book on printmaking in the Arab World at the culmination of the exhibition series.

This year’s volume highlights the art of printmaking from Lebanon, exhibiting works by Chafic Abboud, Etel Adnan, Huguette Caland, Halim Jurdak, Hussein Madi and Mohamed El Rawas. This exhibition includes works on loan from a private collection in London, as well as works available for sale.

Having always been drawn to 'the immediate beauty of colour', Etel Adnan's early visual arts practice saw her create abstract paintings In the 1960s, Adnan began integrating Arabic calligraphy into her artworks, influenced by early Hurufiyya artists including Jawad Saleem and Shakir Hassa al Said. Etel Adnan has lived between Sausalito, California and Paris since 1977.

Etel Adnan, Guatamala, gravure, 48x38 cm / Courtesy of Meem Gallery

Etel Adnan, Poids du Monde, gravure, 48x38 cm / Courtesy of Meem Gallery

Halim Jurdak’s style has evolved greatly over his long career, from academic realism to cubism, from figurative abstraction, to non-figurative abstraction, in which he focused on forms, patterns, colour and composition. Describing his unique practice the artist articulated: “There is no more a palette from which the colours are carried to the pictorial surface, because the pictorial surface itself has become the palette. The visual concept, or reality, does not go from my head to the pictorial surface, but is generated through the meeting of the two midway.”

Halim Jurdak, 1 PRINT / Courtesy of Meem Gallery

Known for her use of simple lines Huguette Caland has begun to receive renewed recognition from international art world in recent years. Her work featured prominently in the 2012 exhibition, Modernités Plurielles 1905-1970 at the Centre Pompidou and Twenty-three works, including three kaftans displayed on enigmatic mannequins designed by the artist, were shown in the Arsenal’s Dionysian Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale.

Huguette Caland, Gravure, 26.5x14.5 cm / Courtesy of Meem Gallery

Working in many different mediums such as woodcut printing, mosaics and other forms of sculpture, Jamil Moaleb's painting practice includes expressionistic genre painting influenced by folklore, as well as colourful, abstract compositions inspired by the natural world. His work has been shown extensively, both regionally and internationally and has been acquired by public and private collections including Sursock Museum, Beirut and the World Bank, Washington D.C.

Celebrated for his pioneering abstract painting, Shafic Abboud was inspired by the colourful landscapes of his youth in Lebanon. Incorporating folkloric themes as well as Byzantine symbolism into his work, he developed a rich, visual lexicon that greatly influenced the generation of artists that followed him. The artist’s work has been widely exhibited, most recently in, Sajjil: A Century of Modern Art, the inaugural exhibition at Mataf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha. A retrospective of the artist’s work was held at the Institut du Monde Arabe in the same year.

Shafic Abboud, Lithograph / Courtesy of Meem Gallery

Hussein Madi's joyful experiments in colour and form have resulted in a unique body of work that relates to artists like Matisse and Picasso as well as to the principles of divine harmony that infuses the abstract designs of Islamic art. Madi's work is inspired by his profound belief in "God's universal order, in which everything is different and yet composed of the same cosmic elements."

Hussein Madi, Femme,1975, 70x50 cm / Courtesy of Meem Gallery

Hussein Madi, Sans Titre, 1976, 50x70 cm / Courtesy of Meem Gallery

The group exhibition Arab Print Vol IV will open at Meem Gallery, Dubai on September 18, 2018 and will run until October 30, 2018.