ART DUBAI 2024

Contemporary and Modern Section

In the Modern and Contemporary booth, an exhibition of artworks from leading Azeri artists will be exhibited.Continuing the gallery’s long held commitment to championing artistry from this region, the presentationwill position modern masters aside contemporary practitioners, in an effort to create a trans-generationaldialogue that teases out the myriad aspects of this rich and diverse culture.

From Modern Azeri Masters, Farhad Khalilov (b. 1946) and Ashraf Murad (1925–1979), diverse approachesto form and subject offer individual, environmental, historical and socio-political insights. Despite a lack ofrecognition during his lifetime, Murad would become an inspiration for future generations of Azeri artistswith his solemn, telling paintings that made subtle resistance to a predominant Social Realist genre. Peoples’Artist, Khalilov – was elected chairman of the Union of Artists of Azerbaijan in 1987 – makes explicit referenceto the Absheron Peninsula in his minimalist abstractions, figuratively and poetically expressing the impressionof the nature of the South.

In a blend of conceptual essays, poetry, and social commentary Agil Abdullayev’s (b.1992) multifariouspractice examines representations of Azerbaijani identity, and its situation to history, culture, queer ideology.His works for Art Dubai are the culmination of five years spent researching cruising culture, and the profoundsignificance this has had in fostering solidarity, providing sanctuary, and heralding the ongoing journeytoward queer liberation. Farhad Farzali’s (b.1989) cross-disciplinary practice engages anthropological research on Azerbaijani culture, encompassing a consideration for Soviet-era nostalgia via writing and materialtraditions. Founder of YARAT Contemporary Art Space in Baku, Aida Mahmudova (b.1982) uses materialas a tool for experimenting with and navigating the world she inhabits, subsequently referencing universalsentiments of love, loss, memory and desire.

Digital Section

In the digital section of the fair, GAZELL.iO, the digital arm of Gazelli Art House, present a joint displayof works from renowned digital artists Ana María Caballero (b. 1981) and Melissa Wiederrecht (b. 1988).Presenting brand new artworks, these artists convey intimate, yet universal, portrayals of selfhood, in all of itscomplex manifestations.

Caballero delivers a multifaceted rendition of self in the performative poem Waiting Room (2024). A debut forthe artist, Caballero is present in a two-dimensional representation of self on screen, reciting the poem thathangs adjacent. The poem’s narrative twists with the undulations of caretaking – for others, and oneself. Theintersecting Spanish, translating to ‘You, Me, Ours’, is a play onave words that shifts the speaker’s intent.The formal division in Waiting Room prompts us to question the permeability of the definitions of oneself,ourselves, and other selves.

Elsewhere, Wiederrrecht’s three abstract self-portraits provide an insight into her individual experience as aMuslim woman. Composed using AI, generative text, and Photoshop, these works showcase manifold aspectsof self. The artist confronts themes, including Western prejudices surrounding religious belief, and existingas a woman within the art world.

Caballero and Wiederrecht’s collaborative piece Miss Metaverse (2024) uses the beauty pageant concept andsatirical commentary to grapple with what ‘self’ means living as an artist in the Web-3 world. The immersivework uses motion sensor technology to interact with the audience and is presented as a selection of some 30–50generative artworks.