Fresh new Arabic pop artist Corinne Martin recently revealed an exclusive painting series at DNA, a high-end lifestyle boutique in Riyadh. Born in France and raised in Lebanon, Corinne was then educated in the United States with a degree in Graphic Communications and Art History. Her work includes sculptures featured in U.S. shows such as “Proper Hygene”, “Candy From Strangers”, and “Crime Scenes”. In 2007 Corinne returned to her roots in the Middle East where she began to explore themes of Arabic popular culture through mixed media and painting.

Her paintings are characterized by bold colors using icons of Arabic popular culture that have a nostalgic twist and carry the message of “life is art.” “There is an industrial revolution happening in the middle east at the moment similar to the fifties and sixties in America. I draw my inspiration from the things that are shaping this generation of young Arabs through television, music, food, and fashion. I find everyday objects intriguing when I see them in Arabic and it’s interesting that even when they are the same objects present in the west, they have a completely different meaning to us in the Middle East. In my paintings, I aim to express this youthful energy by using the bold colors of our everyday culture in my paintings.”

Corinne Martin paintings and photography can be viewed or purchased at Cities in Centria Shopping Mall, at DNA Boutique, and are found at www.corinnemartin.com

Showing artwork in her first solo show in Saudi Arabia, Al Alamia Gallery is opening ‘Sand to Soul Routes’ on Saturday 24th April by British Artist Eli Acheson. More work here.

Counting Thoughts
Preview: Wednesday April 21st, 2010. The show continues until Saturday May 29th, 2010.

Counting Thoughts is an interdisciplinary group show inviting female artists of different nationalities to present works that reflect their thoughts on their own womanhood in a free context. Keeping in mind that the association to culturally specific shows comes with the burden of stereotypes, Counting Thoughts aims at taking an approach that goes beyond direct gender attribution. It is an attempt to open up a dialogue on the implications that this categorization has on the artist, curator and viewer when confronted with such a loaded and indefinable subject. Different medium are used such as video, animation, drawing, photography, sculpture and installation.

Participating artists are:

Marcela Astorga
Nastia Bolchakova
Veronica Brovall
Sirine Fattouh
Alexandra Hopf
Rasha Kahil
Hiba Kalache
Emi Miyashita
Iz Oztat

Curated by Mayssa Fattouh

I’ve recently attended The Bastakia Art Fair in Dubai where I saw some great work. One of my favorite pieces is this photograph by Meera Huraiz entitled Metamorphosis. The exhibition includes drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, photography, video and printmaking, by young Emirati women. These young girls have alot to say. Looking forward to seeing more work come from the UAE.

I came across this beautiful image of sand dunes today that I thought would be nice edition to the blog. Saleh Rubat is a photographer and graphic designer based out of Saudi. See more of his work here.

Here it is all finished and oh so retro.

More than 650 publishing houses including book distributors, importers, exporters and retail booksellers from around the world participated in the fair. About 317 Saudi publishing houses featured their books and materials.

This fair is not to be missed. Getting to see locals in their day-to-day environment was quite a treat.

The fair is organized by the Ministry of Culture and Information, seeks to promote an exchange of information and ideas among authors, publishers and book lovers. The event, which is likely to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors including students, teachers, researchers, writers and members of the general public, will also include a wide range of cultural activities.

The Airdiem Narghile on the left is designed by Nedda El-Asmar, a Palestinian-born Belgian designer who creates tableware for Hermes and Puiforcat. There are 2 versions, a highly polished pewter and an 18 karat gold version. The one on the right is Hilton Mc Conicco’s Narghile wearing a Fez.

I love this old illustration of a Palestinian woman beside a Narghile.. the details of her dress.. the accessories she’s wearing.. and the glasswork of the Narghile itself is beautiful. Great illustration.

Vartan Avakian -
“Untitled Neon Signs for Burj Hammoud (2a) and (2b)”, 2009
Neon, 135 x 435 cm