Exhibitions

Shurooq Amin

We'll Build This City on Art and Love 13 Nov 2014 - 10 Jan 2015 Ayyam Gallery London is pleased to announce We’ll Build This City on Art and Love, the forthcoming solo exhibition of Syrian-Kuwait artist Shurooq Amin. Recognised for her cutting-edge approach to painting, which combines diverse media in the creation of bold portraits, Amin is a prominent figure of the contemporary Kuwaiti art scene. In her latest body of work, the artist explores a wide range of social maladies, from child marriage in war-affected areas to the marginalisation of migrants in the Gulf, and the moral and material ramifications of stalled construction projects such as Silk City, which initially promised the revitalisation of Kuwait’s infrastructure. Read more

Safwan Dahoul & Nadim Karam

Fifth Anniversary Exhibition 30 Oct - 10 Jan 2014 Ayyam Gallery Beirut is pleased to announce its fifth anniversary show, featuring recent works by Lebanese multidisciplinary artist Nadim Karam and Syrian painter Safwan Dahoul. The exhibition’s opening on 30 October will serve as a celebration of the space’s five years of operation. Read more

Thaier Helal

Landmarks 27 Oct 2014 - 10 Jan 2015 Ayyam Gallery Dubai (DIFC) is pleased to announce Landmarks, the forthcoming solo exhibition of leading Syrian artist Thaier Helal. Presenting two new series of paintings, Landmarks will feature neo-expressionist works that explore a multi-sensory perception of Syria’s diverse terrain as the artist figuratively reenters the now war-torn country. Read more

Faisal Samra

39 20 Oct 2014 - 10 Jan 2015 Ayyam Gallery Al Quoz is pleased to announce 39, the first suggestive retrospective of multidisciplinary artist Faisal Samra. A Bahrain-born Saudi-national, Samra is recognised as a pioneer of conceptual art in the Gulf and a leading contemporary artist in the Middle East. The exhibition will present a comprehensive survey selected by the artist, who will serve as its curator and scenographer, thus offering a rare look into his versatile creative practice. Featuring a variety of media, the exhibition will highlight the many formal investigations that have distinguished his nearly four-decade long career while also underlining his ongoing investigation of the figure through existentialist themes. Read more

Athier

Improbable Possibilities 18 Sep - 31 Oct 2014 Ayyam Gallery London is pleased to announce Improbable Possibilities, a forthcoming solo show of British-Iraqi artist Athier. Applying theoretical physics as part of its conceptual basis, the exhibition will feature a recent series of paintings that offer visual interpretations of parallel dimensions and their access points while exploring the notion of absolutes and the potential of imagined realities. Read more

Shurooq Amin

We’ll Build This City on Art and Love 14 Sep - 23 Oct 2014 Ayyam Gallery Dubai (DIFC) is pleased to announce We’ll Build This City on Art and Love, a solo exhibition of mixed media works by Kuwaiti artist Shurooq Amin, to be held from 14 September until 24 October 2014. Read more

Khaled Takreti

LOL 11 Sep - 24 Oct 2014 Ayyam Gallery Beirut is pleased to announce LOL, the solo show of leading Syrian artist Khaled Takreti, opening on 11 September. Featuring a new series of works, the exhibition will highlight a recent development in Takreti’s painting style as he enters the second phase of his twenty-year oeuvre. Expanding his focus on sociocultural themes, which emerged in his previous body of work, Complete Freedom (2013), his latest paintings employ a new postmodern aesthetic, one that evokes the desensitised, image-saturated age of today. Read more

Syria's Apex Generation

7 Aug - 11 Sep 2014 Ayyam Gallery is pleased to announce the United Kingdom debut of Syria’s Apex Generation, an exhibition featuring recent works by artists Nihad Al Turk, Abdul Karim Majdal Al-Beik, Othman Moussa, Mohannad Orabi, and Kais Salman. Curated by art historian and Ayyam Gallery Artistic Director Maymanah Farhat, the exhibition will spotlight a new school of Syrian painting in the midst of expansion despite the disintegration of the Damascus art scene, its original centre. This multi-venue group show will be held at Ayyam Gallery’s London location from 7 August until 11 September. Syria’s Apex Generation first opened at Ayyam Gallery’s Dubai and Beirut locations in June, where it received critical acclaim, and will travel to London with a new selection of works. Read more

Syria’s Apex Generation

9 Jun - 28 Aug 2014 Ayyam Gallery is pleased to announce Syria’s Apex Generation, an exhibition featuring recent works by artists Nihad Al Turk, Abdul Karim Majdal Al-Beik, Othman Moussa, Mohannad Orabi, and Kais Salman. Curated by art historian and Ayyam Gallery Artistic Director Maymanah Farhat, the exhibition will spotlight a new school of Syrian painting in the midst of expansion despite the disintegration of the Damascus art scene, its original centre. This multi-venue group show will be held at Ayyam Gallery’s Alserkal Avenue and DIFC locations in Dubai from 9 June until 28 August, and at its Beirut location from 11 June until 28 August. Read more

Walid El Masri

Cocoon 5 Jun - 2 Aug 2014 Ayyam Gallery London is pleased to announce Cocoon, a solo exhibition by Paris-based Lebanese painter Walid El Masri, from 5 June until 2 August, 2014. Featuring a new body of work, Cocoon will reflect a departure from the artist’s ongoing Chair series in which an inanimate object provided a point of entry for meditative explorations of the equilibrium of life despite its unpredictable nature. In contrast, the artist’s recent works have been inspired by the violent conflict that has besieged his native Syria. Read more

Contemporary Uprising: Art from the Middle East

21 - 25 May 2014 Ayyam Gallery is pleased to present Contemporary Uprising: Art from the Middle East, a collective exhibition of ten renowned artists from Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia, from the 21 to 25 May 2014 at Nest Gallery in Geneva, Switzerland. Read more

Contemporary Arabia

5 May - 7 Jul 2014 Ayyam Gallery Jeddah is pleased to present Contemporary Arabia, a multimedia exhibition featuring a selection of established and emerging Arab artists, including Samia Halaby, Tammam Azzam, and Shaweesh, to be held 5 May until 7 June 2014. Read more

Ramin Shirdel

Whispers of Love 5 May - 5 Jun 2014 Ayyam Gallery Dubai (DIFC) is pleased to announce Whispers of Love, the solo exhibition of Tehran-based artist and architect Ramin Shirdel, to be held from 5 May until 5 June 2014. Read more

Afshin Pirhashemi

Seduction 10 Apr - 24 May 2014 Ayyam Gallery London is pleased to announce Seduction, Iranian artist Afshin Pirhashemi’s first UK solo exhibition, to be held from 10 April until 24 May. This exhibition features Pirhashemi’s signature black and white paintings depicting thickly tressed women in the guise of temptress, seductress, repentant, as well as those ultimately beyond redemption. In a departure from his monochromatic canvases of late, the artist also presents two striking largescale works in colour. Read more

Ginane Makki Bacho & Fathallah Zamroud

Material Remains 3 Apr - 31 May 2014 From 3 April to 31 May 2014, Ayyam Gallery Beirut is pleased to announce Material Remains, a joint exhibition of veteran painter and sculptor, Ginane Makki Bacho alongside newcomer Fathallah Zamroud. Read more

Mohammad Bozorgi

Symphonic Meditations 1 Apr - 15 May 2014 Ayyam Gallery Jeddah is proud to announce Symphonic Meditations, Mohammad Bozorgi’s
first solo exhibition in Saudi Arabia, on view from 1 April - 15 May 2014. Read more

Abdulnasser Gharem

Al Sahwa (The Awakening) 17 Mar - 30 Apr 2014 yyam Gallery DIFC, Dubai is pleased to announce Al Sahwa (The Awakening), a solo exhibition by conceptual artist, Abdulnasser Gharem, to be held March 17 - 30 April, 2014. This is Gharem’s first solo exhibition in the Gulf since 2010, and in it the artist looks to symbols, images and events related to the recent history of the Islamic world, in order to formulate possible visions of a harmonious future for the Muslim nation. In the exhibition the artist presents new large-scale stamp paintings alongside silkscreens from Men at Work and The Stamp series Read more

Samia Halaby

Five Decades of Painting and Innovation 19 Feb - 30 Apr 2014 Ayyam Gallery, Dubai (Al Quoz) is pleased to present Samia Halaby: Five Decades of Painting and Innovation, the first major retrospective to be organized for the renowned artist. Curated by art historian Maymanah Farhat, this comprehensive survey will feature over fifty works of art, representing every period of the artist’s oeuvre and the many creative experiments and breakthroughs that have resulted. Read more

Athier

Man of War 17 Feb - 29 Mar 2014 Edge of Arabia Projects and Ayyam Gallery are proud to present Man of War, the first UK solo exhibition of paintings, drawings and prints by London- based Iraqi-British artist, Athier. Renowned for his iconic style that draws on a range of influences, from European Modernism to contemporary Iraqi art, Athier’s striking new body of work explores notions of fluidity and the circum- stances in which we become detached from human destruction, themes with profound resonance in recent Iraqi history. Read more

Faisal Samra

C.D.R - Construction, Destruction & Reconstruction 13 Feb - 29 Mar 2014 Ayyam Gallery London is pleased to announce C.D.R - Construction, Destruction & Reconstruction, Saudi Arabian artist Faisal Samra’s first solo exhibition in the United Kingdom, from 13 February - 29 March 2014. Read more

Lara Zankoul

The Unseen 10 Feb - 30 Mar 2014 From 10 February to March 30, Ayyam Gallery Beirut is pleased to announce The Unseen, the second solo exhibition by conceptual photographer Lara Zankoul. With elaborately composed photographs, The Unseen presents two visions within one viewing experience; commenting not only on the surface of things, but also on what may lie hidden beneath. Read more

Safwan Dahoul

Almost a Dream 5 Feb - 13 Mar 2014 Ayyam Gallery Dubai (DIFC) is delighted to announce Almost a Dream, an exhibition of new work by acclaimed Syrian painter Safwan Dahoul from the 5 February - 13 March. Firmly established as one of the most prominent Arab artists working today, Dahoul will exhibit paintings created within the last year, since his hugely successful 2013 debut UK exhibition, Repetitive Dreams. Read more

Collective Exhibition Contemporary Kingdom

3 - 28 Feb 2014 From 3 February to 28 February 2014, Ayyam Gallery Jeddah is pleased to announce Contemporary Kingdom, an exhibition of six contemporary Saudi Arabian artists. Spanning three generations, each artist in the show is specifically featured for their creative dynamism and consistent development in pushing the boundaries of contemporary and conceptual art in Saudi Arabia. Read more

Eric Parnes

Custodian of Vacancy: The Iranian Embassy in the USA 16 Dec 2013 - 1 Feb 2014 From 16 December 2013 to 1 Februay 2014, Ayyam Gallery DIFC, Dubai is pleased to present Custodian of Vacancy: The Iranian Embassy in the USA, an exhibition of unique photographs by Iranian American artist Eric Parnes. Read more

Tammam Azzam

I, The Syrian 5 Dec 2013 - 30 Jan 2014 Syrian artist Tammam Azzam will have his first UK solo exhibition this December at Ayyam Gallery London, coinciding with a show of his work at Ayyam Gallery Beirut from 5 December 2013 – 30 January 2014. Read more