Exhibitions

Khaled Hafez

A Temple for Extended Days 16 Nov 2015 - 14 Jan 2016 Ayyam Gallery Dubai (12, Alserkal Avenue) is pleased to announce A Temple for Extended Days, a solo exhibition that marks the addition of Khaled Hafez to the gallery’s roster of artists while inaugurating its new outpost. Read more

Sama Alshaibi

Collapse 16 Nov 2015 - 11 Jan 2016 Ayyam Gallery Dubai, (11, Alserkal Avenue) is pleased to present Collapse, the solo exhibition of Sama Alshaibi. Featuring a diverse range of work spanning several years of her artistic career, the exhibition highlights Alshaibi’s conceptual approach to photography and the layered and collapsing signs that are integral to her distinctive aesthetic, particularly her use of the body as a metaphor for spatial and temporal transgressions. In addition to outlining Alshaibi’s intricate sense of formalism, the photographs, installations, and videos of Collapse indicate the underlying themes that have shaped an ongoing narrative in her work, as the artist traces the consequences of war, the psychic effects of forced migration, and the ecological crises that have resulted from such manmade disasters. Read more

Abdul Karim Majdal Al-Beik

A Heart on a Wall 9 Nov 2015 - 14 Jan 2016 Ayyam Gallery Dubai (DIFC) is pleased to announce A Heart on a Wall, the solo show of Beirut-based Syrian artist Abdul Karim Majdal Al-Beik. Featuring a selection of recent works, the exhibition will spotlight a new direction in the artist’s painting style. Following a widely successful 2014 multimedia solo exhibition at Ayyam Projects, Majdal Al-Beik revisits a body of work that he began in Damascus in an effort to document the time that has passed since the start of the Syrian conflict. Read more

Ammar Abd Rabbo

The Naked Truth 8 Oct - 7 Nov 2015 Ayyam Gallery Beirut is pleased to present The Naked Truth, the solo exhibition of Ammar Abd Rabbo. Debuting a new body of work by the artist, the exhibition features mixed-media photographic works that explore the concept of censorship in the Arab world as it is applied to the naked body and affirmations of sexuality. Invoking the blacked-out imagery of print, billboard, and other forms of censored media, Abd Rabbo combines original photographs with overlaid text and painted areas that conceal the ‘risqué’ details of nude portraits. Read more

Moustafa Fathi

Towards the Absolute of Nature 5 Oct - 12 Nov 2015 Ayyam Gallery Dubai (Alserkal Avenue, Al Quoz) is pleased to present Towards the Absolute of Nature, a large-scale survey of work by the late Moustafa Fathi. Organised under Ayyam Gallery’s custodianship, the exhibition serves as the first posthumous retrospective of the pioneering Syrian painter. Read more

Mohannad Orabi

Family Portrait 15 Sep - 28 Oct 2015 Ayyam Gallery Dubai (DIFC) is pleased to present Family Portrait, the solo exhibition of Syrian artist Mohannad Orabi. In his latest body of work, Orabi explores the psychology of memory, and how this mental process shapes one’s perception of formative experiences. Addressing the subject of social relations and how children negotiate a sense of self while developing an understanding of the world around them, Orabi builds on the previous themes of his work. At the same time, the artist’s recent paintings revisit the semiotics of images: how pictures are constructed with forms and concepts, resulting in a system of signs. Orabi has investigated the signified meaning of popular imagery since 2012. Read more

Oussama Diab

What Happened Here 10 Sep - 5 Oct 2015 Ayyam Gallery Beirut is pleased to present What Happened Here, the solo show of Palestinian-Syrian artist Oussama Diab. Alongside the artist’s latest paintings, the exhibition features selected drawings, mixed-media collages, and preparatory sketches that demonstrate how his new series has progressed with recurring symbols and a cohesive narrative. In recent years Diab has developed a neo-cubist painting style as part of a broader theoretical project that explores the aesthetic potential and relevance of historical precedents. With a postmodern approach, Diab depicts the increasingly fragmentary state of global society as political conflicts tear apart communities, and forced migration and displacement burden the everyday. Read more

Sabah Arbilli

99 Names 5 Aug - 10 Sep 2015 Ayyam Gallery Dubai (DIFC) is pleased to present 99 Names, the solo exhibition of Iraqi-British artist Sabah Arbilli. Featuring 100 artworks—all measuring 60 x 60 cm—the exhibition will highlight the innovations in calligraphy that distinguish Arbilli’s artistic practice. Recognised as a master of Arabic calligraphy, Arbilli is currently redefining the genre through abstract interpretations of the written word and a variety of media. The exhibition’s included works are computer-generated archival prints, a medium that reflects how even traditional art must advance with the technological and perceptual demands of the day. Imbuing his sculptures, paintings, works on paper, and installations with intricate symbolism and evocative readings of ancient scripts and texts, the artist updates the centuries-old tradition through a transformative formal approach. Read more

Noor Bahjat

Young Artist in Residency Graduation Exhibition 3 Aug - 22 Sep 2015 Ayyam Gallery Dubai (Al Quoz) is pleased to announce Noor Bahjat’s forthcoming graduation exhibition from 3 August - 22 September 2015. Read more

Mounzer Kamnakache, Thaier Helal, and Farzad Kohan

Light as Form 23 Jul - 28 Aug 2015 Ayyam Gallery Beirut is pleased to present Light as Form, a collective exhibition that brings together the diverse works of Mounzer Kamnakache, Thaier Helal, and Farzad Kohan. Although employing divergent aesthetics and addressing a range of subject matter, the featured artists all incorporate the concept of light as a formal property that also functions as a signifier. Read more

Sadik Kwaish Alfraji

Driven by Storms (Ali’s Boat) 21 Jul - 29 Aug 2015 Ayyam Gallery London is pleased to announce Driven by Storms (Ali’s Boat), the solo show of leading Iraqi artist Sadik Kwaish Alfraji. Read more

Asma Fayoumi

Untitled 4 Jun - 12 Jul 2015 Ayyam Gallery Beirut is pleased to announce Untitled, the forthcoming solo show of pioneering Syrian painter Asma Fayoumi. The exhibition will feature a new body of work by the artist, which she began in 2011 after the start of political unrest in Syria. A leading member of the Damascus art scene since the 1960s, Fayoumi has often utilised painting to chronicle the ever-changing social landscape of the Arab world, including the setbacks that have been brought about by various conflicts. Read more

Mohammad Bozorgi

Transcendental Strokes 25 May - 30 Jul 2015 Ayyam Gallery Dubai (Al Quoz) is pleased to announce Transcendental Strokes, the forthcoming solo exhibition of Iranian artist Mohammad Bozorgi. A master calligrapher, Bozorgi is recognised for his innovation of traditional forms, and will debut recent works that reflect new experiments in merging the text-based abstraction of Islamic art with the aesthetic concerns of contemporary painting. Read more

Samia Halaby

Painting from the Sixties and Seventies 17 May - 16 Jul 2015 Ayyam Gallery is pleased to present Painting from the Sixties and Seventies, the forthcoming solo exhibition of pioneering Palestinian artist Samia Halaby. Widely recognised as an innovator of abstraction and a leading painter from the Arab world, Halaby will exhibit a selection of works from the initial period of her oeuvre. The nearly two-dozen paintings on display will offer a rare look into her artistic development by charting several groundbreaking experiments across diverse bodies of work. The exhibition will mark the first time that such a seminal collection of Halaby’s paintings is shown in Europe. Read more

Asaad Arabi

Return to Abstraction 4 May - 30 Jul 2015 Ayyam Gallery Dubai (DIFC) is pleased to announce Return to Abstraction, the solo show of Asaad Arabi, a pioneering contemporary Arab painter and acclaimed art theorist. After years of musical expressionism, with colourful series portraying the iconic Um Kulthum, Arabi returns to lyrical abstraction, all the while preserving a vibrant palette, harmonious compositions, and multi-angle method of execution. Read more

Nihad Al Turk

Drawings on Paper 2 Apr - 28 May 2015 Ayyam Gallery Beirut is pleased to announce Drawings on Paper, the forthcoming solo show of Syrian painter Nihad Al Turk. Featuring a new body of work, the exhibition will highlight an essential component of Al Turk’s artistic practice by examining his use of drawing as a formal device that gives volume and depth to expressionist figures and objects—subjects that appear to shift in place as masses trapped in disfigured shells. Read more

Sama Alshaibi

Sand Rushes In 26 Mar - 9 May 2015 Ayyam Gallery is pleased to present Sand Rushes In, the forthcoming solo exhibition of United States-based, Palestinian-Iraqi artist Sama Alshaibi. Read more

Afshin Pirhashemi

Femafia 16 Mar - 30 Apr 2015 Ayyam Gallery is pleased to announce Femafia, the solo exhibition of acclaimed Iranian artist Afshin Pirhashemi, who returns to Dubai with a new body of work. Read more

Sadik Kwaish Alfraji

Driven by Storms (Ali’s Boat) 9 Mar - 30 Apr 2015 Ayyam Gallery Dubai (Al Quoz) is pleased to announce Driven by Storms (Ali’s Boat), a solo exhibition by one of the most prominent Iraqi artists working in the diaspora today, Sadik Kwaish Alfraji. Much of Alfraji’s oeuvre addresses the vulnerability of human existence and speaks of loss, exile, fragmentation, and displacement. Curated by Nat Muller, the show premiers an exciting new body of work the artist has grouped around the theme of ‘Ali’s Boat,’ based on a drawing his young nephew, Ali, gave him on a family visit to Baghdad in 2009. Read more

Kais Salman

Civilised Society 29 Jan - 20 Mar 2015 Ayyam Gallery Beirut is pleased to present Civilised Society, the solo show of Syrian painter Kais Salman. Debuting the artist’s latest body of work, the exhibition will feature paintings that satirically explore the realm of politics in the Arab world through its various archetypes.Deconstructing the historical tradition of portraiture as a demonstration of power or social status, Salman scrutinises the public posturing of political figures—from armchair activists to international delegates. Read more

Thaier Helal

Landmarks 22 Jan - 20 Mar 2015 Ayyam Gallery London is pleased to announce Landmarks, the solo show of leading Syrian painter Thaier Helal. In addition to serving as the artist’s first exhibition in the United Kingdom, the event will coincide with the European launch of a new monograph on the artist. Read more

Khaled Takreti

LOL 14 Jan - 12 Mar 2015 Ayyam Gallery Dubai (DIFC) is pleased to announce LOL, the solo show of influential Syrian artist Khaled Takreti. Highlighting Takreti’s latest body of work, the exhibition travels to Dubai after a highly successful debut at Ayyam Gallery’s Beirut outpost in September 2014, where a new monograph on the artist was simultaneously launched. Read more

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

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