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R/£ Mideast art challenges common perceptions
January 30, 2009 Edition 2
London - Lurid figures of Iranian prostitutes and images of semi-naked men posing provocatively are among works at a new London exhibition of Middle Eastern art that may test the tolerance of some.
British collector Charles Saatchi has filled his new gallery with over 80 paintings, sculptures and installations from the Middle East representing a vibrant art scene that he hopes will challenge people's assumptions about the region.
The works, gathered over the past four years by the Baghdad-born impresario, touch on sensitive topics. They depict the horror of conflicts past and present, explore suppressed sexuality and examine a woman's place in the Muslim world.
The 19 artists in Unveiled: New Art from the Middle East, which runs at the Saatchi Gallery from today until May 6, are from Iran, Iraq, Syria and beyond. Some still live in their native countries while others have emigrated to the West.
"Our sense of the Middle East is so dominated by reports of war, the tensions and the troubles," said Rebecca Wilson, the gallery's head of development. "But there are flourishing artistic communities we are not really hearing about."
One of the most striking works on display is Ghost, by French-Algerian artist Kader Attia, comprising more than 200 life-sized figures of Muslim women in hijabs bowing in prayer, each made out of aluminium foil. Only when the visitor reaches the far end of the gallery and looks back does it become clear that the forms are empty shells.
Iran's Rokni Haerizadeh uses biting satire to send up the hypocrisy he sees in his society.
The large Typical Iranian Wedding diptych shows women at a marriage on one side celebrating in subdued fashion, while the men in the right-hand panel carouse with abandon.
In Beach At The Caspian, men in bathing suits frolic by the sea as women covered from head to toe wait on them.
Iraqi artist Halim Al-Karim hid in the desert for three years to avoid being drafted into fighting during the first Gulf War.
His blurred photographs, in sets of three, include Hidden Prisoner 1993, featuring Sumerian artifacts kept in museums in glass cases, reminding the artist of friends and family held as political prisoners under Saddam Hussein.
Ramin Haerizadeh's Men of Allah series shows manipulated photographs of two semi-naked men cavorting and striking sensuous poses in what one review of the show described as "overtly homosexual images".
Shirin Fakhim uses everyday objects like cooking utensils to depict Tehran prostitutes, who combine Western hooker fashion with more demure Islamic dress. The Saatchi Gallery said that in 2002 it was estimated there were 100 000 prostitutes in Tehran.
The Middle East is being touted as the "next big thing" in contemporary art, taking over from China, where artists have seen values for their works skyrocket. - Reuters
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