Picasso in Abu Dhabi
The Picasso Exibit at Emirates Palace was as incredible as the hotel. In Canada it is rare to see Picasso’s paintings. The last “big” Picasso show at the Vancouver Art Gallery had primarily sketches and rough drawings of his work. 186 Paintings from neo classical to cubist, sculptures in bronze and sheet metal, the show was so inspiring as the collection came from successive studios. Blending his art and his life, arranged chronologically by themes or settings, I will be going back to Abu Dhabi often.
We were fortunate enough to have a tour from one of the managers of the hotel. He took us through the ballrooms and corridors and giving us insightful details of the beautiful building. Gallery One had the Picasso Exhibit, and Saadiyat Island featured at Barakat Gallery the history of Abu Dhabi and the future plans for the Louvre, Guggenheim Museum, which will cover 30,000 square metres devoted to modern and contemporary art. Incredible displays of what is being built and projected. Walking through the halls, they had a photographic display “Abu Dhabi Through Your Eyes” branding the capital of the Emirates.
Gugghenheim Museum in Abu Dhabi
Louvre In Abu Dhabi
Incredible intricate patterns, detail after detail; online has a beautiful gallery, virtual tours of the suites.. Designed for VIP’s, GGC’s, celebrities: the door handles are worth 5000$ dollars, 20,000 gallons of water a day are used for the plants, 100,000$/ month is spent on flowers, they sponsor Lashings the international cricket team. During George Bush’s recent stay, his IT department contacted Discovery Channel to do a documentary on the technology of this hotel.
Picasso Quotes from the Exhibit
“Painting is not meant to decorate apartments. It is a weapon and we must use it.” - a bronze skull with clenched jaw, frightening in it’s worn polish, with no trace of humanity. Picasso defended Republican Spain, and the allegory of Spain’s suffering, misfortune
“I couldn’t see her, imagine her, except crying.” Picasso speaking of Dorema. Over 60 variations on the theme of women weeping, grief. In Guernica, grief dominated his proprietary sketches, but did not appear in the final painting. His figurative portraits of sexual tension, devouring each other, anger, weeping, expressive outbursts. He was deeply influenced by African masks that focused on gaze and sexual descriptions. Iberian Art that influenced the importance of sculptural volume, stylizing his work into structure, linear details, geometric forms and a fixed deep gaze.
Plato’s Origin of Love: the myth that man had 4 arms, and 4 legs. When man opposed the gods, man was severed to produce two separate beings, always trying to find the other half. Love is finding unity, and completing your appearance.
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Silicon Oasis
Thank you to all that could make my show at Silicon Oasis! I really appreciated you coming and hope to have another exhibit of Dubai inspired work soon.