Alon Zakaim Fine Art is delighted to announce their inaugural participation at ArtBAB, Art Bahrain Across Borders, taking place from the 14-18 March, where they will showcase a selection of Modern and Contemporary paintings and sculptures including household names such as Damien Hirst, Jim Dine and Adrian Ghenie.
The highlight of the stand will be Jim Dine's colossal Dogwood Spring, 2008. Measuring two by three metres, Dine's beloved heart motif is repeated and laid overa cluster of brightly coloured marks, transforming the simple forms into a complex structure. Describing the heart as a template for his emotions, Dine employs the motif to express his feelings and to experiment with colour, form and texture. He has repeatedly experimented with hearts throughout his career, typified in two earlier paintings from 1981, A smaller fortress and Heart Drawing IV, also on show.
Equal in scale is a tremendous triptych by the internationally acclaimed modern British master Alan Davie. Queen Emma, 1968 is a complex celebration of the artist's freedom of abstraction and the primitive, enigmatic symbols found repeatedly in his oeuvre. In his attempts to bring forth elements ofthe unconscious and to paint as automatically as possible, Davie shared an affinity with the Surrealists and is also recognised as one of the first British artists to understand the significance of American Abstract Expressionism after meeting Jackson Pollock in New York. Also on display will be three works by iconic British artist Damien Hirst. Beautiful Blood Orchids in an Electric Storm Painting from 2007 is a mesmerising work from the Spin Painting series. With a kaleidoscopic and spontaneous explosion of paint, it references the Pollockian idea of the 'accident' as the artist's hand never touches the canvas. Instead nature is permitted to take its course and the idea of the imaginary mechanical painter is explored. It will hang alongside Spin for Ben, commissioned in 2010 by Ben Kealey, keyboard and synth player of English rock band Kasabian, and a solid silver skull, Abacus - The Dream is Dead, 2007, akin to Hirst's diamond encrusted platinum skull.
Alon Zakaim Fine Art will also exhibit a number of Contemporary artists currently making waves in the commercial art scene. Mauro Peruchetti has exhibited worldwide and, in his own words, 'unites Pop aesthetics with social comment to address some of the most pressing and difficult issues in today's society in a way that is subtle and accessible, without being trite, shocking or obscure.' The installation, Arab Jelly Baby, presents playful candy-like pieces in small human forms as a response to the possibility of human cloning. They capture the ambiguity of the cloned being, while opening up a wider discourse into the dilemma between cloning and religion, and cloning and medical ethics. The gallery will also show two spectacular 3D relief paintings, Second Retroperspective, 1992 and Superspective, 1996 by the British artist Patrick Hughes. His work creates visual and optical illusions and is concerned with the science of perception and the nature of artistic representation. Witty and disorientating, Hughes creates a 'moving' experience which allows the viewer to interact with the artwork.
Other artists on show will include Eileen Agar , Simon Hantaï, Victor Vasarely, Leo Gabin, Lauren Seiden, Michael Manning, Paul Vanstone and Will Thorburn.
