Latest news with #RedStack
The National
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Shaikha Al Mazrou unveils Dubai's 'largest site-specific art intervention' in Hatta mountains
When Shaikha Al Mazrou was invited to create a site-specific installation in the mountains surrounding Hatta's Leem Lake, she was conscious of not imposing her artworks on the rocky terrain, and instead finding a way to gracefully embed them in the landscape. She also wanted to use her signature approach of coaxing contrasts from unlikely spaces and materials. These two motives seemed paradoxical. How could a public artwork blend with the landscape while simultaneously juxtaposing it? Deliberate Pauses manages to achieve just that. Five round metallic sculptures are thoughtfully placed along the hiking trail around Leem Lake. With each circle measuring five metres in diameter, the work has been described as 'the largest site-specific art intervention in Dubai". It was commissioned by Alserkal Arts Foundation, in collaboration with the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority. The sculptures are in the same shade of red as Al Mazrou's 2022 work Red Stack. That work was displayed in Regent's Park as part of London's contemporary art fair Frieze. Eight large cushions, cast in metal, were piled several metres into the sky. Between the forms of the cushions and the rigidity of the cast metal, the structure appeared hard yet soft at the same time. Deliberate Pauses presents a somewhat similar contrast. The circles lie against the jagged mountain surface with an appealing flatness – the coarseness of the rocks juxtaposing with the smoothness of the reflective steel. The circular frames of untreated metal, meanwhile, seamlessly merge with the iron-oxidized colour of the rocks. In that sense, the redness of the circles are an emboldened version of the surrounding natural hues. 'I had a lot of questions about why it is in red,' Al Mazrou says. 'Aside from it being a signature in my work, but also I was drawing from the language of the mountain and using the colours around me. I could have polished the steel to give it of a different look but I wanted it to camouflage with the landscape and allow the red to push through.' The project has been two years in the making. Al Mazrou took regular hikes in the mountains, sometimes accompanied by architect and academic Faysal Tabbarah, who curated the works. The artist would wake at 5am, reaching Hatta just as the sun would begin to rise. She would walk meditatively through the rocky terrain. Whenever a specific site stood out to her, she would hammer a nail into the rocks and further mark the spot by sprinkling a powder around it. She would then survey the landscape from above, using a drone. 'The work required significant studies, such as understanding the terrain as well as excavations and thinking about the foundations,' Al Mazrou says. The Emirati artist reflected on the work's title, Deliberate Pauses, both in the context of her artistic practice and as a literal representation of the pauses she had take during her hike. The artworks dotted along the hiking trail are very much the traces of her journey through the mountains, as well as an invitation for viewers to follow in her footsteps. 'It has multiple layers of definitions,' Al Mazrou says. Each of the circular artworks is also fitted with light under the frame. The light is powered through solar panels that have been carefully hidden in the mountains. 'We have to think about public engagement through the night, and the light is activated after sunset,' she says. Al Mazrou adds that it was gratifying to have had the opportunity to converse with a landscape that has a personal significance to her, and to bring that relationship to the public sphere. 'I like the challenges that the landscape presented. It wasn't easy. We had to think about excavation and getting archaeological teams,' she says. 'Ultimately, it was about creating a site intervention. The desire was to interact with the landscape, not to simply parachute an artwork on top of it.' Deliberate Pauses is part of a series of large-scale public art commissions aimed at introducing public artworks across famous sites, including the Shindagha Historic District, Al Quoz Creative Zone and Hatta. 'Public art amplifies a sense of place and enables people to understand their environments in ways that are often too subtle to notice without reflection,' Tabbarah said in a statement. 'In trying to highlight the stories of Hatta and Leem Lake, Shaikha Al Mazrou, Alserkal Arts Foundation and I worked collaboratively to ensure the artwork invites reflections about place, connection and wonder.'
The National
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Abu Dhabi Art announces dates and visual campaign artist for this year's fair
Abu Dhabi Art will return to Manarat Al Saadiyat in November for its 17th year The annual fair, which is organised by the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, will take place between November 19 and 23. The event is a staple in the emirate's cultural calendar. Last year, more than 100 galleries from around the world took part. DCT – Abu Dhabi has also named the visual campaign artist for this year's Abu Dhabi Art. Shaikha Al Mazrou will define the fair's visual identity and her work will inform its marketing campaign. The Emirati artist is a notable figure in the country's contemporary art scene. Her sculptural works are often large and use painted metal to explore form, space and abstraction. Her 2022 work Red Stack, for example, was displayed in Regent's Park as part of London's contemporary art fair Frieze. Eight large cushions, cast in metal, were piled several metres into the sky. Between the pillowy forms of the cushions and the rigidity of the cast metal, the structure appears hard yet soft at the same time. 'Shaikha participated in our 2017 edition of Abu Dhabi Art as a Beyond Emerging Artist and we are thrilled to see the progression in her work at this stage in her career,' Dyala Nusseibeh, director Abu Dhabi Art, said. 'Shaikha has become one of the most successful artists of her generation in the UAE. The series we have chosen to work with for the visual campaign and visual feel of the fair offers an exploration of materiality and a repurposing of discarded matter from fabrication sites in the UAE.' Al Mazrou's 2023 work Beyond All Measures will be among the highlights at the fair. The artwork, using oxidised brass, depicts the horizon while exploring its symbolism as a threshold and point of transformation. 'Like the material itself, which is inherently unstable, its colours forged by heat and oxygen, Beyond All Measures metaphorically invites us to explore new ways of perceiving the world around us and to question our position in it,' Nusseibeh said. Al Mazrou, who is represented by Lawrie Shabibi Gallery in Dubai, has works in several major collections around the world, including the RMZ Foundation, Art Jameel and The Farjam Foundation. In 2022, she won the prestigious Paulo Cunha e Silva Art Prize and was shortlisted for the Louvre Abu Dhabi Richard Mille Art Prize. Al Mazrou is also an assistant arts professor of visual arts at NYU Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi Art is also accepting gallery applications for its 2025 fair. The deadline to apply is April 30.
