3. 4 5
Opera Gallery will be the honored host of a spectacular evening filled with astounding
photography. Although still the “little cousin” to painting and sculpture, photography art is so
closely connected to our daily lives. Today, this medium sparks passion and interest among
collectioners around the world and is considered more and more as a major art genre. The
photographer’s eye captures an exquisite scene or fascinating landscape in a fraction of a
second. Guests will encounter the artists behind the works: three renowned photographers
from different regions of the world, each with their own, unique style.
Alireza Fani is an urban industrial photographer from Iran who specializes in graphic design.
Yasmina Alaoui is a Moroccan fine artist; Marco Guerra, a South-American photographer. This
remarkable duo of artistic talent combines its forces to tantalize its audience.
Last but not least, Khalid al Hamad from Kuwait uses his creative and shocking clamors to
provoke reactions that challenge common sentiment of the genre “looks fine to me, why
change?”
These three upcoming artist-photographers play a major role on the Middle-East art scene
today; they embrace an art form that’s far more accessible to international audiences than
other genres.
Although there is common ground, their distinct sense of style differs on several levels. Alireza
Fani’s work in black and white depicts an urban industrial scene whereas Yasmina Alaoui
and Marco Guerra’s work is more figurative, with the human body at the core of their art.
Their human shapes are voluptuous, adorned in complex ink; they evoke the duality between
traditional and modern Middle Eastern art.
Khalid al Hamad is an artist with tremendous talent; a young liberal-arts graduate who also
works in black and white. He represents individuals plunged into oil or mud, bringing texture,
thickness to his work while making a personal statement. His men and women have eyes
closed or mouths open… One wonders if his photographs aren’t subtle hints of ever-sensitive
undercurrents of corruption, politics or freedom of expression in his Kuwaiti homeland.
As for Alireza Fani’s works, they are now available for auction at Christie’s Dubai, the
internationally reputed auction house lauded for its unique contribution and commitment to
the Iranian art market.
We hope that you will enjoy the exhibition of these well-established photographers; they are
an indispensable key to encouraging growth on the Middle Eastern art market, especially in
the photography genre.
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Preface
Ahmad Bachan
Manager
Opera Gallery Dubai
Gilles Dyan
Founder and Chairman
Opera Gallery Group
4. 6 7
Dream 7
Photography, edition of 5
139,7 x 111,8 cm - 55 x 44 in.
Yasmina Alaoui
marco guerra
Respectively born in 1977 and 1965, the French-Moroccan artist Yasmina
Alaoui, and the Chilean photographer Marco Guerra form a couple in life as
well as in art.
Yasmina Alaoui studied drawing and sculpture at the Ateliers du Carroussel in
Paris and immersed herself for 10 years in the cultural richness of Paris. She
also earned a B.A. of Fine Arts from William and Mary College in Williamsburg,
Virginia.
Marco Guerra, New York-based fashion photographer, is widely known in the
fashion world, as photographing for such names as Conde Nast Traveller,
Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Levi’s, Bergdorf Goodman and Ralph Lauren. He
simultaneously develops his own projects in film and photography.
Their inspiration comes from “The Thousand and One Nights”, a legendary
collection of tales from the Middle East as well as the magic surrealism of
South American literature.
Through the combination of their techniques, Yasmina and Marco create a
unique way of portraying their models. Their collaboration begins with Marco
photographing the subject in black and white, creating strong contrasts
between light and shadow. The images then pass to the hands of Yasmina
who dresses the naked forms with drawings she creates in China ink or
watercolour. Bodies are covered from head to toe in Arabic Henna patterns,
giving the illusion that the designs are painted on the skin, they are illuminations
of the soul.
Yasmina Alaoui and Marco Guerra’s works “One Thousand and One Dreams”
have been exhibited through group and solo show all over the world including
USA, Italy, France and are already in many private collections.
They live and work in New York.
5. 8 9
Yasco 30
Photography, unique piece
76,2 x 76,2 cm - 30 x 30 in.
Yasco 41 #8
Photography, unique piece
127 x 127 cm - 50 x 50 in.
6. 10 11
Yasco 48 #2
Photography, unique piece
55,9 x 172,7 cm - 22 x 68 in.
Dream 2
Photography, edition of 5
101,6 x 101,6 cm - 40 x 40 in.
7. 12 13
Green Buddha
Photography, edition of 5
76,2 x 76,2 cm - 30 x 30 in.
Dream 9
Photography, edition of 5
76,2 x 76,2 cm - 30 x 30 in.
8. 14 15
Shout
Photography
108 x 81 cm - 42.5 x 31.9 in.
Born in 1986 in Kuwait, Khalid al Hamad is a young and talented photographer.
After graduating from the American University of Kuwait, the artist spent time
volunteering in Thailand, teaching Buddhist monks English. Some of those
novice monks would later become the subjects of his first series of large-sized
portraits. Through these photographs, Khalid al Hamad proved that he masters
light, contrast, texture and composition.
He went on to explore new areas focusing on human reactions, whether
rational or irrational, like screaming when defying fear or confronting silence. By
stripping these powerful artworks of their humanity, Khalid al Hamad focuses
on the emotions they trigger. In a region where women have been oppressed,
he strives to prove that the beauty in one’s mind can never be destroyed: the
rope in “By Beauty” is indeed a perfect, symbolic illustration.
Following his début exhibition in 2009, this is the second time that Opera
Gallery Dubai is pleased to be hosting Khalid al Hamad’s art. The artist also
exhibited his photographs in Kuwait in 2010.
Khalid al Hamad lives and works in Kuwait.
Khalid Al Hamad
10. 18 19
Silence
Photography
87 x 142 cm - 34.2 x 55.9 in.
Face and chest scream
Photography
108,6 x 95,8 cm - 42.8 x 37.7 in.
11. 20 21
Front
Photography on aluminium
143 x 168 cm - 56.3 x 66.1 in.
Out
Photography on aluminium
143 x 168 cm - 56.3 x 66.1 in.
12. 22 23
On the roof 1
Photography, edition of 4 + 1 AP
140 x 100 cm - 55.1 x 39.4 in.
Born in 1975 in Tehran, Iran, the photographer Alireza Fani spent his childhood
and adolescence mostly between the city and his father’s farm. This influenced
him in his work today.
During those years he became focused on detail that lead him to become inte-
rested in everything around him. Influences came from a river fish, his father’s
old calculator, the goose wish bone that his mother was cooking and so on.
He studied and made interpretations with objects surrounding him one at a
time and every thing became an extraordinary event in its original form. He not
only saw an object in its existing form but in a different light. This gave him the
confidence to use this imagery to make works of art.
Today his recollections are interwoven, froming a new language and
illusionary world, which he considers more real than the reality. The collection
of photographs “In search of the concept”, (2007) shows a young woman
photographed a number of times with a single letter. He tells us that this single
letter does not convey a message but in fact is only a symbol of the many
meanings that have encircled today’s woman. The collection of photographs
“In search of illusion”, (2008-2010) shows a veiled girl, floating fish or sliced
fish and cloudy skies. Sliced fish symbolizes spirit of life destroyed by violence.
Repetition of the same girl is used to symbolise a fragile generation, women
who are forced to stay in this environment. Those elements build an illusion
and eternal atmosphere.
In 1994 Alireza graduated with a Graphic Design Diploma in Gorgan, in Northern
Iran. By 2000 he also had a Graphic Design degree at Azad University in
Tehran in Iran. Interested in photography he worked as an Art Director &
Graphic Designer in Tehran since 1995. Building up his experience in the
industry working for the Bazi Theatre Company, and others theatres and TV
series in Iran.
Alireza won a number of awards including the best professional design in 2003
“Anti SARS Int’l Poster Contest” China. He took part in a lot of group exhibitions
where the public grew to learn and love his work. Only naming but a few he
began exhibiting his work in 2001, “The 7th
Biennial of Graphic Design”, held
in Iran. Followed by 2005, “The 1st
photo exhibition of Iranian Advertising &
Industrial Photographers Society”, Tehran or “The 1st
photo exhibition (Art and
Nature)”, in 2007 at the Niavaran cultural centre, Tehran. In 2010, he exhibited
at the 1st
Invitational Biennial Photography Group Show at Skotia Gallery in
New Mexico, USA.
Alireza Fani lives and works in Tehran, Iran.
Alireza fani
13. 24 25
Becoming
Photography, edition of 4 + 1 AP
100 x 140 cm - 39.4 x 55.1 in.
Isolation
Photography, edition of 4 + 1 AP
140 x 100 cm - 55.1 x 39.4 in.
14. 26 27
Before the creation
Photography, edition of 4 + 1 AP
120 x 100 cm - 47.2 x 39.4 in.
Metamorphic
Photography, edition of 4 + 1 AP
100 x 140 cm - 39.4 x 55.1 in.
15. 28 29
Suspended objects 2
Photography, edition of 4 + 1 AP
100 x 120 cm - 39.4 x 47.2 in.
Presence
Photography, edition of 4 + 1 AP
140 x 100 cm - 55.1 x 39.4 in.
