Le Violon Bleu:
'Le Violon Bleu' saw it's first gallery open in Tunisia in 2004. In light of it's success, a London branch was opened in Mayfair in 2006. As a private gallery it holds the niche as the most important exhibition space for Contemporary Middle Eastern Art.
Group Exhibition: Contemporary Arab Art is an eclectic mixed media exhibition featuring major names from the Middle Eastern Art world: Sabhan Adam / Sami Ben Ameur / Suad Al Attar / Dia Azzawi / Fouad Bellamine / Mahi Binebine / Rafik El Kamel / Taher Mguedmini / Adel El Siwi/ Huda Lutfi/ Hani Rached.
Despite the Middle Eastern focus of the Violon Bleu gallery, many of the works in this group exhibition do not conform to singular regional locales. Instead what one finds is a mixed media exhibition of diverse and complex expression, where linear artistic heritage is eschewed in favour of hybridity and transgenre experimentation. The artists displaying at this exhibition cannot be confined to one identity. Having lived in many different cultures, and appeared in prestigious international venues such as the British Museum in London, the Library of Congress in Washington DC, the Museums of Modem Art in Damascus, Amman and Tunisia and the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, the artists selected for this impressive group show are a testament to Le Violon Bleu's vitality and expanding status.
The recognition of Contemporary Middle Eastern Art in London provided by this show whilst much needed, is certainly not premature. There is a long established tradition of artists dealing with themes of exile and identity in London. 2008 saw the Palestinian Film Festival at the Barbican during which Mona Hatoum's video diaries to her mother were shown, as well as her recent solo exhibition 'Present Tense' at the Parasol Unit. Iraqi born artist Dia Azzawi has been residing in London for more than 25 years consistently working on paintings that remain tied to his native soil and culture whilst also gaining recognition from the international contemporary Art world. His abstract collages depict figurative elements and decorative motifs from everyday, public and domestic life, capturing and infusing them with arrestingly acidic and eye-achingly vivid, acrylic contrasts.
Dia Azzawi
The Book of the Arabian Desert No. 2
Mixed technique printing, 59 x 84 cm, 2005
None of the artists on display can be precircumscribed by expectations of overtly political themes. The window of the gallery space features work by
Many of the artists featured in this exhibition can be found on the Paltel Virtual Gallery at Birzeit University: http://www.virtualgallery.birzeit.edu/.
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