‘UAE 40 – The Emirates Revisited’ art exhibition in Dubai on Monday

Armani Hotel Dubai, in co-operation with Swiss Art Gate UAE, will host an art exhibition “UAE 40 – The Emirates Revisited,’ to coincide with Art Dubai, the premier art event in the city.

Featuring oil and photography on canvas by Swedish artist Fabian Edelstam, “UAE 40 – The Emirates Revisited; will open on Monday, 19 March 2012, 7 – 9 pm at Armani/Ristorante in Armani Hotel Dubai, located in Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.

During his recent journey through the UAE, Edelstam created a collection of 15 artworks, most of them with local content. The exhibition will have compelling works depicting late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President & Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, when he was young. Also on display will be artworks on Burj Khalifa, the 200- and 100-Dirham banknote and the Dubai Shopping Festival, all serving to highlight the evolution of the country in the past 40 years.

Edelstam has been a frequent traveller throughout his life, with his travel experiences reflected on his body of work. After studying and exploring the European cultural legacy, Fabian pointed his compass towards other cultures. The name, UAE, which he first heard in the 1970s intrigued him.On a recent visit Fabian discovered the country, its history and the recent boom, sparking the idea of an exhibition.

He found similarities with the Republic of Venice, both cultures emerging out in an unexpected environment: Venice the swamp, UAE the desert. Both places had unique circumstances and visions that generated a boom. Edelstam doesn’t aspirate to become the Canaletto of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but thought that revisiting the 40 years of existence of the United Arab Emirates through its great personalities, architecture and everyday life would be a fascinating journey into the Arabian soul.

Thanks to Edelstam’s cultural heritage, his artistic vision can be described as a “journey into the world of memories,” with an emphasis on the personal and collective memories. He “travels” down memory lane, revisiting events and environments he experienced, was surrounded by, and the people he met.

He reconstructs pictures and experiences ingrained in his memory, and like the memory, the paintings project close to optimal resemblance, but are a little bit disorderly and with a few gaps. The “mosaic” pattern is a result of the literary influence of “Recherche du temps perdu” by Marcel Proust. The mosaic is manually assembled.

Edelstam said: “In my portraits I try to recreate a bridge between past and present cultures, set in a modern framework according to the principles of ancient mosaics. Some pieces are missing, others are in disorder, just like the fragments of a childhood memory that are being reconstructed, or should I say, exorcised?”