COLLECTING

21600 Pages, by Hadieh Shafie, 2012.

No Longer a Man’s World Women are bringing about the biggest changes in the growing Middle Eastern art market. By Robin Pogrebin

hen Leila Heller started her New York art fairs are all showing a greater appreciation for art professionals like Sheikha Mayassa Al Thani, head gallery 30 years ago, it wasn’t easy from the region; Middle Easterners are showing a of the Museums Authority; Aisha Al Khater, to get collectors to consider buying increased interest in buying art; and once-marginal director of the Museum of Islamic Art in ; and Middle Eastern contemporary art. Middle Eastern artists have developed important Rita Aoun-Abdo, the executive director of the cultural W“Most of the audience had zero interest,” Heller international reputations. department of the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Cultural recalls. “I was lucky if I sold to some oil company in Like Heller, many of the key figures fueling Authority, which oversees the museum projects. Houston. The artists of the have always that growth are women. They include museum At one point, more than 90 percent of cultural been great artists. Attention given to them institutions in Palestine were headed by has changed.” women,” says Reem Fadda, an associate Indeed, that attention has steadily “At one point, more than 90 percent curator for the Solomon R. Guggenheim escalated over the last few years, making Museum and Foundation’s Abu Dhabi the Middle East market one of the fastest of cultural institutions in Palestine Project. growing. From New York to London to were headed by women.” In addition to Heller, galleries with women Dubai, collectors, galleries, museums, and at the helm include Egeran Galeri in Istambul —REEM FADDA OF LEILA HELLER GALLERY PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY

132 Art Basel | Miami Beach 2012

132-136_AB12_Collecting_MiddleEastArt2.indd 132 11/16/12 7:45 PM 132-136_AB12_Collecting_MiddleEastArt2.indd 134 134 COLLECTING ArtBasel es o sseho aon Mdl Esen r, with art, Eastern Middle sisterhood around of sense ubiquitous,creatingdescribethema ofsomewhat as main link.” the cultureisspeakArabic,thatbecause allandthey languagetheshouldformulateWearound theandit thebiggest failure of viewing the art in the Arab world. referringto it as Christian art, do you? This is probably religion. You don’t speak of art in the Western world by “Soit’s very wrong toformulate Middle Eastern art by Arabs,”shetold theinterviewer, Andrew McClintock. Christians, a few others are Jewish, even are themthough of they’re Muslims. Many not are world Arab the Eastern artists. “You should know Middle that misconceptions about many haveartists stillWesternersfrom with Akram Raad,Zaatari, MARWAN, Walid others.andrecent a interview In by region the in exhibitions mountedworld,one-personhasArabthe working in South Asia)aftereightyearsofrenovation. Later and Asia, Central Turkey, , Lands, Arab IslamicnewthetheGalleries(thewing of Art the for commitmenttoIslamic artinsquare footage, opening signaled its also Met the year, Last Museum.British antiquitiesandIslamicthecuratorart ofatas served previously had she art; Islamic department of its of charge in curator the as Canbyappointed R. Sheila also in Istanbul (Leyla Tara Suyabatmaz). Beirut and (André Sfeir-Semler), and Rampa, (SuzanneEgeran),Sfeir-Semlerthe Berlin, Galleryin 2012. Semercioglu, Circles Golden | eae uaos n atss n h fil ae also are field the in artists and curatorsFemale artists Sfeir-Semler on focuses Gallery, whichThe Art of Museum Metropolitan the 2009, In MiamiBeach2012 a Facso rs Quarterly Arts Francisco San , by Gulay Gulay , by SerSme said Sfeir-Semler , “A lot of very strong women are cultural leaders. There DubaiinternationalArtCarver,theruns who fair. art female-dominatedvery “It’sa industry,” Antoniasays 2013), Kalter-Wasserman. Valerie Sasha Hillings, and UAEtheNationalof Pavilion Venicethefor Biennale threewomen:SuzanneofCotter, Fadda (alsocurator Abu Dhabi Guggenheim, for example, includes a team deciding what art will fill the galleries of the high-profile Middle theEast. of department the of curator is Porter Venetia curatorof Islamic art, and the , where CountyMuseum of Art, where AngelesLinda Komaroff is the Los the including institutions, prestigious Jordanian artandartists. and collector who founded Darat al Funun, a home for Jordan.Among her protégés in artistsis Suha Shoman, of generation an artist a 90—tutored age at 1991 in abstracthermural-likeknownfor paintingsdiedwho women mentoringoneanother. oe ae fe wrig oehr Te curators together. The working often areWomen most the at prominence achieved have Women artist Turkish example—a for Zeid, Fahrelnissa L eila Heller eila N Ibrahim are a lot of very positiveverymodels.”roleofWomen lot have a are o hie n otmoay r, xet sy because say; experts art, contemporary in thrive to women allowed has that culture Eastern Middle in that they can hold their own in a show like that.” qualitythe leveltheandgoodhowtheseofartists are shows“It says.shows,” nicheshe the doing my artistsby marginalize not to try “I Pollock. Jackson and Shafiealongside LouiseBourgeois, LouiseNevelson, Hadieh “Rock,featured thatexhibition in Scissors,”anPaper, summer last did she as artists, Western point of juxtaposing these artists with more a established makes Heller women.” Eastern Middle are artists good the of lot a but choice, by wasn’t “It Ahkami. who Heller, saysrepresents RezathoseDerakshanisuchas Negarand artists?” are who women many the in known United States,ShirinNeshatfromIran. well most maybe and, Center; Art Beirut the founded who Joreige, Lamia Morocco; in Tanger de Cinémathèque the of director Barrada, and founder Yto Palestine; Cairo; from from Hatoum Hefuna Mona Susan and attention, and Baladi public Lara established like captured have both who artists, emerging, Eastern Middle Biennial. Sharjah the oversees which Foundation, SharjahAl-Qasimi,ArtSheikha andHoorthe director of name, her bears that foundation own her has who Nahyan, Al Hamdan Bint Salama Sheikha like also distinguished themselves as patrons and collectors, eshat, 2012.eshat, Perhapsironically, sexismveryentrenchedthe is it so have you do ‘Why me, to say people of “Alot female of list growing and long a is there And , by Shirin Shirin , by 11/16/12 7:44 PM

OURTESY OF LEILA HELLER GALLERY (SEMERCIOGLU); PHOTOGRAPHY BY IKE UDE, COURTESY OF LEILA HELLER GALLERY (HELLER) COURTESY OF GLADSTONE GALLERY, NEW YORK AND BRUSSELS (NESHAT) 132-136_AB12_Collecting_MiddleEastArt2.indd 136 136 COLLECTING ArtBasel religion,” Carver says, “not only Islam, but also also but Islam, only “not any says, to Carver offensive religion,” overtly being “as perceived be might that matter that for show art any or doesn’t nudes explicit example, for Dubai, Art required. and overt hostility women face from radicals. audio tapes from the 1980s to illustrate the tightreligiousextremists usedSaudi controls of Malluh Maha and swimming;publicto singingin fromIran, in them to photographstookforbiddenwomen doingiswhatof Newshawear;forcedTavakolian,to Iraniananartist, Tunisian artist, addressed the clothes many women are tackled discrimination head- on. Nadia Kaabi-Linke, a fair Dubai Artrecent most the atartists varioushow to according men, SaudiArabiaestimatedinnoware outnumber to the to considerable lengths in their artwork. Women artists to be in that arena.” some environments, it’s seen as being okay for women director of the Asia Society Museum in New York. “In whichwomen are able todo well,” says Melissa Chiu, to function with relative freedom. “Culture is a realm in sphere in which they are largely left alone and allowed one is consideredwidelyitwomen’swork, cultureis | At the same time, some cultural adjustments are are adjustments cultural some time, same the At Indeed, some female artists have taken that freedom MiamiBeach2012 Zakharia, c. 1962 c. Zakharia, Teller Fortune The , by C , by amille amille The

Economist wih lo noted also which , , and the United Arab Emirates. East— Middle , the , Lebanon, over Egypt, Jordan, all , from coming are people and collectors young in influx an seeing is fair The attended. people 22,500 than more and galleries 75 drew 5,000 people; the last such fair in March included included2007galleriesDubaiinArtfirst40 The and almost exclusively on Middle Eastern art. shesays, and now there are several galleries that focus London, in artIranian exhibitionsof hold tostarted nobodyunderstoodlittle,little Butbythem.”people Rady says. “Nobody wanted to know about the artists, wilderness,” the in out being of “a feeling was there and an art form in ancient and Islamic cultures. At first, communicationmethodofexplored thata writing as Middle East,” a 2006 Modern exhibition the at the British of Museum Artists Art: into “Word seeing after artists Eastern Middle representing gallery London her start to inspired was Rady Janet years. several abouthave40sprungDubai in upalone over thelast say; experts galleries, among been has art Eastern Christianity andHinduism.” Pol ae netd mtoal a wl as well as emotionally invested are “People quantifiable. is interest consumer increasing The Perhapsthemoststriking areagrowthofMiddle in Newsha Tavakolian. Newsha by Lotfi, Sahar nnily eas i rflcs n hi iett as identity theirMiddle Easterners,” Carver on says. “Even the most reflects loyal it because financially really hasn’tbeentold.” international player in the ’60s and ’70s. It’s a story that century.20thoccurredanotherplaces. wasItIranin says. “Modernism Chiu modernities,” didn’t just multiple occur in Paris in for the early argument an “It’s 1970s.1950sbetweentheIranthefromandworks of comprehensivesurveyModern,”developinga “Iran historical artscenewhichgoeswayback.” recent,”Fadda says, “but anchors itself on avivid and there, slated for 2017. “The frenzy of the market is only to expected 2015,Guggenheim’sthe isin followed openbranch by Louvre the of outpost Dhabi Abu An present. the to 1840s the from works 6,000 than more of collection a with Qatar, Doha, in opened ArtModern of 2010,Museum ArabMathaf:in past, itsoflong-standing traditions. To highlight thisstoried understandingan andfield deeperknowledgethe of a say,expertsisart, EasternMiddleexcitement over panel with publicdiscussions, lectures, the and exhibitions. educateOften lost in the help to trying also learn are museums and to Galleries region. the want about more who curators, and patrons their responding to are they because part in bandwagon, the on jumped Museum—have Art British the and Museum, Art Aspen the PS1, MoMA Art, Modern AngelesLosCounty MuseumMuseumArt,the ofof the factthatithasn’twaned.” interestsurprisedlevelbeenofhaveandthe usby of allowed women to thrive in h Ai Scey a fr h ls fu yas been years four last the for has Society Asia The institutions—like the art European and American Eastern culture what has entrenched in Middle contemporary art? Is the very sexism

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PHOTOGRAPHY COURTTESY OF JANET RADY FINE ART (ZAKHARIA)