DOW JONES, A NEWS CORP COMPANY U.S. Edition May 11, 2018 Today's Paper Video Home World U.S. Politics Economy Business Tech Markets Opinion Life & Arts Real Estate WSJ. Magazine Search WSJ. MAGAZINE | WHAT'S NEWS | CREATIVE BRIEF 7 Exciting Artists in the UAE Introducing the new generation of internationally recognized Emirati artists BRILLIANT CAREER | The 2016 mixed-media piece ‘Combs,’ by Dubai artist Hassan Sharif, a longtime leader of the Emirati art scene, who has a show at New York’s Alexander Gray Associates. PHOTO: COURTESY OF ALEXANDER GRAY ASSOCIATES, NEW YORK/ISABELLE VAN DEN EYNDE, DUBAI © 2015 HASSAN SHARIF/ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY NY By Carol Kino 1 COMMENTS March 31, 2016 4:28 p.m. ET BEYOND THE FANTASTICAL skyscrapers and glittering malls, the United Arab Emirates is home to a community of serious, internationally recognized artists. That’s due largely to Hassan Sharif, 65, whose riotous works are on view at New York gallery Alexander Gray Associates April 7–May 14. Born in Dubai in 1951, Sharif attended art school in London, returning home in 1984 to a land where calligraphic abstraction defined the edge. When his Dada-esque conceptualism confounded viewers, he fostered a new dialogue by teaching, establishing arts associations and translating key Western texts. Though Sharif’s assemblages can appear unruly, they’re made by Most Popular Videos systematically deconstructing magazines, plastic bags or flip-flops and Historic Malaysian binding them together into useless “objects,” an ironic metaphor for art. 1. Election: Why the World His pieces are in the collection of the Guggenheim (New York and Abu Is Watching Dhabi), the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Hong Kong’s M+ and Mathaf: 2. Drawing the Future of Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar. New York’s New Museum Work With Slack’s CEO prominently featured his work in Here and Elsewhere, its 2014 survey of Arab art. Sharif has also served as a colleague and mentor to Trump Thanks Kim Jong 3. Un for Freeing Three generations of Emirati artists, including the notable talents below. Americans From North alexandergray.com. Korea Jetpack Creator on the 4. Fun and Fear of Flying iPhone X & iPhone 8: 5. First Look Video Most Popular Articles About That FBI ‘Source’ Opinion: About That FBI 1. ‘Source’ Damage to North Korea’s 2. Nuclear Test Site Worse Than Previously Thought Abdullah Al Saadi installation at the Sharjah biennial PHOTO: INSTALLATION VIEW, 1980–TODAY: EXHIBITIONS IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, SHARJAH, UAE, Goldman Sachs, Apple 3. Team Up on New Credit COURTESY OF SHARJAH ART FOUNDATION Card Abdullah Al Saadi Another conceptual pioneer, Al Saadi, 50, co-founded several Emirati How a Firm That Paid arts associations with Sharif and others. Based in the Sharjah city of 4. Stormy Daniels Hush Khor Fakkan, he creates land art–inspired work, logging his mountain Money Became Enmeshed in Federal treks with diaristic paintings on found stones or piles of sandals worn Probes out en route. Curators took note of his installations at the Sharjah, Venice and São Paulo biennales, leading to his inclusion in group North Korea-Trump 5. Summit Set for June as shows like the New Museum’s Here and Elsewhere. Detainees Return Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian’s show at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art PHOTO: INSTALLATION VIEW, RAMIN HAERIZADEH, ROKNI HAERIZADEH AND HESAM RAHMANIAN, THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART, BOSTON, 2015–2016, PHOTO BY CHARLES MAYER Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian Iranian exiles, the Haerizadeh brothers (Ramin, 40, and Rokni, 37) and their childhood friend Rahmanian, 35, have lived and worked communally in Dubai since 2009. In their salonlike studio, they display their own creations alongside those of fellow artists like David Hockney and Martha Rosler. Their recent show at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art, which included a Sharif work, was a critical hit. Installation of work by Mohammed Kazem PHOTO: 1980–TODAY: EXHIBITIONS IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, SHARJAH, UAE, COURTESY OF SHARJAH ART FOUNDATION Mohammed Kazem One of Sharif’s best-known protégés is Dubai-based Kazem, 47. His work, which encompasses photography, performance, video and installation, often involves mapping—like documenting potential urban developments in the desert or filming wood panels he’s tossed into the ocean as they drift away. A veteran of biennales from Venice to Sharjah to Havana, he has pieces in Doha’s Mathaf, the Fondation Louis Vuitton and the Sharjah Art Museum. Ebtisam Abdulaziz’s ‘Blue Freedom’ (2013) Ebtisam Abdulaziz It’s no surprise that Abdulaziz, 40, studied mathematics. Numbers and calculations pervade this Sharjah-based artist’s work, from the precise geometry of her drawings to the cryptic codes she printed on a bodysuit for a long-running performance piece. A former student of Kazem’s, she expands upon his and Sharif’s passion for systems. Her work is in the collections of Deutsche Bank, the Sharjah Art Foundation and members of Emirati royalty. MORE IN WSJ. MAGAZINE The Best Neighborhood in Mexico City is an Unexpected One May 2, 2018 Poppy Delevingne Reveals What’s on Her iPhone May 1, 2018 A New Casual Wine Bar from the Founders of San Francisco’s Three- Michelin-Starred Quince May 1, 2018 Italian Artist Domenico Gnoli’s Work Is Back on Display in New York April 30, 2018 Meet the Shoe Surgeon, Whose Sneaker Designs Sell for Up to $10,000 April 6, 2018 WSJ. 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