Dar Al Funoon opening 30 September 30th 7-9pm

Dar Al Funoon cordially invites you to its 7th Affordable Art Show

The show will feature a rich variety of styles ranging from works on paper, limited editions and originals by local and international young, emerging and established artists.

Opening Tuesday September 30th, 2014 from 7 - 9 pm at Dar Al Funoon, and continuing till Thursday October 2nd, 2014.

See attachment for details.

My new work exhibited tonight at CAP Kuwait

left: 'The one, the two... and the ten thousand things,' right: 'One Thousand and One,'
acrylic on MDF board, approximately 60 cm x 60 cm, 2014

My new paintings will be exhibited at 'TALK LOVE … ACT PEACE' opening Sunday, September 21st, 6:30-9:30pm at Contemporary Art Platform Kuwait. The charity art exhibition showcases diverse art from around the world to help fund children in Gaza, in collaboration with Gassan Kanafani Foundation, and to fund Kuwait's Child Rights Association. Hosted by the extraordinary Amira Behbehani and in celebration of Global Peace Day and Peace One Day - Kuwait. Hope to see you there tonight!  ‪#‎capkuwait ‬‪#‎peaceoneday ‬ ‪#‎peaceonedaykuwait ‬ ‪#‎kuwait‬. 

Charity art exhibition opens Sept. 21 at CAP Kuwait

Dear friends, 

You are invited to the charity art exhibition "Talk Love... Act Peace" opening on Sunday, September 21 from 6:30-9:30pm. A number of AUK students and faculty, including Najd Al Taher, Sundos Al Bulushi, Prof. George Bauer,  Prof. Maryam Hosseinnia and myself will be exhibiting artwork (see below for more info). The show will also be up for two weeks if you miss the opening night!

Hope to see you at the exhibit!

Exhibiting the last remaining porcelain stars from my 'China Trade' series

Dar Al Funoon cordially invites you to its 6th Affordable Art Show. Opening Tuesday May 6th, 2014 from 7 - 9 pm at Dar Al Funoon, and continuing till Thursday May 8th, 2014.

I will be exhibiting the last remaining porcelain stars from my 'China Trade' series that I made during an artists residency at the Pottery Workshop in Jingdezhen, China and had shipped to and framed in Kuwait.

Fore more info click here.

-45 °F in Wisconsin? WTF!

In Wisconsin it is -10 °F or -23 °C right now with warnings of wind chills as low as -45 °F (about the same Celsius) and they predict it is going to be even colder Wednesday!  Stay SAFE Wisconsin!  BTW: it is a chilly 64 °F or 18 °C here in Kuwait...

IVAN: The Reconstruction of Narcissism

IVAN: The Reconstruction of Narcissism, a debut composition by POWERHOUSE, explores the notion of using architecture and design as a vehicle for self-transformation by holding the design philosophy : “We are products of our products, therefore our products must reflect and encourage our own self development.” Rather than taking the approach from a conventional design perspective, POWERHOUSE brings artistic motivations to the fore, thus reconstituting the traditional role of the viewer from audience member to user.

Narcissism, as it is defined today, is a surrounded by a stigma of shallow self-obsession, discouraging true objective introspection. However, in their retelling of The Myth of Narcissus, POWERHOUSE imparts new potentiality on the ‘narcissistic condition’, expanding it to a state of revelation rather than one of self-infatuation. In this re-imagined, revelatory state, the water reflects a transcendent and transformed Narcissus, one free from external and internal compunction. This reconstruction presents narcissism as the acme of the human experience and as a product of complexity, rather than superficiality and obsession.

Each of the pieces encourage a stage of development through their individual characteristics, from form to function. The pieces Dither and Mull embolden the reconstructive process of narcissism, facilitating the users potential to develop. Adamantine and N+ stimulate the final stages of reconstruction, assisting the user’s culmination in this evolutionary process. The central piece of the environment, Ivan, serves as a division, or barrier of consciousness, by separating the pieces; urging the user to advance and progress. Together, the pieces serve to vitalize, and ease the user through the stages of this reconstructed narcissism.

The environment created is magnified by the implementation and focus on texture, specifically of those materials re-examined from the Kuwaiti industrial market. POWERHOUSE reintroduces outdated materials, which are the majority of what is currently available in this market, to create a hyper modern aesthetic while maintaining the practicality of function. Echo, an encompassing soundscape by Chicago’s The-Drum, completes the environment of IVAN – an experience which beseeches the viewer to seize the opportunity to reflect, to reverberate within one’s own interior long enough so that eventually, the deep, muddled desire to reconstruct our own reality grows as clear as our mirrored image.

POWERHOUSE is a composition initiative.

Nanu Al-Hamad (Al-Hamad Design) Kuwait / New York

Max Ketant (MEGA.DOPE.POP) Haiti / New York

Nanu Al-Hamad

Nanu Al-Hamad is an award-winning industrial designer and artist.  His work as founder and Director of Design of the Al-Hamad Design Studio, a design firm focusing on high-end furniture, lighting, object design, and custom made pieces, is shaping a new movement in design.  He was awarded the 2012 A’ Design Award in Furniture for his modular Gibbous chair and ottoman.  Working between west and east, Al-Hamad has shown work in Kuwait and New York. Additionally, Al-Hamad is a member of the arab gulf GCC art collective, who are showed this past fall at Kunsthalle Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany, Sultan Gallery in Kuwait, Project Native Informant in London, and Gallery Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler in Berlin.

Max Ketant

Max Ketant is a New York based conceptual designer and creative director fusing elements of magic realism, mythology and graphic design. His work through MEGA.DOPE.POP. focuses on the use of fantasy narrative to resolve the contradiction between dream and reality. His most recent show SVN: Hi Fi created a new discourse in the art experience where he reimagined a living space as a movie set where in which viewers became active participants in the exhibition. With his iconographic art house MEGA.DOPE.POP. he intends to translate quantum mechanics into an aesthetic media that will create a global discussion on contemporary mythology through the use of design.

"Aesthetic Afterlife" opens at the Haggerty Museum of Art on January 22

Aesthetic Afterlife, an exhibition by the Chipstone Foundation, opens at the Haggerty Museum of Art on January 22 and includes artwork by William Andersen, Niki Johnson, Yevgeniya Kaganovich, Heather McCalla, Jason Ramey, and Hongtao Zhou. Four exhibits will be opening that evening with Brian Ulrich lecturing at 6:00PM as part of the opening.

For more info click here and here.

Global Nomad Chic, 2008-10, traditional Kuwaiti clothing made with faux

Takashi Murakami’s LV cloth, approximately 178 x 163 x 31 cm

Global Nomad Chic, 2008-10, traditional Kuwaiti clothing made with faux

Takashi Murakami’s LV cloth, approximately 178 x 163 x 31 cm

Mierwaqi (Milwaukee in Pinyin Chinese) Electric Chainsaw, 2005-07, acrylic 
and oil enamel on Milwaukee Electric Tool chainsaw, 21 x 77 x 26 cm

Mierwaqi (Milwaukee in Pinyin Chinese) Electric Drill, 2005-07, acrylic 
and oil enamel on Milwaukee Electric Tool drill, 8 x 25 x 20 cm

Mierwaqi (Milwaukee in Pinyin Chinese) Electric Grinder, 2005-07, acrylic 
and oil enamel on Milwaukee Electric Tool grinder, 16 x 57 x 21 cm

Happy 80th Birthday To THE Doctor!

My Doctor Who memories start with Tom Baker reruns on PBS... "You may be A doctor, but I'm THE Doctor. The definite article, you might say..." (Robot, 1974)

Check out this exclusive, brand new interview with the birthday boy, Tom Baker, on doctorwho.tv: http://bbc.in/TomBakerHero

and check out this: Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary

Don't miss this!

"Muhawwil" is a four-channel video installation based on Islamic figurative murals painted on electric power stations in Kuwait. These murals mark a transformation in religious discourse within Gulf societies: where once only calligraphic depictions of this nature were allowed, today’s pop-culture and mass-production of images have forced conservative entities to reconsider this tradition and take up a mutated technique to convey moral advice - wall paintings. This project reconstructs these paintings into animation, so as to highlight the dilemma of representation that exists between the ancient and the modern.

This project was produced with the support of The Arab Fund for Arts & Culture (AFAC).

About the artist:

Monira Al Qadiri is a Kuwaiti artist born in Senegal and educated in Japan. In 2010, she received a Ph.D. in inter-media art from Tokyo University of the Arts. Her research is focused on the aesthetics of sadness in the Middle-East, and her works explore the dysfunctional gender roles in Arab societies, as well as the displacement of cultural and religious identities. She has held solo exhibitions in Japan & Kuwait, and participated in collective exhibitions and screenings in Dubai, Beirut, New York, London, Berlin, Paris & Shanghai among others. She is also a member of the artist collective GCC.

For more information please go to:

 www.moniraalqadiri.com 

Gallery opening hours:

Opening 21st January 7-9pm

22nd until 28th January 6-9pm

(closed on Friday & Saturday)

chasing dancing giants...

Had another dream where I was searching for the giant dancing gods of Taiwan (performed during Taoist religious festivals). This is the second this year... the first dream was on New Years Eve 2014 and the second was a week later on my Birthday... I have not had a dream like this in many years... is it a coincidence that I will be traveling to Taiwan this April, the first time since 2008, before I had moved to Kuwait? Click on this video link to hear all the fireworks and hypnotic ritual music and to see how these giant gods dance (the photos are mine but not the video - however the video is at my favorite temple in Taipei, close to where I used to live) and make sure to see the dramatic end of the video! Also note that these photos and video are taken during the day so are clearer but most often these festivals take place at night - making them much more mysterious - in my dreams of chasing these dancing giants it is always at night)...

Student Recycled Art Competition @ The Avenues

The next phase of AUK students' participation in the REUSE competition will take place at the Avenues from January 9-11, 10am-10pm. The public will be able to vote for their favorite artwork made from recycled materials. Twelve winners of AUK's own REUSE Exhibition will have their artwork compete against artwork from other local university students. Attached is the poster for the REUSE Recycled Art Competition @ The Avenues, in English and Arabic.  

Further information: http://bit.ly/1hqeaoI

Please come and support the our participating students!

Scratches of Syria: movie night

The Syria Club presents - Scratches of Syria short-movie night: Saturday Dec. 21, 7pm in the AUK Auditorium

Kuwait will reach 0°C tomorrow?

Kuwait Tomorrow: Low temperature will reach 0°C. Will we see snow in Kuwait??? The weather seems pretty unusual - (click on link) Its snowing in Cairo for the first time in 112 years!

(click on link) Early snow surprised many Israelis and Palestinians as a blustery storm, dubbed Alexa, brought heavy snowfall. 
- AP Photo/Dusan Vranic

Persian artist talk and workshop at AUK

Persian contemporary painter/collage artist Reza Doust lecturing and giving a workshop at the American University of Kuwait - don't miss it!

Academia's indentured servants

Sadly, this is one of the main reason that I am now teaching overseas, but there are other very positive reasons too. (click on link): Academia's indentured servants

"To work outside of academia, even temporarily, signals you are not "serious" or "dedicated" to scholarship," writes author [AP]

This Thanksgiving...

Happy Thanksgiving to all those fans of Shaun of the Dead!

☆☆ Mabrook Dubai World Expo 2020 ☆☆

Congratulations to Dubai as it is named host city for 
the World Expo 2020!

Just like the Shanghai World Expo 2010 and the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, the Middle East is now looking to be 'the place to be' with the Dubai World Expos 2020 and the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup!

REUSE Exhibition Opens 28 November 12 noon!

On behalf of the AUK Department of Art and Graphic Design and AUK Library, you are cordially invited to attend the REUSE Exhibition that opens tomorrow, November 28th, at 12pm noon.  

Student artwork made from scrap / recycled materials will be displayed in this exhibition that promotes environmental sustainability while creating a platform on which aspiring young artists can share their work. Winning artwork from this event will later be exhibited with student artworks from other educational institutions and will compete with each other for the best works made entirely out of scrap / recycled materials. This student exhibition is part of 'The en.v Initiative", an organisation promoting social responsibility in the Arab world. 

The show runs through December 8th, 2013 and will be held in the AUK Library.

AUK Library Hours

Regular working hours 

Sunday - Thursday	8:00am-9:00pm
Friday	Closed
Saturday	12:00pm-6:00pm

Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary

Finally watched "The Day of the Doctor," which marks Doctor Who's fiftieth anniversary, and it was awesome! (SPOILERS) When MY Doctor, the one I grew up with, the Fourth Doctor, showed up, it actually made me cry! Tom Baker's surprise appearance was like opening gifts on Christmas morning or seeing Santa Claus as a kid!

Google even got in on Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary with their own little game and that was awesome too!

The 11th Doctor meets the mysterious 'curator' who appears to be aware that he resembles an older version of the Fourth Doctor.

Saudi women defy driving ban across country

Saudi activists are calling the campaign the most successful in years, despite threats [AFP]

Bravo to the dozens of women in Saudi Arabia who today took the wheel and defied the ban on women driving in that country. It's a sign of how backward Saudi Arabia is that 1400 years ago no one had a problem with the Prophet Muhammad's wife, Khadija, driving camels, but fundamentalist clerics today refuse to let women drive cars--which in my experience are rather easier to drive than camels. -Nicholas Kristof

Saudi women defy driving ban across country

www.aljazeera.com

Dozens of women across country participate in "drive-in" campaign, despite threats and warnings from government.