Nadim Karam. Source: Celia Topping[/caption]Located next door to the Halcyon Gallery and above the Ralph Lauren store on New Bond Street, the Ayyam Gallery cuts a striking dash at the heart of the London art scene. Newly launched to an expectant crowd on January 24, 2013, Ayyam Gallery London is the fourth space to be opened by Syrian cousins Khaled and Hisham Samawi, building on the successes of their previous galleries in Syria, Beirut and Dubai.
The cousins are already renowned for their groundbreaking work in the Middle Eastern art scene. Promoting a resurgence of interest in regional art and encouraging young contemporary artists to flourish through their innovative Shabbab Ayyam project, which they launched in 2006, they are extending their reach outside of the Middle East by opening their first European gallery.
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Nadim Karam, ‘The Cloud, The Fisherman and The Mutating Cities.’ Source: the artist and Ayyam Gallery[/caption]
“You won’t see much locally specific work in our galleries,” Khaled Samawi tells me. “We represent contemporary international artists who create works on a worldwide scale, rather than a regional level, so by opening on Bond Street, we are giving our artists the opportunity to show their work alongside their peers, at the heart of the international art scene. London is the most important art market in the world, and it is fitting for our artists to be showcased here.”
Bearing this in mind, choosing Lebanese artist Nadim Karam for their inaugural exhibition in London seems to be a wise choice. Already an important international figure, having achieved global acclaim with multi-million pound urban projects in cities such as Melbourne, Beirut, Tokyo and Prague, Karam encapsulates everything Ayyam represents, with his multi-disciplinary work ranging from drawing and painting to larger-than-life sculpture.
The new work on show in the Shooting the Cloud exhibition is typical of Karam’s blithe, whimsical style, employing recurring themes and symbols to convey the creative power of dreams. The concept of the cloud has existed with Karam for some time, an optimistic, positive symbol of hope in the Middle East region. This show reveals a playful perception of love and the absurdity of war: how can you shoot a cloud? “We live in a region which has dark elements to it, so we have to compensate for those,” Karam says with a characteristic twinkle in his eye, “I feel art should be experienced and enjoyed by many, and if it can add positively to their day, then that is something wonderful.”
Karam has described his large-scale city-site installations as urban toys. Each installation is planned as an intervention within the city to animate it, “An act of whimsy in rebellion against the soulless nature of modern spaces.” He is almost childlike in his excitement to create such an urban installation in London, and is currently looking for a site to house a large-scale replica of his work, entitled ‘Flying Elephant’: “I would love to put my elephant in London; it represents the multitude of positive stories and messages that are coming out of the Middle East, there’s a different message each time you look at it,” he enthuses. “It is fantastic that Ayyam has opened a space here, it will help to provide a different perspective of the Middle East from what the media communicate to us every night on the news.”
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Nadim Karam ‘Absurd Moments.’ Source: the artist and Ayyam Gallery[/caption]
Complementing the various sculptures on display in the gallery, Karam is exhibiting some of his paintings for the first time: “I really like the practice of painting, as it’s the only thing I do by myself. When creating sculptures, there’s so many people involved and so many different methodologies, but with painting, it’s just me and the canvas.” The glitter-adorned cartoonish paintings create a colourful backdrop for the super-shiny steel structures Karam is so well known for.
Hot on the heels of the London opening was the launch of Ayyam Gallery in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on February 27. It will be interesting to see if the cousins can shake up the Kingdom’s art scene in a way similar to what they done have in other emerging art markets, with their tried and tested formula of launching a competition within two or three months of opening to discover local talent. Opening the Jeddah gallery with an exhibition by Mohannad Orabi, one of the artists to have risen through the ranks of the Shabbab Ayyam project, proves their belief in their new, young artists. “We spend a lot of time visiting artists in their studios when we first open in a new country,” explains Samawi. “There is a lot of talent in the Middle East and we are there to find it, develop the infrastructure to support the artists and prove that it is worthy on an international level.”
With much to celebrate and look forward to with these new openings, Khaled tells us, “We are excited about both our new galleries and by adding them to our family, we hope to keep pushing the boundaries of people’s understanding of what Middle Eastern contemporary art is.”
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Nadim Karam will be showing at the Ayyam Gallery in London from January 25–March 9.
Mohannad Orabi will be showing at the Ayyam Gallery in Jeddah from February 27–April 11.
