The Young Collectors Auction returns to Dubai this month

DUBAI- Signaling the arrival of another vibrant arts season in Dubai, the twenty-first edition of The Young Collectors Auction returns to Ayyam Gallery Al Quoz, Dubai on 30 September 2014.

The forthcoming auction presents an opportunity for both experienced and aspiring collectors to bid on an array of carefully selected works from established and emerging artists of the region, including painting, photography, limited-edition prints, and sculpture.

The September auction provides a robust selection of work from stalwarts of Syrian art, including painters Asaad Arabi, Leila Nseir, and Marwan Kassab Bachi. A 1989 painting by influential artist Safwan Dahoul evokes both a sense of mystery and of alienation as a lone figure sits in the corner of a café littered with empty chairs, the scene rendered in warm yellow and red.

Contemporary favourites Ammar Al Beik, Tammam Azzam, and Khaled Takreti, who mine archives as well as current events to create their varied works, are represented in the categories of photography, painting, and mixed media. Reflective of work appealing to an urbane sensibility are artists Huda Beydoun from Jeddah and Kezban Arca Batibeki from Istanbul. The former’s work pits popular culture characters against scenes of daily Saudi life as she creates an interaction between herself and undocumented immigrants in the country. The latter’s mixed media work superimposes sequined details onto feminine imagery that explores women’s objectification as well as their empowerment.

Iranian artist Farzad Kohan’s work includes various sanding, grinding, cutting and pasting techniques that are combined with newspaper clippings and advertisements in order to create a work that is minimalist and poetic, while reflecting upon the artist’s own state of migration, among other things. Afshin Pirhashemi’s latest offering is provocative in an amalgamation of the violent and the defiant, it presents a female figure rendered in multiple perspectives. Wrapped in traditional headscarf the heroine is paired against pink flowers in which a fissure appearing in the centre of the work gestures both to bleeding as well as to blooming.

The sales’ lineup of painters provides seasoned buyers with an exclusive opportunity to expand their collections with works that chart the region’s development in art.

A catalogue detailing the artwork to be auctioned will be available in PDF format online or a hard copy can be collected from any one of Ayyam Gallery’s international locations.

Aimed at making the auction experience and the appreciation of art accessible and enjoyable to all, The Young Collectors Auction welcomes the public to a viewing prior to the auction with artwork lots on display and specialists on hand available to answer any questions. Both bidders and members of the public are encouraged to attend the preview and the auction.

With the flexibility to bid in person or register for telephone and absentee bids online via www.ayyamgallery.com/auctions, The Young Collectors Auction allows even those abroad to participate in the auction.