Hassan Sharif is a name of wide significance beyond the borders of UAE, going to create an eternally fresh mark on the global art scenario. Enounced as the father of conceptual art in the Gulf he brought innovation in making art and that would change the perceptions of UAE towards contemporary art forever. Sharif’s work has been loaded with a quality of complexity and polity along with humour excised from the traditional methods of art which have welcomed a new wave of experimentalism and conceptualism.

Sharif died in 2016; however, the work lives on. His work is exhibited in most of the world’s leading museums, including Guggenheim New York, Centre Pompidou, Tate Modern, and the Sharjah Art Foundation. In fact, it’s not only his works that he’s created in the process which have left their marks but the very pioneering vision and passion for art education he inspired which now finds its way to new generations of artists across the Middle East and beyond.

Throughout the 1970s, his artistic journey involved work as a political caricaturist, capturing the changing dynamics of the UAE and the larger Middle East. His early cartoons in newspapers depicted the rapid urbanization and commercialization and politically impactful changes that occurred in the region. In fact, by 1979, Sharif saw a need to progress beyond mere caricature art. In rejecting mainstream calligraphy and nationalist art practiced in the Middle East, he left the UAE to formally study at the Byam Shaw School of Art, London, under the tutelage of Tam Giles. In this period, Sharif was introduced to British Constructionism as well as the abstract conceptual practices of Kenneth Martin. He came to refer to what he produced as the “Semi-System,” wherein he would create artworks through repetitive, arbitrary processes. His methodology focused on the process of creation above the end product-an approach that presented a radical departure from traditional forms of art.

Upon returning to the UAE in the 1980s, Sharif set about transforming the local art scene. He began to organize the first modern art exhibitions in the Emirates and, in 1984, founded Al Marijah Art Atelier that became a setting for young artists to experiment and learn. But Sharif was not only an artist; he was also a teacher, publishing hundreds of essays and translating international manifestos of art so that he could reach the audience and explain the message beyond the conceptual action of art. His works often took the form of constructing everyday things like combs, ropes, newspapers, and coir into large-scale assemblages. His pieces showed his scathing attacks on consumerism and speedy industrialization in the UAE. Sharif was inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s philosophy of readymades- the intellectual idea that everyday objects are transformed into art just by changing their context and meaning-Sharif made this mundane object into a leading piece.

While Sharif’s art was no ‘only within the frame,’ he enjoyed equal fame for his performances of absurd acts in public. So, one day, right in one of his first performances, Sharif would be jumping in the desert, tying ropes between rocks, or munching bread while discussing politics and art. His performances were just as much about the process and gesture as was his physical artwork, often working in irony to challenge the seriousness of the political and social discourse of the time. His work within such influence by British Constructivism and absurdity would show how Sharif viewed art: a process-based activity. He focused on the action of making, rather than the meaning of the resulting artifact, often turning mundane processes into acts he ritualized by repetition. His work, therefore, is a simple critique against the consumerist culture, laying bare the overconsumption of modernity.

Hassan Sharif is not only remembered by his vast production, but he has changed the life of the following generations of artists in the UAE. His influence exists throughout the region, from the Flying House-a space founded by Sharif’s brother to showcase Hassan’s work-to the international recognition that Emirati contemporary art has received. Sharif’s works remain visible today in museums like the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art, and in Sharjah Art Foundation. And so, his art remains available to this world and inspires thinking in its beholders, and starts movements.

In conclusion, Hassan Sharif was not only an artist but also a forerunner who made the most important steps toward the formation of the UAE’s artistic identity. Indeed, his work reminds us how art can be used to challenge the status quo, provoke questions in people, and mirror all the complications of life around us. Today, Sharif’s legacy continues to be alive in the conceptual art scene that continues to boom in the UAE because of the pioneering efforts he put in.

Paris-based French artist Calixte channels her vibrant personality and love for freedom into her art as she abandoned her career in architecture for her true passion. Born in 1995, Calixte has carved out a niche in the contemporary art world by marrying the worlds of photography, urban culture, and cinematic storytelling together with bold, saturated colours. Her works are more than aesthetic pieces but social commentaries about the youth culture, urban lifestyle, painting a bright picture of present time while celebrating individuality and freedom.

Actually, for Calixte, moving from architecture to the world of art was not a change in career as much as taking a leap into a world where her true creative spirit would shine. A trained architect, it is Calixte’s background that brings structure and form to her vibrant emotionally charged works. Architecture is about precision, symmetry, and planning; art allows for complete freedom of expression-a juxtaposition well encapsulated in the unique style that is Calixte. Calixte grew up in France amidst a culture that created creativity and inspiration. As her architectural career developed, her attention turned to a far more freeing form of creativity-art. The world of architecture was filled with rules and regulations; it is in this world of art that Calixte found a feeling of freedom. With her mastery of oil paint, dynamic pieces burst with saturated colours leaping from the canvas as a clear means of voicing emotion and personality.

The root of Calixte’s work is in bold, vibrant colours-so vibrant, because she tries to portray freedom and authenticity. She has used saturated colours consciously, the way she broke herself free from the rigid controls of her previous profession, each stroke with a sense of release, enabling her to push through the conventional boundaries of the art techniques. Though impulsive, her style balances on the firm foundation of her architectural training, therefore presenting a fascinating balance between structure and abstraction. Her colours tend to be bright and very saturated, speaking to a sense of energy and vitality. For Calixte, colours speak so much louder than words and speak to a feeling that transcends language barriers. This is most apparent in her portraits of urban youth-the intensity of the colour palette reflecting the dynamic nature of street wear culture, which is a major influence on her work.

Much of the inspiration in Calixte’s work emanates from her eclectic influences that range from a love of cinema and photography, both elements that notably influence her artistic narratives. She is very fascinated by the way films record human stories, and for that reason, her paintings seem to be like a movie. The compositions of her works are film stills moments recording emotions and subtle expressions from real-life life experiences. Calixte’s work is informed by her being bathed in urban culture and street wear. For her, street fashion is not a fad; it’s a medium and expression of raw energy that characterizes the youth of today. She does this by infusing these influences into her art to form visual stories that really strike a chord with the modern audience. Combining her urban aesthetic with architectural precision makes her works raw, unfiltered, and appealing to lovers of art and generally anyone with feelings for modern street culture.

One of the most defining themes in Calixte’s work is how she is able to portray youth in its true form: raw, unfiltered, and full of life. Her portraits reach past the façade and into the emotional terrain of the individual being captured. From carefree and playful in street wear to contemplative when caught in reflective moments, creation from Calixte often feels like a form of social reporting-visuals of the youths of today sans embellishment. More than the aesthetic of the visuals, her work is about capturing the very essence of the people she shoots. It is through this that the relationship of her art with youth and urban life lets her work be so relatable, most especially to a younger audience who trace bits of themselves through the narratives she creates.

The ease with which Calixte takes herself from the graphic tablet to oil paints reflects the versatility of the artist. From traditional to digital mediums, she continues to embrace these for her unique texturing, techniques, and forms of expression. She does this with a depth and complexity brought about by digital precision interacting with the tactility of painting. Most often, her works border on true social reporting. It is in this duality that Calixte fits into both the world of traditional art and modern, contemporary spaces.

Afra Al Dhaheri is one of the better-known Emirati artists who uses her practice to address notions of time, fragility, and adaptability-concepts inextricably linked to how she grew up in the midst of very rapid changes in Abu Dhabi and the UAE. Sculpture, painting, and photography are some of the genres Afra Al Dhaheri employs to set up telling narratives that take viewers through every stage of her artistic process. Her peculiarity in repetition is just that eccentric trait of an individual which lets her not only stretch time within her work but also involves her rather closely in every stage of her creation.

Afra Al Dhaheri was born in Abu Dhabi, UAE, in 1988. She is one of the thriving voices within Emirati contemporary art. A lot of her meditative and many times experimental work reflects upon rapid transformations she has grown up with within the UAE. The rapid change in her motherland is at the core of her practice and is, therefore, constituted through the core ideas that support her thoughts on time, adaptation, and fragility. Using a wide range of media-sculpture, drawing, painting, photography, and printmaking-the works by Al Dhaheri challenge common perceptions of time and alteration. Her interest in these themes can be argued to have been born during her MFA at the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design in the USA, completed in 2017. Much earlier, in 2014, she was an artist in residence under the Salama bint Hamdan Emerging Artists Fellowship in collaboration with Rhode Island School of Design. These experiences have importantly shaped her experimental style and thematic focus.

Among the leading methods Afra Al Dhaheri uses in her work is repetition. In the case of Al Dhaheri, repetition works in two different directions: to extend the moment in time for the viewer and to allow her to investigate the profundity and substance of every artistic phase. This is most manifestly evident in the case of her multimedia installations, where the replication of a form or concept at every turn asks the viewer to reconsider what had been at stake. Repetition also functions as one of the tools for the artist to capture evanescent time. In a world where everything is in constant motion-in the UAE, where development is at a fast pace-Al Dhaheri’s work acts like a reminder that one should stop and live the moment. With every repetition of elements in her work, the story lengthens and urges the viewer to get more involved with the hidden message.

Afra Al Dhaheri’s works are also an expression of her personal experience of adaptation, perhaps the most critical common thread in her work. Leveraging her practice of living in a time when immense cultural and architectural changes occurred in this region, she tells and navigates tugging forces between the old and the new. Rigid forms represent the rigor and permanence of tradition, while fragile materials symbolize the fragile and transient present moment. A perpetual dance between these two opposed forces is characteristic of her work. Fragility and adaptation allow Al Dhaheri’s works to capture nuanced experiences defined by people living within rapidly changing environments. The vulnerability appearing in her work is both personal and universal, reflecting the fragility of human experience in an ever-changing world.

Afra Al Dhaheri has had several important exhibitions of her work, both locally and internationally. Her solo shows include “Split Ends” at the Green Art Gallery in Dubai, 2021; “Inevitable Ephemera” presented by T+H Gallery, Boston, USA, 2016. These shows have been emblematic of her skill in reimagining such complexly philosophical and conceptual themes as visually engaging art. The group exhibitions she was a part of further and firmly established her standing among the avant-garde artists of her time. Group shows among others include “Beyond: Emerging Artists” at Cromwell Place in London in 2021 and Manarat Al Saadiyat in Abu Dhabi in 2020, where her work is put in relation to other emerging artists. These exhibitions allow viewers to engage with an investigation of adaptation, memory, and identity within the UAE’s ever-changing landscape.