Forsaken – Showcase Gallery

Going to a vernissage entails what you see in your head… a drink, some nibbles, art, and a lot of art murmuring that is both very loud and very quiet. Showcase Gallery's new exhibition did just this, but with a couple surprises.

 

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It is a gallery that has existed in Dubai since the 1990's, arguably since before there was even really an art scene to be spoken of, under different directors with varying descriptions. In its current incarnation, it exposes artists from Africa, Europe and the Middle East, along with some pretty fantastic antique looking furniture (for anyone who complains about wanting a seat to be able to sit and enjoy looking at the art, Showcase won't disappoint you). There is a certain ethnographic quality to the space and what lives inside of it, and Forsaken, a series of photographs by Christian Ghammachi, follows suit.

The photographs are dramatic, and the drama is enhanced by the unusual layout of the gallery with small nooks and crevices that hide other works. National Geographic style mixed in with the super shiny (and they maintain it) with its floating glass framing and occasional printing on metallic paper. The wild animal portraits give these creatures a strikingly human feeling, and the photographs of sand-filled abandoned architectures also exude a distinct humanity: loneliness (an additional contrast to a densely hung installation). 

For a room full of everything the antithesis of human vivacity, you leave feeling distinctly the opposite.   

Learn more here: http://showcaseuae.com 

 

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The entrance giving you just a taste of what's to come.

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The view from one of the several platforms of which to view the artworks.

 

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Well-advised centrally located gourmet cheese table, thannks to Stephanie Duriez from Secrets Fine Food.

 

 

 

 

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