This past Art Dubai, the seventh edition, made all the right impressions, even leaving the Financial Times to ponder if Dubai is now the safe place for unsafe ideas. With over 75 galleries exhibiting, international dealers Pace, Miro, and Continua, showed their finest pieces alongside the regional regulars Isabelle van den Eynde, The Third Line, and Carbon 12. Regardless of the international participation, Middle Eastern art was the main affair, with a special focus on Iranian works. Among some of the most expensive pieces for sale included an installation by Wim Delvoye that combined sculptures with a 19th-century Syrian paneled room from Aleppo that went for 12 855 333 AED million — but many more affordable sales were made, as well. Crown Prince of Dubai, HRH Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum snapped up all three “Great Expectation” images of the moon by artist Igra Tanveer, which went for 18 364 AED each.
For those of you who couldn’t make it and for others who simply want to reminisce, click on the picture gallery for all of the Art Dubai atmosphere shots.
