Together with Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Culture and Information and the Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives, international auction house Sotheby’s has once again teamed up with Jeddah Art Week, and will unveil a contemporary art exhibition on February 2nd. The fair is scheduled to run from February 1-6.
The exhibition, entitled Contemporary Highlights, is meant to be a taste of an auction scheduled by Sotheby’s in April in Doha, where the previously exhibited art works will be put on sale. Among the highlights of this exhibition will be the works from contemporary artist Damien Hirst, Tranquility (2008) and Har Megiddo (2008). This will be Hirst’s first exhibition in Saudi Arabia; he has previously been involved in an event in Doha in partnership with Prada.
“For this exhibition at Jeddah Art Week, we have selected two works that are central to Damien Hirst’s oeuvre and represent the astounding beauty achieved through the variety of media that he employs,’’ explained Lina Lazaar, Sotheby’s Director, referring to the artist’s most famous subject: the constant fight between life and death.
‘’In his work Tranquility, each butterfly wing shimmers like a facet of a beautifully designed stain glass window mosaic; each wing frames the next, coming together as one to symbolize the brevity of life and its fragile nature,” Lazaar added.
Besides Hirst’s first showcase in Saudi Arabia, several art events and exhibitions will take place at various locations throughout the city, centered at Al Fursiya. Other anticipated events include a mural performance by street “calligraffiti” artist eL Seed (Poetic Ballad), accompanied by five other Saudi street artists; Khalid Zahid’s first solo show in Jeddah (I Dream Kingdom); as well as the unveiling of Jeddah’s Open Air Museum, specially set up for this occasion.
