Past Residents
Past Resident2013: Al-Riwaq Art Space
Jaffar Al Oraibi
Jaffar Al Oraibi began drawing and painting early in life, first drawing portraits of friends and family members and then landscapes in Bahrain. His work has evolved toward the evolution of knowing the world of art and artists, through direct visits inside and outside Bahrain.
Jaffar Al Oraibi (born 1976) is one of Bahrain’s foremost emerging contemporary artists, with a Bachelor of Education from the University of Bahrain. His work has been exhibited widely, including solo exhibitions at Cuadro Fine Art Gallery, Dubai, and Al Riwaq Art Space, Bahrain. Group exhibitions include Morocco’s Asilah Festival, the China Art Olympiad Biennale, the 5th International Print Triennial in Egypt, and the Cité International des Arts in France. He has won numerous awards for his work, such as first prize at the Qatari Diar Art Symposium, special recognition at the 32nd Annual Plastic Arts exhibit at Bahrain’s National Museum, and the Silver Palm from the seven GCC art exhibitions, Kuwait. Al Oraibi was an artist-in-residence at Cité International des Arts and the Delfina Foundation in London.
Events & Exhibitions
Salon: Jaffar Al Oraibi, Waheeda Malullah and Mohamed Sharkawy
August 27, 2013
Jaffar Al Oraibi, Untitled, 2012, Oil, charcoal and oil bar on canvas, 5611/16 × 5811/16 in. (144.02 × 149.1 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Jaffar Al Oraibi, Untitled 0, 2012, Oil, charcoal and oil bar on canvas, 5611/16 × 5811/16 in. (144.02 × 149.1 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Jaffar Al Oraibi, Untitled 22, 2010, Oil, charcoal and spray paint on canvas, 353/8 × 275/8 in. (89.92 × 70.1 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Jaffar Al Oraibi, Untitled, 2010, Oil, charcoal and oil bar on canvas, 5811/16 × 753/16 in. (149.1 × 191.01 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Jaffar Al Oraibi, Untitled 3, 2010, Oil, charcoal, oil bar and spray paint on canvas, 5611/16 × 753/16 in. (144.02 × 191.01 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Residents from Bahrain
Past Resident2013: Ministry of Culture, Taiwan
Hai-Hsin Huang
Hai-Hsin Huang’s works explore images indicative of contemporary life. Particularly governmental and instructional images that reveal an ambiguous atmosphere between humor and horror: the first-aid illustration in restaurants, ordinary family photo images and regular annual drill practices. She is interested in the ridiculousness and fear in society, the absurdity and the loneliness. As part of a generation marked by hedonism, people seem to know more but feel less. Catastrophes become assumptions; we practice suffering and crisis with laughter. Huang tries to highlight the lives of this easy and comfortable generation, and in particular, their lightness of being.
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, 1984. Huang received her BA from National Taipei University of Education in 2007. She went on to receive a MFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York in 2009. Huang lives and works in Brooklyn.
Hai-Hsin Huang, Looking at the Future, 2012, Oil on canvas, 20 × 24 in. (50.8 × 60.96 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Hai-Hsin Huang, Silent Night, 2012, Oil on canvas, 48 × 48 in. (121.92 × 121.92 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Residents from Taiwan
Past Resident2013: Canada Council for the Arts
Paul Dignan
The starting point for Paul Dignan’s recent paintings are squares aligned in an even grid. Within these squares there are individual compositions based on one original source drawing. These paintings challenge the viewers’ perception in that the apparent uniformity of the schemata gradually begins to dissolve over time allowing slight shifts to occur. The feeling of order is further disrupted by the placement of flat areas next to airbrushed areas that feign an illusion of depth. Within a limited and regular format the paintings offer endless shifting variations that initially engage the viewers eye before ultimately revealing a certain resistance to it.
Paul Dignan (born Dundee, Scotland) is based in Ontario, Canada. He has lived and worked there since leaving Scotland in 2003. He is a graduate of the Slade School of Fine Art, London and is a past recipient of The Rome Scholarship in Painting at The British School at Rome. He has received numerous awards from the Scottish Arts Council, The Ontario Arts Council and The Canada Council for the Arts. His work has been included in shows at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje; FYR Macedonia and The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. His work can be found in numerous collections, including The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, The Unilever Collection, London and The Canada Council for the Arts.
Paul Dignan, Cota 1, 2011, Acrylic on canvas, 48 × 48 in. (121.92 × 121.92 cm). Courtesy of the artist and The Canada Council for the Arts.
Paul Dignan, Beamish 2, 2012, Acrylic on canvas, 36 × 36 in. (91.44 × 91.44 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Paul Dignan, Beamish 2 (detail), 2012, Acrylic on canvas, 36 × 36 in. (91.44 × 91.44 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Paul Dignan, Corridor 2, 2013, Acrylic on canvas, 60 × 60 in. (152.4 × 152.4 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Paul Dignan, Corridor 3, 2013, Acrylic on canvas, 36 × 36 in. (91.44 × 91.44 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
