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: Danish Arts Foundation
Lea Porsager
Lea Porsager’s work is rooted in the disciplines of film, objects, photography and text. Working within an expanded field – a space of mad, non-violent speculation – Porsager references a broad range of occult theories, sciences and pseudo-sciences of the body and mind. Rituals, conceptual (mis)interpretations, speculations and experiments with multi-selves all contribute to the shifting foundation on which strategies are built. Strategies designed for doing as well as undoing the work, a process somehow closely related to the key words themselves: Occult, meaning to hide, and occultation, a technical term in astronomy that is used when one heavenly body obscures another by passing in front of it.
Lea Porsager (born 1981, Frederikssund) studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main where she received her MFA in 2010. Her works have been shown in solo and group exhibitions at Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin; Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Arnhem; Kunsthal Århus, Aarhus; KUMU, Tallinn; Aros, Aarhus; Den Frie, Copenhagen; Charlottenborg, Copenhagen; and Röda Sten, Ghotenburg. In 2008, Porsager was awarded the Montana Enter Prize for her work LEAP – The Awakening of the Dark Muses. In 2012, she participated in dOCUMENTA (13) with her work Anatta Experiment. Porsager lives and works in Copenhagen.
Lea Porsager, Mesmerized Machines Now Vibrating Anry Machine of Mystical Knowledge Making No Compromise with the Public Taste, 2010-2013, Metal tables, text, 16mm film, and metal poles, Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist.
Lea Porsager, LEAP - The Awakening of the Dark Muses, 2008, Photographs, 16mm film, and framed text, Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist.
Lea Porsager, Celestial Body - Disrupted Nerve Fluid and Crossed Shock Waves, 2011, Film, text, and metal poles, Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist.
Lea Porsager, Anatta Experiment, 2012, Film, text, ova, index-floor, and poster, Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist.
Lea Porsager, How to Program and Use T-F, 2013, Photography, text, film, bronze and iron objects, Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist.
Residents from Denmark
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.
