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: Foundation for a Civil Society
Mira Gáberová
Mira Gáberová creates complex projects, in which cooperation with other artists plays a pivotal role. These projects emerge either from social participation or from a constant holding of a mirror up to the artist. The main feature reflected in many of her recent works is doubt. The injection of doubt which questions the multi-faceted reality and multitude of possibilities which the artist can use to investigate it. Gáberová tries to rethink and return to the past and create new solutions, which were originally dismissed or unseen. She is intereted in a lonely human existence, a tragedy of a frozen moment or a very simple and slow action that can last for eternity. An intentional pathos, a distinctive feature of her previous works, is newly – through drama, tragedy and melancholy- transformed into an absolute impossibility and a constant fight for the meaning and reconcilement with a chaos. Though being still inspired by pathos and exaggeration, her attention has shifted more to formal limits of video and work with deconstruction and various forms of authorial cooperation, interpretation and appropriation of artistic material by other artists.
Mira Gáberová (born 1979, Lučenec) lives and works in Prague. In 2006, she graduated from the Departement of Painting and New Media at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Bratislava. Her recent solo exhibitions include Sleepings, Hit Gallery, Bratislava; Behind the Tree, Kabinet Gallery,Brno; Scene, Jeleni Gallery, Prague; Sisyphus’ Love, Synagogue, Trnava. Her group exhibitions include FILM. Directed by Artists, Nitra Gallery, Nitra; Crazy Curators Biennale III, CK Castle, Poznaň; PragueBiennale, Microna Building, Prague, Czech Republic. Interventions in the Gotic Collection, Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava; Donumenta, Stadtische Galerie Leerer Beutel, Regensburg; and Essl Award, Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg.
Mira Gáberová, Fridge Gallery, 2008-2011, Series of 8 exhibitions. Courtesy of the artist and Fridge Gallery.
Mira Gáberová, Performance Group, 2012, Performance project with 8 performances, video installation and practice book. Courtesy of the artist.
Mira Gáberová, Sad, 2005-2013, Carbon-paper drawings, 24 × 17 in. (60.96 × 43.18 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Mira Gáberová, Scene, 2012, Video, loop, 1 min. Courtesy of the artist.
Mira Gáberová, Sometimes I Want to be Everything and Sometimes I Want to be Nothing, 2010, Projection, 2 min 16 sec. Courtesy of the artist.
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.
