Artnet News profiled eight Gulf artists in a piece by Rebecca Anne Proctor, published 26 December 2025, surveying figures gaining recognition for work spanning painting, sculpture, film, installation and performance across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait.
On Maitha Abdalla, the piece describes her surreal canvases of imaginative characters exploring folklore, femininity and domestic power relations, quoting gallerist Maliha Tabari on being 'drawn to her painterly and performative language, which connects the body to its social conditions'; it notes her participation in the Sharjah Biennial and the Aichi Triennale. On Hashel Al Lamki, it describes his work with upcycled materials and natural pigments exploring the relationship between people and environment, his 2023 commission at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, and a presentation running at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center into February 2026.
Proctor situates both artists within a wider account of a Gulf art market maturing quickly around institutional backing and rising prices, alongside figures such as Dana Awartani and Farah Al Qassimi. Maitha Abdalla and Hashel Al Lamki, both represented by Tabari Artspace, are presented as part of a generation whose regional recognition is translating into international institutional and market attention.
