The New York Times looked at the growth of contemporary art in the Gulf through Art Dubai 2012, reporting sales of works by Zakaria Ramhani and Mohamed Taman, two artists the gallery was showing at the time.
Vinita Bharadwaj's article, published online on 28 March 2012 and in print the next day, opens on the first public day of Art Dubai with the Emirati painter Abdul Qader Al Rais showing new works inspired by the Arab Spring. The fair's 2012 edition brought together more than 70 international galleries.
Among the sales reported on that day were a politically inspired acrylic by the Moroccan artist Zakaria Ramhani, which sold for $24,400, and Qaddafi's Bullets by the Egyptian artist Mohamed Taman, which sold for $16,000. Both artists were then shown by the gallery, at that time called Artspace, and the article was listed on our press page that year. The text itself does not name the booth where the works were shown.
Through Al Rais, the piece traces how the art scene in the Emirates widened after 2000, and especially from 2006, helped by new museums, by Art Dubai and by families who became more accepting of art as a career. It is a useful snapshot of the market our gallery had been part of since opening in Dubai in 2003.