Being it an allegory itself, summer represents and ultimately embodies abundance. For instance in nature, summer is when flowers and all beings come to life. Similarly for us humans, summer is when all positive feelings surface allowing for a better appreciation of everything we do. An overall positive emotional and psychological seasonal response grants us the ability and forsite to experience our environment with more grounding. To this effect, ‘A Summer Allegory’ aims to encompass this summer’s glamour through a selection of artists, forms and subject matter. An overall connubium of colour, expression and medium.
About the artists
Richard Ketley
Is a South African artist based in Dubai and Johannesburg. He has a Masters in Fine Art degree from the University of the Witwatersrand. His work centers on his global travels and experience of place and culture that he captures in abstract works executed in a diverse range of media. I find meaning where others do not – in the fall of light on a sandy building in Riyadh, the chaos of the shacks of Kampala, the crowded taxi parks of Johannesburg. I travel widely in the Middle East and Africa, and am inspired by these places of contemporary significance.
Solimar Miller
Is a multidisciplinary artist and textile designer who specializes in silkscreen artworks based on her observational drawings that highlight the unique qualities of the indigenous flora and the expanse of naturally growing tree species in the United Arab Emirates, where she has been living for twenty five years.
She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Textile Surface Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology and studied Illustration at Parsons School of Design in New York.
Elisabeth Dorazio
The artist was born and raised in Araguari, deep in the Brazilian hinterland. Currently residing in Dubai, she works between Brazil and the UAE.
Her vast art production currently compresses more than three thousand pieces exploring different techniques and materials. To skim through her various bodies of works is to glimpse a fascination with instability, as her use of shifting and fragmented surfaces alludes to the existential and unstable nature of humanity and the natural world.
Colleen Quigley
A Japanese-American visual artist based in Tucson, Arizona. Her practice encompasses a broad range of media including sculpture, installation, painting, encaustic, and digital fabrication. Her work has been exhibited in Italy, Japan, Singapore, the United States, and the U.A.E. Her research interests include postmodern strategies of making in relation to themes of materiality, perception, memory and place, and the transcultural flow of objects.
Drawing and collage on paper 161 x 158 cm
About XVA Gallery
XVA Gallery is one of the leading galleries in the Middle East that specializes in contemporary art from the Arab world, Iran, and the Subcontinent. Exhibitions focus on works by the region’s foremost artists as well as those emerging onto the scene. The gallery’s artists express their different cultural identities and perspectives while challenging the viewer to drop prejudices and borders. XVA Gallery exhibits both locally and internationally; collaborating with galleries and participating in international art fairs, such as Art Basel Hong Kong, SH Contemporary, Singapore Art Fair and Abu Dhabi Art, in order to further expose Middle Eastern contemporary art.
XVA Gallery and XVA Art Hotel are located in Dubai’s heritage district, now called Al Fahidi Historical Neighborhood. XVA founded and organized the Bastakiya Art Fair from 2007- 2010 as part of its commitment to raising the profile of contemporary art practice in Dubai.
For more information please visit https://www.xvagallery.com/
