Brainchild of Dubai based collector Charles Al Sidaoui, the Yes Collection is made up of diverse international Modern and Contemporary Art, all selected with passion and intellectual curiosity.
Focusing in on contemporary works from the Yes Collection, The Arts Club Dubai’s curated selection is divided over two floors following two themes – ‘Rethinking the Figure’ on the first floor the Club, and ‘Contemporary Abstraction’ on the second floor.
Each choice is driven by his intuitive response to paintings: “I buy what I love, from around the world. Hung together, it’s like the paintings talk to each other. They find common ground and appreciate difference and co-exist with harmony and texture – art is an international language.”
The exhibition is the latest of the Club’s ongoing series that shines a light on important private collections from the Middle East. Previous exhibitions were selected from the collections of Lebanese collector Elie Khouri (2021) and Iranian collector Farhad Farjam (2023).
Both figuration and abstraction have been key movements in painting over the past two decades, addressing key issues affecting our world, intimate and individual perspectives and driving forth the language of contemporary art.
Among those represented are Farah Atassi (Belgium), Rebecca Ackroyd (Britain), Vojtěch Kovařík (Czech Republic), Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (Britain), Enrico Riley (USA) and Maxwell Alexandre (Brazil) on Floor 1; and Ahmed Alsoudani (Iraq), Xiyao Wang (China), Ablade Glover (Ghana) and Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim (UAE) and more on Floor 2. Together these artists present a compelling vision of both the use of figurative art to tell the socio-political stories of our time, and the bold approaches to gesture, colour and feeling at the heart of new waves in abstraction.
Members will have the chance to meet the Collector Charles Al Sidaoui on 1st October, when a fireside chat will be hosted at the Club.
For non-members, please email rsvp@theartsclub.ae to make an appointment to view the show.
About The Arts Club Dubai
The Arts Club Dubai is the first social private members club in the Middle East, located in the heart of DIFC. It is the first international outpost of the historic private members’ club from Mayfair, London. Unveiled in 2020, the space is set over five floors with 65,000* square feet of dedicated space, three restaurants, five lounges, a rooftop terrace, nightclub, cigar lounges, library, and permanent art spaces. The Club’s membership forms a diverse community of leaders, entrepreneurs, creatives and freethinkers who come together to enjoy the Club’s highly curated dining, socialising and cultural event experiences.
The Arts Club Dubai has hosted nine other Stairway Exhibitions since its inception in 2020. These have included: Think it Forward: Selections from The Elie Khouri Collection and Faces and Places: Huguette Caland; Geometric Bodies: Regional and Diaspora Artists and Radical Threads and The End of Love and Faces to Faces by Akram Zaatari, Lakwena Maciver: Wild Flowers Will Grow, El Anatsui: Detsi, a solo show by the acclaimed British artist Daniel Crews-Chubb, Contemporary Middle East: Selections from the Farjam Collection, That Which Does Not Belong and nowWhere Gesture Meets Story.
The exhibition is curated by Amelie von Wedel and Pernilla Holmes of Wedel Art.
About Charles Al Sidaoui
Charles began collecting art in 2007, and now owns over 150 modern and contemporary works by artists from more than 20 different countries. He is based in Dubai, which he considers the ‘capital of the world’ – a key inspiration in his decision to collect from all around the world, with no one continent dominating. His collection hangs in his home, juxtaposing world-renowned artists alongside young, emerging talent.
About Wedel Art
International art advisory firm Wedel Art works with private and corporate clients on their collections, exhibition programmes, special projects and philanthropy, as well as curating numerous exhibitions and artist projects internationally. Wedel Art have built the permanent collection and curated the exhibition programme at the Arts Club London since 2011, now including the Dubai location also.
For more information, please visit www.theartsclub.ae.
