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ADAI works with artists across the Middle East and North Africa to ensure their work is seen, understood, and contextualized. Representation on ADAI means supporting artists through curated visibility, research, and digital presentation, connecting their work to audiences, exhibitions, and broader cultural conversations.
Artists featured on ADAI are not exclusively signed or commercially represented— instead, ADAI provides a platform to showcase your practice, highlight your perspective, and situate your work within the evolving landscape of MENA art.
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Representation is about visibility, context, and community - helping your art reach the right audiences while respecting your autonomy as an artist."
Often referred to as the era of Al-Ruwad (The Pioneers), this period marks the birth of modern Arab art. Many of these artists were sent on government-sponsored scholarships to study in European capitals like Paris and Rome. Upon returning home, they blended Western academic techniques (such as Impressionism and Realism) with local subjects, landscapes, and the emerging concept of national identity.
This period was heavily defined by regional political turmoil, most notably the 1967 Six-Day War (the Naksa or 'setback'), the Palestinian exodus, and the Lebanese Civil War. Art became a crucial tool for resistance, political commentary, and documenting human suffering. Existential angst and national trauma led to an emotionally charged, often somber, figurative expressionism.
The Hurufiyya (Letterism) movement is arguably the most significant and cohesive modernist movement to emerge from the Arab world. Artists deconstructed Arabic calligraphy, liberating the letters from their linguistic and religious functions to use them as purely abstract, rhythmic, and visual elements. This allowed them to engage with global abstract expressionism while remaining deeply rooted in Islamic and Arab heritage.
Driven by globalization, the diaspora experience, and new technologies, Arab art in this era expanded well beyond traditional painting and sculpture. It became heavily characterized by video, photography, installation, and performance art. Operating on a global stage, these artists tackle complex themes of post-colonialism, migration, memory, borders, and gender identity.
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ArtScene Gallery invites you to the opening of Charbel Gergess’ solo exhibition “UNWELCOME” | «غَيْرُ مُرَحَّب» Opening Night Thursday, 24 September | 6:00–9:00 PM The exhibition will remain on view until 7 October.
ARTIST STATEMENT
“We do not rush toward death, we flee the catastrophe of birth, survivors struggling to forget it.”
— Emil Cioran
The face is in front of me and I can’t see it
How many faces pass in front of me and I do not see them
How many faces passed in front of me and I did not see them
In vain I try to see but I cannot see him
Look, look closely, look long, come back and look
Look in front of me, back in front of me, I don’t see it
Run back, run forward, I might see him, I don’t see it
Confrontation has always been a difficult thing for me. This exhibition is a collection of paintings of different portraits of different people in different spaces and places. Each individual has his own space and area that you have entrusted to him. I tried to capture moments that had no significance, no specific goal or purpose. They are fleeting moments of unrecognizable characters, undefined, indifferent, and indifferent to who they are, sitting in an unexamined state, in the middle of a square-shaped space. She has no horizon or any event ahead of her. She does not look at anything and does not wait for anything. There is nothing in front of it except a closed space in which there is no distance, no effort, and no sight, a dead end wall and nothing else. Non-confrontation is the main feature of these works. I wanted to capture that feeling as much as possible. It is something of our reality that we live or do not live. It’s a feeling of discomfort and indifference. It’s a quiet escape.
To my father…
