"AGORA" A SPACE OF ART IN YOU

(Saju Nair - Dubai) In a short span of time, after the summer vacation, The United Arab Emirates had experienced dozens of art gatherings in this great nation, be it group exhibitions or solos.

Declaring 2019 as the 'Year of Tolerance' in UAE, innumerable gatherings were organized by the administration and various NGO's which echoed support to the governments' call to celebrate tolerance. This country has set a great example on Tolerance by hosting more than 200 nationalities and giving all of them equal importance and tantamount respect to their traditions and exquisite cultures.

Such mass availability of various nationalities has also paved the way for immense opportunities to organize events, be it the national day of a country or any religious celebrations or state celebrations and this has gifted an opportunity to the residents to know, enjoy and admire the rich culture of different nationalities by which a sense of togetherness is created.

The art industry in this country has utilized this opportunity to the best by curating events involving multiple nationalities under one roof to spread the message of equality. There are numerous galleries as such in the UAE and one such gallery that has always stood for a noble cause and to celebrate equality is ART4You Gallery.

"Agora" - A Space of Art in you - will be hosted at Studio Seven Gallery at the Oxford Tower, Business bay, Dubai. Studio Seven has been facilitating the art industry since 2015 and has gained immense popularity among the Art and Design fraternity in UAE. Studio Seven hosts a diverse schedule of exhibitions throughout the year representing a wide range of interests, media, and subject matter and offers artists an opportunity to explore the ongoing dialogue of art and find inspiration for their own work. A blend of exhibitions includes shows from their own collection, group and solo exhibitions by Eminent and freshly graduated artists from UAE and across the globe. Besides contributing to the art in UAE they are also manufacturers of contemporary furniture line with the innovation of working on stainless steel Islamic Motifs, blending contemporary furniture with Islamic culture and values.

Founded by Jesno Jackson and Rengi Cherian, ART4You Gallery has organized dozens of successful art gatherings in UAE, keeping Tolerance as the prime subject ever since the administration has declared 2019 as the "Year of Tolerance". The magical curations of Jesno Jackson have been applauded by the art community in UAE and abroad and now, under the able leadership of Jesno, the art world is set to experience an art gathering titled "Agora" - A Space of Art in you. While Jesno curates such exhibitions, she also ensures that she creates a sense of awareness on the basic values of art and its technicalities to the art enthusiasts.

Technically, the seven core elements of art are known to be Line, color, shape, form, value, space, and texture and when these elements are placed in the most appropriate way, complimenting the imaginations of the artists based on the subject they choose, a stunning creation takes form. As the title of this exhibition proclaims, the creations set to be displayed will have a perfect combination of these elements. Being a Tutor of art, Jesno Jackson always ensures that the selection of artworks can also provide an academic brief to the onlookers.

Agora - mainly emphasizes on Space which is set to be the core element in this exhibition. The title 'Agora' is derived from the Greek language and the literal meaning of this word is "gathering place". As the title and the meaning says, Studio Seven is all set to transform into a lovely gathering place where artists will showcase their splendid creation in the pretext of SPACE as an element of art.

ART4You being one of the well-established galleries in the region, the announcements of this gallery have been always accepted by the art community in the seriousness it deserves, as a result, when they set an open call for "Agora" months back the number of responses they receive was beyond their expectations. Considering the availability of space at the Studio Seven Gallery, the curator had a challenge in terms of selecting the artists and their works from the huge number of entry requests. One of the key qualities of Jesno is that she ensures giving each and every artist equal importance for their caliber and respect to their creation, as a result from the mass entries she had to restrict participation to 16 artists and their creations displayed will surely justify the element 'SPACE'

The extremely busy curator & a magnificent artist by herself, Jesno Jackson managed to spend some time with me to give an insight on 'Agora' and she says "Artists from around the world have answered the call to Agora - Space as an Element of Art, and explored this intriguing theme. Fascinating interpretations of their artistic point of view, translated through their unique renditions highlight perspective, projection, and the essential elements of positive and negative space. Artists have created an illusion of space in their landscape art demonstrating their keen understanding of perspective, yet others have captured the sense of space through their simplicity of form and a strong understanding of a sense of composition. The range of art pieces on display promise to enthrall art audiences. Artworks that have tackled the dimension of the artists, personal search and struggle with space within and without, have resulted in multilayered approaches on canvas, perhaps a distorted sense of reality all the while conveying the artist's raw emotions. We invite you to visit and view each piece of art, and draw your conclusion about the artist's thoughts on SPACE".

The artists selected to be a part of "Agora" with their stunning creations in line with the specifications as mentioned in the title are Ahmed Rukni Al Awadhi, Ahmed Al Dossary, Amruta Ketkar, Gayatri Simit Shah, Hiral Patel, Imran Mansoor Imzy, Jalal Abusamaa, Mohamed Shabana, Nada Al Barazi, Nisar Ibrahim, Peter Farrington, Rachel John, Varsha Saju Nair, Veena Devagiri, Yasmine Mohamed.

Studio seven is scheduled to be ornamented with paintings in different mediums using various techniques and each artist will doggedly have a story to be told behind each of their creations. The youngest of the participating artist is Varsha Saju Nair, who is 15 years of age and a 10th grade student of Delhi Private School, Sharjah. She will be utilizing this platform to unveil her first ever painting series titled "Immersed in colors" which is a collection of figurative abstract that gives equal importance to all seven basic elements of art.

All in all, the evening of 20th October 2019 is set to witness a splendid collection of artworks in distinctive techniques complimenting with effervescent colors and mastered strokes which will gift a mesmerizing experience to the visitors and to the art fraternity.

We at Televisionario2 extend all our warm wishes to the curator and participating artists for a successful art exhibition and encourage the art world to visit Studio Seven on 20th October 2019, the inaugural day at 7.00PM to experience the magic and to support the artists. The exhibition shall be open for public till 27th October 2019.

We shall bring the complete report on the inauguration ceremony to our savant readers across the globe, meanwhile keep following us to be appraised on the developments in art in The United Arab Emirates.

Cheers!