Mon 16/03/09 13:13

The Fleeting Moment was the title, and the reception was tonight. It had a good showing and all the work looked good. I took some pics and will post them here. Other than that, there isn’t too much to say.

Nine Dubai-based artists showcase their latest artwork in an exhibition of contemporary painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, and video.  This group of artists all address different themes in their work, however their current show converges around the idea of the fleeting moment, the passing of someone on the street, the opportunity taken or missed, the instant in time that is recorded.  We look at this recording for an instant, a minute, maybe even five minutes.  Sometimes the impression stays with us, sometimes it fades away.  Sometimes the constant din of a city that never stops regains control of our senses, and the fleeting moment is just that.

I am one of the faculty members participating in this exhibition. It should be nice to get back into the art scene with my own work, but I will be showing older stuff that I did over a year ago. Maybe this will be the incentive to start working on some new stuff.

Reception is on the 15th of March at Dubai Community Theatre and Art Centre (Mall of the Emirates)

Sun 15/02/09 22:47

After a week of touring Dubai, and meeting with the faculty and students here at AUD, Maris Bishofs has left for home in Latvia. Though I can’t speak for him, but I really enjoyed having him here for the week. His insight to illustration, along with his genuine curiosity in life made him a pleasure to show Dubai to.

Thanks go out to all the people that helped me prepare for Maris’ visit, Dalal especially. Without her help I don’t know if I would have been able to get the visit under control.

Fri 06/02/09 00:13

Introducing Maris Bishofs

Maris Bishofs, a noted and respected illustrator will be visiting American University in Dubai in February. Maris made a name for himself with his caricature style of rendering and his unique conceptual interpretations of current affairs. His work has been seen on the covers of such high profile periodicals as The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Washington Post, The Nation, Smart Money, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Barron’s, Rolling Stone and US News & World Report. First gaining recognition in the early nineteen-eighties, his successful career as an illustrator spans nearly forty years with ten books about him and his illustration.

Biography:

Bishofs was born in 1939 in Rujiena, Latvia in what was then the Soviet Union. In 1965 he became the first artist to graduate from the Latvian Art Academy with an interior design degree. In 1972 the artist fled Latvia to the Middle East where he worked and exhibited his art until he moved to Paris, France in the early 1980s. In 1984 he moved to New York City, to what would become a highly celebrated career as a commercial illustrator. In 2003, after nineteen years in New York, he moved back to Latvia, and continues even now to publish books featuring his own art. His first book entitled “The Exhibition” was published in1978. Since then, he has had no less than ten books published all featuring his own special brand of illustration. His latest, entitled; “The Book of Drawings” was published in 2007. In addition to books, Maris’ illustrations have been featured in solo exhibitions across the world, from North America to the Middle East, and from Western Europe to Eastern Europe.

During his week to AUD:

Maris will hold two workshops for the Visual Communication students, a lecture, and an exhibition and reception open to the general public.

Workshop: February 10 & 11, 1:00-4:00 pm, (open only to AUD VC students)

Lecture: February 12, 6:30 pm, Room C 227 (open to the general public)

Exhibition: February 12, 7:30 pm, Rotunda Gallery in A Building (open to the general public)

Last night I went to a lecture and exhibition of a very influential designer, Jiwon Shin. To be honest at first I really didn’t know much about her, and wasn’t convinced I was going to go. When I found out though that she has designed logos and branding for such companies as Quest, Amtrak, UPS, FedEX, Japan Airlines, Nautica, and much more, I decided that there was a chance that her… fortune, talent, or whatever her secret is, could possibly rub off on me that I had to go. I spoke to her for a little bit, and I asked her how she managed to land such huge clients, her response was, “good fortune.” I hear that a lot, that luck pays a big part in getting well known, or established. She also mentioned going to “mixers” and “rubbing shoulders” with influential people. So it’s probably more of her tenacity than anything else that has made her who she is. What a nice person though, very humble, and very cordial. She seems to deserve every good thing that she has gotten out  of life.

Images:TOP, A couple professors mingle during the exhibition. BOTTOM-LEFT,Krassen, the typography professor at AUD poses with Shin. Krassen is the person who invited the artist to the university. BELOW-RIGHT:Nadwa, a student at AUD , and Shiwon in front of the JAL poster.

Seems like things have been busy for me, I went to an award banquet on Thursday, and exhibition on Monday, and today (Tuesday) I spent the day volunteering for a surf ski competition. I volunteered a little bit late, so it wasn’t for sure that I was going to get the job that I wanted to do, which of course was be on a chase boat. A chase boat monitors the racers, zips around and just makes sure everything is going smoothly. When I got there this morning, I was told that I missed the safety briefing and it was doubtful that I would get to do it. Last week, Julia, a professor at school told me the guys name who I should contact was Gavin… so I was sitting there checking in the racers and I heard someone call out “Gavin” so that was my shot. I introduced myself and told him that I really wanted to be a safety monitor on the boats… so he told me to be down on the docks at 11:15 and if there was a free seat he’d set me up.

He was really nice about it, and when the time came, he told me to follow along with the others, and get in a boat. It was a nice little kodiak type of boat… which actually was a shuttle to a yacht. This boat was beautiful. It was about 50 feet long, two decks, and three bedrooms and bathrooms, and a staff of about 5. It was the boat rented to take the sponsors out to watch the race… kind of like have box seats at a football game. :)

So we get out to the end of the new palm island that they are building (about an hour cruise), where the racers are staging up, and some photographers that were documenting the race jump into one of the kodiak boats, so I try to jump in one, and Gavin tells me to get into the other one, that I am going to assist the head photographer for the race… sweet. :) Anyway, since the photographer is the main one, he’s given complete access to the race and the course, we zig-zag around the racers, and break rules just so we can get the next shot… it was a blast. About the only thing that isn’t so great is that I got sunburned. :) The link to the official race site is  www.dubaishamaal.com