The plastic arts in the Emirates have maintained their presence with features inspired by the local environment, and have been able to make qualitative leaps on the path of contemporary visual culture, and have benefited many of their theses from the development of digital technology, and have proven their uniqueness in documenting popular culture and its cultural inventory, as well as monitoring societal changes, in the context of narrating chromatic.
The presence of the legacy
Regarding the presence of Emirati heritage and popular culture in the works of the Emirati artist, artist Khalil Abdul Wahed, Director of the Fine Arts Department at the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority “Dubai Culture”, says that the contemporary experiences of the Emirati artist were very influential, and many artists were able to leave the local circle to the global.
By adapting their visual and visual tools and vocabulary in favor of their ideas and theses that were never separated from the local environment and its vocabulary as an influential and inspiring factor, where cultural and popular legacies as well as traditions drew broad lines for many of the works presented.
With regard to the features of employing heritage and popular culture in the works of the Emirati artist, the artist and artistic curator Obaid Al Suwaidi confirms that the employment of local spatial and temporal symbols and themes, as well as tools, depends on the idea of the achievement or the artistic project, as well as the artist’s vision based on his own culture with regard to classifying the inheritance and restoring the legacy.
Reviving it in plastic art experiences and works that present its vision as a visual and interactive message that lists many concepts and values that express the local identity, but at the same time captures the spirit of contemporary through the artist’s renewed technique, which is in line with human thought.
This is what we have seen in the works of many Emirati plastic art icons, such as Abdul Qader Al Rayes, who was famous for his experience in painting old houses, doors and heritage inscriptions, the artist Dr. Najat Makki, as well as the artist Abdel Rahim Salem known for his symbolic abstract style in the artwork, along with the artist Mohammed Al Ustad , and transferring him between the realistic and surrealist styles, and many other young talents who are now forming exceptional artistic schools and currents.
Popular symbols
The plastic artist, Aziza Al-Hassani, confirms that the Emirati artist is an extraordinary ambassador to express his national identity, through her works, many of which bear the characteristics of the local environment immersed in customs and traditions, with a contemporary approach and thought in the work’s fabric and content, in line with its expressive purpose. In his memory of these forms to embody them in his rawness, trying to get closer or away from what he saw.
The artist’s connection with the surrounding materials is governed by creating an interconnected relationship with the form and construction of the desired idea, taking advantage of the expressive motive of this material.
Our ancient civilization shows its human values; Therefore, folk formation has become an effective tool in codifying, protecting and preserving heritage, which necessitates providing the necessary support to art education institutions and sponsoring studies and research within the Emirati folklore institutes, so that our folklore always remains a source of inspiration for creators throughout the ages with its authentic folk symbols and ideas.
cultural heritage
With regard to the concept of drawing inspiration from the local material and immaterial cultural legacies in the plastic artwork, the artist Abdullah Al Mulla believes, in general, that the association of identity with artistic practices in the Emirates is indispensable, as it conveys the artist’s feelings and conscience and cannot be placed in fixed templates, as it is variable in Each period depends on the variables surrounding it, as there is no old or new art, but rather new visions and methods that cast a shadow on it.
The identity is considered as a cultural, heritage, religious and linguistic stock that forms the visual and sensory part of it, which opened the way to dive into experimentation, modernize the form and adapt it to ensure its continuity and what It fits with the spirit of the age, with the aim of writing a new history for our local arts, and creating links between the artistic trends of the pioneers and the new culture, through the close relationship between collective memory and creative imagination and freedom from the constraints of the subject as a conceptual scene or as an embodied achievement and giving color, image, document or construction meanings. geography-symbolicIt reflects the connotations of belonging to the homeland, as well as the Arab environment through the signs of the land and the identity of places and their heritage and civilization signs.
