UPCOMING
ART FOR ALL ‘AFA’ COLLECTIVE
25 September – 6 November 2019
Opening reception: Wednesday, 25 September from 7.00 to 10.00 pm
Fann A Porter gallery is pleased to present AFA Collective, a new ground-breaking initiative and exhibition aimed at making art more accessible with bespoke instalment payment plans, from 25 September to 6 November 2019.
AFA Collective at Fann A Porter embodies the ethos of a gallery housed in a multi-disciplinary community engagement space. Nurturing international talent through myriad programming, it believes in and relies upon the public that activates it. Serving as both an exhibition and a concept, AFA Collective offers visceral and communicative artworks by emerging, mid-career and established artists from the Middle East, Iran and Europe who shine light upon a pocket of contemporary production. Shown in a refreshed commercial context characterized by accessibility, transparency and sustainability with flexible financial solutions, AFA proposes an antithetical model to combat collector fatigue and promote arts awareness and education. Exhibiting artists include Annie Kurkdjian, Alaa Sharabi, Houssam Ballan, Khalad Najad Paez, Jordi Prat Pons, Othman Moussa, Majd Kurdieh, Omar Najjar, Amirhosein Zanjani, Sasan Nasernia, Juhayda Bitar, Azad Nanakeli, Mukesh Shah, Yousuf Yousuf, among others.
While geographical spread is key to Fann A Porter’s outreach efforts, AFA Collective takes its people-centric philosophy one step further. Physically bridging artistic understanding through multifaceted cultural exchange locally and internationally, the exhibition signifies the formal launch of the gallery’s collaborative initiatives. Including open-for-all artist tours, studio visits, travel to explore global art institutions, as well as artist-hosted special events, AFA Collective empowers and welcomes a broad audience in order to contribute towards developing a more comprehensive sustainable and visitor-friendly creative economy.
With both the exhibition and Fann A Porter blurring the boundary between commercial and non-commercial in the mission, programming and location, the nonhierarchical approach to art education, production, appreciation and acquisition provides diverse palate-pleasers alongside critical thinking. Encouraging the reconsideration of the categorizations and connotations of ‘accessible art’, ‘art galleries’ and the rules of ‘art investment’ from both the buyer and gallerist’s perspectives, AFA Collective represents an art market evolution responding to the needs of today’s increasingly varied public, rather than the art industry. In posing poignant questions that call to attention the motivations and traditions behind pursuing and enjoying art, AFA Collective, as an exhibition and program, illuminates a niche in the market that is all-inclusive instead of unilateral.
Dedicated to increasing sustainable personal and professional creative possibilities, AFA Collective marks Fann A Porter’s concentrated commitment to the career growth of artists, exposure to collectors, transparent commercial practices, an interest-free installment plan, and art and business education facilitated through hands-on experience-driven programming. Forward-thinking and tradition-breaking in renegotiating accepted strategies of art world marketing, branding and trends, AFA Collective represents a humble, honest tackling of the art world bubble through egalitarian, human-focused means. Connecting learning to craft, progress to archiving, and experience to curiosity, ART FOR ALL Collective reaffirms that art should, and can be, for and about the people.
About Fann A Porter
Fann A Porter is a contemporary art gallery that represents a diverse selection of emerging international and regional artists. The gallery aims to nurture the burgeoning and dynamic contemporary art scene through quality exhibitions, non-profit events, auctions, and an active community programme.
Fann A Porter is based at The Workshop, a unique inter-disciplinary community space consisting of a cafe, art gallery, sustainable store and design space, providing visitors with a diversified artistic and cultural experience. Bathed in natural sunlight with its garden, The Workshop is located in the heart of Jumeirah in Dubai.
For more information and for interviews with the artists, please contact the gallery on +971559480363, or email fann@theworkshopdubai.com