'Reflection Of Resilience': Art Dubai's War-Postponed Edition Opens To Healthy Sales The Art Newspaper International Art News And Events

Art Dubai has opened its 20th edition at Madinat Jumeirah, but this year's fair looks markedly different from the one organizers first imagined. After the opening was pushed from mid-April to May amid the US-Israel war in Iran and broader regional security concerns, around 75 exhibitors withdrew. The revised edition was assembled in about eight weeks and runs until 17 May.

The result is a more compact fair, with roughly 50 exhibitors, most of them from the region. Even so, the mood on the ground is active. Visitors and dealers describe a format that feels less crowded and, in some cases, more focused. Wol Balston, co-founder of Flint Culture, said the reduced scale helps counter the sense of art fair fatigue that can build across the region's increasingly dense calendar. Collector Abraham Karabajakian, who traveled from Lebanon, said he was determined to attend and had already bought two works.

Early sales reports suggest the market has held up. Gallery One, based in Ramallah, said it sold Samira Badran's 1978 etchings Jerusalem Window and Door of Jerusalem for $3,500 and $5,000, respectively, along with works by Mostafa Al Hallaj priced from $6,500 to $40,000. Taymour Grahne Projects reportedly sold out its solo presentation of Roudhah Al Mazrouei, priced up to $13,500. Zawyeh Gallery sold several works by Nabil Anani, including An Olive Panorama, priced at $360,000.

The fair's institutional and non-commercial elements are also central to this edition's identity. Iris Projects is presenting Safeya Sharif and Alyazia Al Nahyan, two Dubai-based Gen-Z artists whose work draws on nature, satellite imagery, and natural pigments. Maryam Al Falasi, the gallery's founder, said collectors and institutions have shown interest in both artists, including Sharif's Lines of Persistence, a wall-mounted sculpture priced at $10,000. DXB Store also returned for the first time since 2014, bringing more than 70 UAE-based participants.

Large-scale installations by Hashel Al Lamki, Khalid Al Banna, and Ahmed and Rashid bin Shabib add another layer to the fair's revised layout. In a year defined by disruption, Art Dubai's response has been to compress, adapt, and keep moving - a strategy that may prove as revealing as the works on view.

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