A Day in Abu Dhabi

11AM

A private tour of the exhibition Roots at Alliance française in the presence of the artists.

Karine Roche and Azza Al Qubaisi have created artworks inspired by the mangroves.

Karine Roche 

Karine Roche is a French visual artist, born in 1977. She works with different media: digital, ink, oil, resin, collage of paper and textile. Her paintings are landscape which transcribes a wandering in particular environments. They are invitations to travel in urban and/or plant territories.

She studied Fine art and landscape architecture in Paris and holds her diploma at ENSAAMA Olivier de Serres in 1999. Karine is based in UAE since 2009. She is member of Emirate Fine Arts Society. 

She has participated in many solo and group shows in the UAE and France.

Her paintings are part of private and corporate collections in the UAE, France & China.

Her practice question our relation to nature, memories, human development and question on the practice of the painting itself related to colors, composition, rhythm and contrast.

Azza Al Qubaissi 

Most often referred to as the UAE’s first Emirati jewellery designer, it is more accurate to describe Azza Al Qubaisi as an artist, designer and entrepreneur. A fierce advocate of all that is home grown and sustainable, she has established two governmental projects to support and develop crafts. 

Holding a Bachelor’s degree in silversmithing, jewellery design and allied crafts from London Guildhall University, 

she is dedicated to a sustainable future for her country, she uses local materials and is inspired by the deep roots of her heritage. The natural landscape and cultural references coalesce in her pieces, from the shapes, patterns and textures of the desert to the revival of traditional ancient techniques.

12.30PM

Lunch at Mysk, NYUAD

2PM

Private guided tour of Blane De St. Croix exhibition "Horizon"

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Blane De St. Croix is a sculptor who works on the landscape of climate change. In tandem with scientific researchers, and as himself an artist-researcher, he works on site, and develops art in direct response to the land itself. His working method emerges out of the history of Land Art, as well as plein-air painting practices of documenting landscapes to make them visible to new audiences. Over a series of residencies at NYU Abu Dhabi in the last year, the artist has developed two major new bodies of work, rooted in his study of the UAE’s

specific landscapes and region. Part of these residencies enabled him to work closely with NYUAD faculty, and interview resident scientists. This culminated in a collaboration with Professor Joanna Settle, faculty in the theater department, on one of the newly commissioned works. For the Horizon exhibition, The NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery will unveil both new bodies of work, as well as a number of other never-before-shown works. De St. Croix’s most recent exhibition is a major solo presentation at MassMOCA (US) in 2021. He is a recent recipient of the Lee Krasner Award for Distinguished Lifetime Achievement, as well as the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Joan Mitchell Fellowship Award in Sculpture, and a Pollock-Krasner Award, among many other distinctions. He’s also a Fellow of both MacDowell and Yaddo.