Stories of Paper - the Members Event

So Tuesday night I worked late for the museum, during a Preview Event for the members, where they got to see the newest temporary exhibition, entitled 'Stories of Paper'. Kathleen and I were there to mediate, and we gave four tours each of this new exhibition throughout the evening to very lovely members.

One part of this exhibition, is hosted in the forum in the basement of the museum. It is a large labyrinth in cardboard by Michelangelo Pistoletto. It is very very cool.

What I really love with this exhibition is the selection of artworks and how they have been curated. It tells the many different stories of paper, for example what it offers, the many uses it offers and how it is a part of our common universal heritage. All this and much more is presented through over 100 artworks, even 13 contemporary ones.

The exhibition is separated into 12 parts, and in each part a modern piece is juxtaposed ancient pieces. This is a really interesting approach. Here I am in the first part, that talks about how paper comes from plants, mediating in front of Pipal Tree, 2017, by Jayashree Chakravarty.

This transparency by Carmontelle from 1795, is one of the masterpiece loans. It has never before left France to be exhibited, and it is a really impressive piece.

A leporello by Etel Adnan, The Sausalito Garden, 1996. I have enjoyed discovering her written work, as I only before knew of her art, which is much more joyful. Her writing is more historical and specific.

There are stories about the space of paper, the movement of paper and the colour of paper to name a few. Like here below, a room with prepared paper, and paper dyed in the pulp; paper in many different colours that evoke different things, depending on where you are from or who you are.

There is even a full-scale model of a traditional Korean house inside the exhibition, to show how these  houses are made not just of wood, but of different kinds of paper too.

Another part of the exhibition focuses on how paper can be both resilient and fragile, for example with this Japanese folding screen.

Here's another contemporary artwork, by one of the "5", an avant-garde artist group here in the UAE. This is Mohammed Kazem and his Scratches on Paper.

In the part that talks about reproduction, Louvre Abu Dhabi is for the first time showcasing their print of Under the Wave of Kanagawa, by Hokusai, c. 1830. One of the world's most known motives.

Here is Kathleen mediating the Great Wave, and me in my outfit for the night - notice how well I dressed for the occasion?

The final part of the exhibition talks about the malleability of paper, and showcases cut outs, collages and "giornatas", from when the Hall of the Mirrors were decorated.

And also this large scale work called Pattern, from the series Blind Owl, by Pouran Jinchi, from 2012.

 

Lucky we really like each other, considering we spend so much time together, ha ha! But seriously, we  rocked this event, we work really really well together! Although it was a long night indeed... Kathleen had to take her heels off on the way out, after all those tours!

This exhibition is now open for the public, until the 24th of July. Don't miss it!