Two Tales One City

Dubai | 24/03/2012

NEW YORK PHOTOGRAPHER AND LOCAL ARTIST BLEND ARTISTIC VIEWS OF DUBAI


Two Tales – One City, the local debut of New York photographer and digital artist Christine Matthäi and UAE based painter Boryana Korcheva opened on 20 March 2012 the new Gallery space at Majestic Hotel Tower in Bur Dubai in the presence of the artists.

Two Tales - One City brings together two rather diverse artistic interpretation of Dubai. Matthäi’s Dubai series were created during her residence with New Masters Gallery earlier this year, which was her first visit to this part of the world. Korcheva, on the other hand has lived in Dubai for more than 10 years.

Matthäi superimposes light and colour manipulated photo-images in what she calls ‘a stream of semi-consciousness’ to create pulsating cityscapes infused with mystery and magnetism. Her Dubai series, part of her POP City Portraits present an unorthodox poetic contemplation on the city.
Typically Christine Matthäi draws her inspiration from nature, seeking to capture the unexpected in colour and texture, thus revealing a hidden poetic dimension of the immediate reality. The POP City Portraits mark a new turn in her creative pursuits. Although this time her camera is pointed at the hustle and bustle of big cities, the resulting contemplative abstractions are other-worldly and mysterious, emanating the distinct aura of Matthäi’s complex artistic sensitivity.

Boryana Korcheva’s painterly canvasses comprise an eclectic mélange of imagery drawing on her emotional experience of the city, its nature and diverse culture. Oscillating between motion and stillness, clamor and quiet, her tale of Dubai is one of encounters with human stories and nature inspired reflections on the meaning of life.

Even though Korcheva’s visual language ranges between the figurative and the abstract, her take on Dubai is most accurately defined as experiential and expressionist. Faceless voluptuous women hover against an abstract city scape, a traffic jam shimmers with road rage, flamingos, sensual and slick at first glance, soon reveal a sinister streak. Bold and stylistically diverse, her paintings impose themselves on the viewer with their visceral presence and technical bravura.

Two Tales-One City juxtaposes the experience of the city of two artists with different backgrounds, working in different mediums. Placed next to each other, these two very personal takes of Dubai create unexpected synergies and associations revealing new dimensions of the city’s persona.