e-Catalogue - Collectors Eye by ZAAT

COLLECTORS EYE
BY ZAAT

About The Exhibition
Featuring modern masters to contemporary artists, this exhibition
will present works by artists ARMAN, Kamal Boullata, Enaya Bukhary,
Leonardo Cremonini, Dia Al Azzawi, Samia Halaby, Omar Khouri, Dr
Suheir Osman, Juliana Seraphim, Dodi Tabbaa, Edouard Trémeau,
Sabry Mansour and Zena Assi.
Mostly renowned for their outstanding paintings, sculptures, and
installations ; Collectors Eye puts focus on works on paper revealing
new ideas, techniques and materials in a powerful display of creative
experimentation and aims to provide a comprehensive selection of
prints from the secondary market.
About ZAAT
ZAAT is a multi-disciplinary platform created to promote and
empower artists and designers. By offering a place for collectors to
buy, sell and trade work that ranges in styles, movements and eras,
ZAAT then reinvests into showcasing and supporting the production
of contemporary work. Coming from the Arabic root meaning, one,
essence, self, ZAAT upholds the integrity of the art and artists.
Specializing in art from the Arab world, ZAAT is a digital platform that
also curates events, advises clients interested in buying new work
and consults on currently owned pieces. The platform is continually
expanding with new artists and seeks out designers with social
narratives and ethical production.
Conceived as a place to connect art enthusiasts and artists together,
ZAAT aims to make art more approachable and understandable while
supporting artists.

ARMAN FERNANDES
About The Artwork
ARMAN was a French-born American artist known for his unique
style of found-object sculpture and paintings. In his sculpture, he
works with “accumulations” and destruction/ re-composition of
objects while in his two dimensional pieces, he uses the imprints or
traces of objects covered in ink to form the painting itself. The silk
screen print “Violins and Brushes” is a classic example ARMAN’s
work using his recurring image of the violin. It was created around
the same time as his gigantic monument “Hope for Peace” at the
Ministry of National Defense in Yarze, Lebanon.
About The Artist
In 1961, ARMAN (Armand Fernandez 1928 – 2005) was a founding
member of the Nouveau Réalisme group along Jean Tinguely and
Yves Klein. Later, he emigrated to the United States and lived and
worked in New York until his death in 2005. His works are held in the
collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National
Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Tate Gallery in London, and
the Musée d’Art Moderne ed d’Art Contemporain in Nice, among
others. Notably, Andy Warhol owned two of his works, and Arman
appeared in the Warhol’s film “Dinner at Daley’s”.
Arman Fernandes, Violins & Brushes, 1995, Serigraph 72/150, 75 x 55 cm

ZENA ASSI
About The Artwork
Drawing inspiration from her native Beirut, Zena Assi’s work portrays
the socio-cultural aspects and intense emotions of contemporary
urban society such as migration and memory. Inspired by Goya in
both his depiction of the suffering and the medium of his work, Assi
illustrates the corruption-made humanitarian crisis facing present
day Lebanon. Her etchings with hand colored aquatint, entitled Ecce
Homo, draw parallels with the past and the cyclical nature of history.
About The Artist
Born in Lebanon, Zena Assi (1974) graduated from l’Academie Libanaise
des Beaux Arts (ALBA) and taught drawing and visual communication
at different universities. Her work has been at auction at
Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Bonhams and Phillips and is part of collections
such as ALBA, Barjeel Art Foundation and Institut du Monde Arabe.
appeared in the Warhol’s film “Dinner at Daley’s”.
Zena Assi, From Beirut With Love, Ecco Homo Series, 2021, etchings hand colored with aquatint, 30 x 30 cm

Zena Assi, Superman, Ecco Homo Series, 2021, etchings hand colored with aquatint, 30 x 30 cm
Zena Assi, Ras Al Balad, Ecco Homo Series, 2021, etchings hand colored with aquatint, 30 x 30 cm

Zena Assi, Mastercard, Ecco Homo Series, 2021, etchings hand colored with aquatint, 30 x 30 cm
Zena Assi, The Amazon, Ecco Homo Series, 2021, etchings hand colored with aquatint, 30 x 30 cm

Zena Assi, Three Giants, Ecco Homo Series, 2021, etchings hand colored with aquatint, 30 x 30 cm

KAMAL BOULLATA
About The Artwork
Early in his career, Kamal Boullata developed a distinct style that
embedded Arabic words and letters into colorful geometric designs
that evoke his childhood in Jerusalem as well as his early training
under the iconic painter Khalil Halabi. The lithograph above “Second
Quartet, Opus3” displays a bright patterning commonly found in his
work and is part of a series with another work in the collection “Third
Quartet, Opus3”.
About The Artist
An artist and art historian, Kamal Boullata (Jerusalem, 1942) creates
work in which the Palestinian identity and the conditions of exile
form the basis of his artistic explorations.
He graduated from the Academy of Rome and the Corcoran Art Museum
School in Washington, DC. His works are found in both private
and public collections, including the British Museum, London;
the Museum of the Alhambra, Granada; Institut du Monde Arabe,
Paris; New York Public Library, New York; Bibliothèque Louis Notari,
Monaco; Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick; and Jordan National
Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman.
Kamal Boullata, Second Quartet, Opus 3,
1994, Lithograph VI/XXX, 26 x 26 cm
Kamal Boullata, Third Quartet, Opus 3,
1994, Lithograph VI/XXX, 26 x 26 cm

ENAYA BUKHARY
About The Artwork
Inspired by Islamic heritage with a nod to modernity, Enaya Bukhary’s
silk screen print “Untitled” is almost monochromatically yellow with
small touches of red. The geometric or cellular-like shapes and bold
colors create a patterned composition that incorporates organic and
botanical components poetically woven throughout the work.
About The Artist
Born in Damascus in 1960, Syrian artist Enaya Bukhary is a member
in both the Union of Syrian Fine Artists and Friends of Art Association.
Her work can be found in the Syrian Ministry of Culture, Qatar
Museum of Fine Arts and private collections in France, Spain, Greece,
US, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Dubai, Vienna, Tunisia and Lebanon.
Enaya Bukhary, Untitled, Edition 1/1, 1994, silk screen, 80 x 20 cm

LEONARDO CREMONINI
About The Artwork
Cremonini’s poetic summertime figures and landscapes appear both
timeless and yet like a photo, taken at a distinct moment. The colors
and brushstrokes blend the bodies and the landscape together
and the unique light-filled compositions have a geometric quality to
them. In this black and white work, the sunbather melts into her surroundings
which were created with points and hash marks.
About The Artist
Born in Italy, Leonardo Cremonini (1925-2010) attended the Academy
of Fine Arts in Bologna and began exhibiting his figurative
works, gaining fame in the US and France. Many prominent cultural
figures championed his work such as painter Francis Bacon, writers
W. H. Auden, Umberto Eco and Italo Calvino as well as the Director
of MoMa who described his canvases as having a “spirit of timeless
monumentality.” Retrospectives of Cremonini’s work have been held
in museums of Basel, Brussels, Metz, Paris, Prague, Siena, Strasbourg,
Tokyo, Monte Carlo, Grenoble, and Milan.
Leonardo Cremonini, Untitled, 1994, print/etching, 42 x 56 cm

DIA AL AZZAWI
About The Artwork
Recognized as one of the pioneers of modern Arab art, Dia al Azzawi
(Baghdad, 1939), started his artistic career in 1964, after graduating
from the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad. A socially and politically
committed artist, his work is nourished by popular culture and folkloric
mythologies, contemporary wars and the violence embedded in
the history of Iraq. Halfway between fig¬u¬ra¬tive and abstract, his
work is at the same time ref-er¬en¬tial and dec¬o¬ra¬tive, expres¬sive
and open, as is seen in “From Akka (Palestine) death came to Tal
el Zaatar” (Lebanon). This work is part of a series that memorializes
a massacre of Palestinians that was published in “Illustrated poems
for Tel el Zaatar” with text by Moroccan writer, Tahar Ben Jelloun.
About The Artist
Al-Azzawi played a foundational role in Iraqi art movements such as
the New Vision Group (1969) and the One Dimension Group (1971).
His work is found in international private and public collections including
the Museum of Modern Art- Baghdad, Damascus and Tunis;
Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman; Mathaf: Arab Museum
of Modern Art, Doha; Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah; Kinda Foundation,
Saudi Arabia; Una Foundation, Casablanca; Arab Monetary
Fund, Abu Dhabi; Development Fund, Kuwait; Jeddah International
Airport; British Museum, London; Tate Modern, London; Victoria
and Albert Museum, London; Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; Bibliothèque
Nationale de France, Paris; Colas Foundation, Paris; Harba
Collection, Iraq and Italy; Gulbenkian Collection, Barcelona; and Library
of Congress and the World Bank, Washington, DC.
Dia Al Azzawi, From Akka Death Came to Tal el Zaatar, 1997, Lithograph 53/100, 62 x 62 cm

SAMIA HALABY
About The Artwork
Samia Halaby is inspired by the concept of abstraction - the notion
of reality being represented through form, as well as the various art
abstraction movements. In the silkscreen work “Position Delay”, the
title alludes to a possible problem being solved or philosophical question
that the artist is asking herself which is left to the interpretation
of the viewer.
About The Artist
A forerunner of contemporary abstraction in the Arab world, Samia
Halaby (Jerusalem, 1936) is a leading abstract painter and a prominent
scholar. After receiving her Masters in Painting from Indiana
University, she studied geometric abstraction in Islamic architecture
around the Eastern Mediterranean.
Halaby has been collected by international institutions including the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of Art (New York and Abu Dhabi);
Yale University Art Gallery; National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.;
Art Institute of Chicago; Cleveland Museum of Art; Institut du Monde
Arabe; and the British Museum. She was the first full-time female
associate professor at the Yale School of Art and publishes academic
articles about Palestinian art.
Samia Halaby, Position Delay, 1981, Silkscreen print 43/75, 42 x 42 cm

SABRY MANSOUR
About The Artwork
After being trained in a classical style of painting, Sabry Mansour
began his signature abstract and symbolic style with predominantly
female figures, night landscapes and symbolic elements. In this print
“Our Village at Night”, Mansour has depicted women in different positions
inside their houses. Using shading to create the organically
curvy figures and architecture against minimal backdrops, he creates
a stylistically mystical and serene landscape, exuding a calmness and
spiritually typical to his oeuvre. Another edition of this print can be
found at the Modern Art Museum in Cairo.
About The Artist
Egyptian artist Sabry Mansour (1943) received his BA and MA in
Fine Arts from Helwan University in Cairo. At the same university,
he taught painting and was the Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts for
three years. He participated in numerous exhibitions, festivals and
biennales both nationally and in Bulgaria, France, Russia, Spain, Germany,
Italy, Kuwait, Tunisia and Mexico. Mansour has won many international
awards and has publications on his work including recent
retrospectives.
Sabry Mansour, Our Village At Night, 1982, Serigraph, Ink on Paper, 49 x 59 cm

OMAR KHOURI
About The Artwork
Well-known for comic illustrations and portrait paintings, Omar
Khouri’s work touches on the complicated and layered psychology of
the individual in society.
In his current print series, he uses illustration and printmaking to create
a portrait of each city. Using his style of portrait fragmentation
which is based on traditional Islamic geometry, the breaks or lines
can be seen as a reflection of the contradictions and cracks of fragility
in each place. In “Aleppo”, instead of featured monuments of the
city, you see the destruction of the civil war. In “Jerusalem”, you see
one of the iconic features of the city, the “Dome of the Rock.”
About The Artist
Lebanese artist Omar Khouri (1978) graduated from Massachusetts
College of Art and Design, Boston and works primarily in painting,
comics, and film. In 2006, he co-founded Samandal Comics and was
the co-writer, concept artist, robot designer and actor in the award
winning Lebanese Science Fiction film “The Last Days of the Man of
Tomorrow.” Khouri’s work has been exhibited and is held in collections
in the US, UK, Europe, Japan and Lebanon.
Omar Khouri, Aleppo, 2020,
silkscreen print limited edition of 25, signed and numbered by hand,
40 x 60 cm
Omar Khouri, Jerusalem, 2020,
silkscreen print limited edition of 25, signed and numbered by hand,
40 x 50 cm

DR SUHEIR OSMAN
About The Artwork
Using textile and printing techniques in her work, Suheir Osman is
known for the art of Batik. This process, as seen in “Untitled”, starts
with the ancient craft of cloth making, then proceeds to the batik the
dyeing process where wax is used create places or shapes where the
dye cannot reach. Afterwards, she creates a template that will print
the geometric design. Inspired by ancient Egyptian, Coptic or Islamic
civilizations, she creates contemporary motifs, repeating shapes
through varied compositions, emulating ideas of the infinite or building
on the past to reach the future.
About The Artist
Egyptian artist Suheir Osman (1952) received her PhD in applied
arts and is a professor at Helwan University. Specializing in textiles,
design and printing she has exhibited in Germany, Italy, Yugoslavia,
Belgium, Romania, France, Sudan, Netherlands, India, Portugal, Chile,
Spain, Oman, Kuwait, Austria, Cyprus, China, Japan and Iraq. She has
published numerous academic texts for journals and conferences and
has received over 30 local and international awards.
Dr Suheir Osman, Untitled, 1993, Batik, 137 x 83 cm

JULIANA SERAPHIM
About The Artwork
Known for creating dream-like worlds, surreal imaginary and landscapes,
Juliana Seraphim developed her own visual language that
was inspired from memories in her childhood.
In 1971, she was commissioned by Shorewood Publishers of New
York to illustrate nine winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature on
twenty-seven on copper plates. “Pour TS Elliot” is a rare Artist Proof
of the limited edition whose imaginary and symbols could reference
the Free Masons.
About The Artist
Juliana Seraphim (Jaffa,1934-2005) was among the first waves of
Palestinian refugees to move to Lebanon in 1952. She worked in refugee
relief while attending art classes and training with the painter
Jean Khalifié.
Seraphim was awarded scholarships to France, Italy and Spain and
represented Lebanon in the Biennale of Paris, the Biennale of Alexandria
and the Biennale of Sao Paulo. Her work has been shown internationally
in institutions such as: Museum of the City of Viareggio,
Italy; The “Musée du suréalisme”, Paris; The National Gallery, Amman;
Sursock Museum, Beirut; Museum of the Arab World Institute,
Paris; Barcaccia Art Gallery, Rome; Chenill’s Gallery, London 1967;
Smithsonian Institution, Washington; Imperial Museum of Tokyo;
and Belvedere Museum, Tunis.
Juliana Seraphim, Pour TS Elliot, 1970, Ink on paper, 65 x 50 cm

DODI TABBAA
About The Artwork
Inspired by daily life and objects around her, Dodi Tabbaa’s paintings
and monographs use color and line to illustrate her experiences and
moods from excited to peaceful.
During the time period of “Untitled,” Tabbaa was living in the countryside
and creating complex compositions between representation
and abstraction. The works have a harmony and opposition in colors
that are printed or painted on Japanese handmade paper that adds
texture and richness to the piece.
About The Artist
Amman-based Dodi Tabbaa (1952) was born in Pakistan and received
her BFA in Fine Arts and Graphic Design in Lahore and a post-graduate
diploma in printmaking, textile design, typography in the United
Kingdom.
Her work can be found in the public collections of Jordan National
Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman; Bangladesh National Gallery Dhaka;
French Cultural Centre Amman; Jordan Ministry of Culture & Youth
Amman; Arab Bank Amman; Al Mansourieh Foundation Saudi Arabia
and in private collections in Dubai, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Japan,
Thailand, Jordan, Finland, Bahrain, Norway, U.K., USA, France, Switzerland,
Holland, Spain, Indonesia, Cyprus, Pakistan, Brazil, Italy, Portugal,
Canada, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Russia.
Dodi Tabbaa, Untitled, 1994, Hand colored etching, 38x28 cm / 60x45 cm

EDOUARD TRÉMEAU
About The Artwork
Classically trained Édouard Trémeau’s work is masterfully executed
using dramatic lights and shadows with faces turned away and covered
in darkness. He took part in various collectives that denounced
forms of political oppression and inequalities, traces of which can
be found in his work that exudes anguish, solitude, confinement and
ruin. In this work, the print is akin to a diptych with a man turned
away coupled with the touristic depiction of Baalbeck, Lebanon. The
editioned print is titled “Sur la passe: la paix” (On the pass: peace)
while in a retrospective exhibition publication “Edouard Trémeau.
Works 1967-2002” he titles the same edition: “Liban: paix retrouvee”
(Lebanon: Peace Found).
About The Artist
Born in France in 1936, Édouard Trémeau studied at the School of
Applied Arts, École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris
and École Normale Supérieure de Cachan. His work is in public collections
such as LAM (Musée d’Art Moderne du Nord); Villeneuve
d’Ascq, Musée de l’Hospice Comtesse, Lille; Fonds National d’Art
Contemporain, Lille; and the Sursock Museum, Beirut.
Edouard Trémeau, Sur le Passé: La paix, 1994, Print ed 49/80

About Fann A Porter®
Fann A Porter is a contemporary art gallery that represents a diverse selection of emerging
international and regional artists, with locations in Dubai, UAE and Amman, Jordan. The
gallery aims to nurture the burgeoning and dynamic contemporary art scene through quality
exhibitions, non-profit events, auctions, and an active community program.
The gallery’s exhibition program includes ten curated exhibitions a year, and features artists
working across diverse media. Fann A Porter has established a series of dialogues and
collaborations with curators, writers, museums, governmental entities, and institutions to
affirm its commitment to support the long-term development of young contemporary artists
from the Middle East.
In 2015, the gallery organized a charity auction Artists for the Kids of Syria under the
patronage of His Highness Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Culture
and in collaboration with the UAE Red Crescent. The charity auction helped raise over AED
500,000 to help the children in the refugee camps in Jordan. In 2019, the gallery launched Art
for All Collective (AFA) to provide a platform to make quality art accessible through bespoke
payment plans, a first of its kind initiative for the Middle East.
By hosting a regular public programming including exhibitions, talks, non-profit initiatives,
and by participating in fairs, Fann A Porter has established itself in forefront of the region’s
exciting arts landscape.
Founded in 2009 by collector Ghada Kunash, the gallery was initially known as Vindemia.art,
opened adjacent to and under the umbrella of Vindemia, an antiques and collectibles gallery
at Jumeirah Beach Residence, Dubai. In 2010, the gallery partnered with Kempinski Hotel Mall
of The Emirates, for a dedicated space for the art. In 2014, under the same trade license of
Vindemia Novelties LLC, the art gallery was rebranded to Fann A Porter.
In 2016, Ghada Kunash opened The Workshop Dubai, combining her two ventures – Vindemia
and Fann A Porter, a unique community space consisting of a café and design space, providing
visitors with a unique artistic and cultural experience. The Workshop Dubai, with its naturally
bathed garden, is located in the heart of Jumeirah.
In 2020, with the vision to expand and provide a local platform, Ghada Kunash opened a
second Fann A Porter outpost, in Amman, located at Manara Arts & Culture, a creative hub
and social space in the heart of Jabal Al Lweibdeh.
Dubai Head Office
Villa 45, Street 23B, Jumeirah 2, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
fann@theworkshopdubai.com
+971 4 341 2595
P.O. Box 215457 Dubai, United Arab Emirates
www.fannaporter.com
Amman Branch
Manara Arts and Culture, Dirar Ben Al-Azwar, St. 56, Amman, Jordan
amman@fannaporter.com
+962 79 716 7022
FannAPorter