Art Dubai (2011). All images John Mollett for Art Observed.

Bringing 75 art galleries from 30 different countries, Art Dubai is arguably the most significant Art Fair in the burgeoning Middle East. One of its main goals, as stated by Director Antonia Carver, was to “aim for Art Dubai to be a fair of discovery- for the international collectors curators, artists, galleries and museum groups that attended the fair to catch up on all that is happening in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.” Despite this, the fair has a reputation for forcing the removal of work seen to be possible violating censorship regulations.  This may explain why, upon attending the fair, it became clear that although a few galleries were using the venue as a forum to expose both conceptual work and work by artists who have yet to develop a reputation in the region, most chose a program that was relatively safe, and which appeased the decorative senses of certain patrons rather than showing work more clearly representative of visionaries in Middle Eastern art.

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