In Vogue: London Gallery Reflects Arab Art Boom

VISION | FRESH PERSPECTIVES FROM DUBAI

Ayyam Gallery is testament to the growing international popularity
of Middle Eastern art. Image: Courtesy of the artist and Ayyam Gallery

UNITED KINGDOM --- If ever there was proof that art from the Middle East is increasing in both international visibility and viability, it surely comes with the arrival of Ayyam Gallery in London. With three existing locations in Dubai, Damascus and Beirut, it would have been easy for the founding collectors, cousins Khaled and Hisham Samawi, to rest on their laurels, comfortable in the knowledge that – as Vision noted late last year – art is becoming a vital component of the wider cultural strategy of the Middle East. “I think what we’ve been successful at building is a group of galleries that primarily exhibit quality contemporary art. It only happens to come from the Middle East. " [link]