"I swear to God I'm thinking of you": Desert Designs' Collection

Desert Designs Art Gallery

On March 9 Khobar's go-to hub for expats and their home decor needs Desert Designs, put up a collection of artworks by Eastern Province artists. Hussein Al-Mohasen, Jassim Al-Dhamin, Nada Farhat and Hussain Ismail all contributed works from 2008 to the present. 
 Al-Dhamin's exhibit The Hope, in which he "explores the effects of building dreams" is featured first. All his paintings are acrylic on canvas and are a "rich experience of color."

Apparently that last painting hides a woman's face or something? Do you see it? I don't. The gallery manager thought it was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen, but I give it a big MEH.

Next to The Hope is Farhat's artwork, which is all mixed media on glass. Remember that interactive science museum that I posted about a few weeks back? She was commissioned to create projects for it. While researching her I also found out that created the mural in the hospital that my dad is an architect for. Huh! The art scene here is really smaller than I previously thought.

This piece is huge! I had to step back just to capture the whole thing.

A close up of one of her artworks. Notice how she incorporates pieces of traditional rugs.

This is from her Merging of the Seasons series.

Next up is honestly my favourite section of the exhibition, the ink on paper drawings by Ismail. His artwork is always entertaining because the images he draws are almost like cartoonish figures of Saudi men. In a country where the men have so much power, I feel like his artwork gently lampoons their position in society.

The red and white sections are meant to mimic the pattern on the ghutra.

Both Al-Dhamin and Ismail went to school for engineering and Farhat is now a doctor. Like many other countries in the Middle East, governments and families support education in engineering and medicine and not those in the arts. While there are arts schools, many of the artists you meet produce their artwork in their off-time after work.

Al-Mohasen's pieces finished off the exhibition. He has exhibited in many solo and group exhibitions. Al-Mohasen's graffiti type artwork is known for being political in nature. You can see traces of this style in the bright lines of spray paint.

It translates to, "Closed for prayer."

It translates to, "You merged your soul with mine."

The whole thing reads, "I swear to God I'm thinking of you."

You definitely won't get bored if you decide to visit the collection. It features a diverse range of artists and artwork, so there should be something for everyone. The exhibition closes on the 23rd.