Saudi pioneers among Christie's ‘MAWASIM' auction in Abu Dhabi

70 works over 9 decades by MENA artists for sale Heavyweights include Saudi's Abdul Halim Radwi ABU DHABI: Twenty years after Christie's inaugural UAE sale in Dubai, the auction house is bringing its 'MAWASIM: 20 Years of Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art' exhibition and auction to Abu Dhabi. The sale will take place on Sunday, Nov. 1, and comprises 70 works spanning nine decades by artists from across the Middle East and North Africa. Heavyweights include Saudi artist Abdul Halim Radwi, Palestinian painter Sliman Mansour, and Iraq's Faisel Laibi Sahi, alongside Egyptian great Inji Aflatoun and American-Palestinian creative Samia Halaby. Saudi contemporary pioneer Ahmed Mater's 'Golden Hour (Desert of Pharan series)' is set to go under the hammer, with the large-scale photograph depicting the Grand Mosque as it underwent expansion in 2011. Dhahran-born Manal Al-Dowayan's 'Time Betrays (And We had No Shared Dreams series)' is inscribed with spray-painted stencil reading: 'Do you long for me? Are you mine forever? Do you share my dreams.' Saudi modernist Radwi is represented by two works. The artist, who died in 2006, created 'Afaq Halima (Space)' in 1989. The work explores technological advancement and scientific exploration, with references to the artist's Islamic faith found across the 90 by 200.2-centimer canvas. A core question the artist is known to have returned to repeatedly is how modernity can be reconciled with a strong sense of cultural heritage. He was one of the first Saudi artists to study abroad, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome in 1964. The interplay between European artistic influences and visual traditions rooted in the Kingdom is on full display here, as well as in Radwi's second offering at the auction, titled 'Khibayti.' It is a rare hand-carved wooden work by Radwi and Sunday's auction will mark the first time that a creation in the medium by the Saudi icon will be for sale. Visitors to the exhibition at The Edition, Abu Dhabi, will be greeted by Iraqi artist Faisel Laibi Sahi's monumental 'Baghdad Cafe (The Coffee Shop).' The 2016 work is a mesmerizing tableau of the interior of a cafe, featuring a cast of characters from across the country's social strata. Drawing on Persian and Mughal miniature painting, the 206 by 616-centimeter work is littered with symbolic references to everyday life in Iraq with tea kettles and brass samovars placed beside platters of fruit, books, newspapers and instruments that spark a deep sense of nostalgia. It is a vastly varied offering, with artworks from across the region presented in conversation with each other before the works add a new line to their provenance come Sunday night.