Dubai needs a 'non-commercial' art museum - UK painter

ART ATTACK: Jafri was recently commissioned by the Prince of Wales to paint the 16 most influential Muslims of the last century. (Getty Images)

One of the UK’s most successful young painters feels Dubai’s art scene is too commercial, and has urged the city’s residents to make more use of facilities in neighbouring Sharjah.

Sacha Jafri, who was recently commissioned by the Prince of Wales to paint the 16 most influential Muslims of the last century, said the lack of an art museum is keeping Dubai from becoming a global hub for artists.

“By museum I mean where the art is on the wall, and you cannot buy it,” he said.

The current scene is too dominated by gallerists trying to grow their businesses in a short period of time, he added.

“Art is the one thing you cannot create quickly. It can’t connect with human beings quickly. That was the mistake of shock art in England in the 1990’s, it was a complete disaster. It doesn’t engage you, it doesn’t engage the soul.”

To that end, the current state of the international economy could be a boon for artists in the long run.

“This economic meltdown is a very good thing for this region because it will force people to slow down. It will force them to asses what they’ve done, who they are, who the people are that live here and what they’re about,” Jafri said.

But he lauded the recently launched Tashkeel centre for artists in Dubai, and said some of the best art in the world was available to see, for anyone willing to take a trip to Sharjah’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

Among the artists to have shown their work there is world renowned photographer Andreas Gursky.

“They’ve got one of the world’s six top museums of modern art, showing the greatest art you’ll see. You’ll see the same art in the Guggenheim, in the MET in New York and the Tate Modern in London,” Jafri said.

One problem: few people, including the media, seem to know about it.

“The press don’t even know it exists. Art editors don’t even know it exists. That is unbelievable,” he said.

The region’s hotels could provide a boost to the local art scene by buying and displaying good work, but have yet to do so, he noted.

Jafri’s clients include the ruling families in Dubai and Sharjah, Bill Gates, Donald Trump and Sir Richard Branson.

This year he became the youngest living artist ever to be offered an official museum based ten year retrospective, made up of his last five collections from the last ten years.

Art Dubai, the city’s annual contemporary art fair, takes place from March 18 to 21 at Madinat Jumeirah.

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