If five star Dubai hotels sound appealing, then a visit here with extremely high expectations will certainly deliver. There is no shortage of beach, culture, business, and luxury. Set in the heart of a city in the middle of a cultural and economic boom, there is much to see and do. A rich and vibrant urban scene is growing, and this is due in large part to the influx of artists in the region.
Filipino artists maintain a strong presence here, along with a sizable and visible Filipino community, and although they are rather un-represented in the gallery scene, this is changing. Darwin Guevarra is the first Filipino to have his own solo show in Dubai, and it is a very auspicious beginning. It also bodes well for contemporary art in the world at large. With his opening in May 2009 at Tashkeel, Darwin Guevarra solidified his already growing presence and is almost reaching toward the level of the iconic. At a group show earlier this year, he was seen in red converse, urban warrior fashion, and his face painted white with bright red lips. This already striking presence was even further enhanced by the wagon he was pulling, filled with wood, watches, computer parts, as if suggesting a mechanical world where the old and the new were clashing and on the verge of a metamorphosis.
Darwin Guevarra’s presence is already very strong in virtual reality. With extremely complex and sophisticated postings of his visual art, he seems to be well-connected, and well-received in the pop underground, both in Dubai, in the Phillipines, and around the globe. Articles about the work of Darwin Guevarra have been written by observers who are pleasantly baffled, or extremely erudite. It is worth noting that his work is as complex as it is visually appealing, and is a kind of surreal annunciation of an artistic voice that is attempting to describe a world that is both overwhelming and dissolving. The haunting work by this iconoclastic artist, who works in several mediums to create playful assemblages that ask extreme questions about extreme cultures, has found its way to light in Dubai, and is well worth mapping.
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