Sheikha Wafa Hasher Al Maktoum could be the next artist everyone is talking about, following her first solo exhibition held by Bonhams at their Dubai auction house. Her “In Dreams” exhibition features intense and powerful images, which Sheikha Wafa says were inspired by her own experience. “Sometime in early 2010, I had a dream that I could have sworn felt so real,” she says. “I proceeded to share the dream with a friend and she told me how she too has had a similar experience. This caught my curiosity and I started to research more about lucid dreaming.”
The resulting exhibition is a startling and intimate insight into Sheikha Wafa’s innermost thoughts–but as well as being a gifted artist, this well-connected and charismatic woman is very practical. She has a business administration degree from Dubai Women’s College as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Art & Design. Determined not to lead a life of idle privilege, Sheikha Wafa started FN Designs, a multi-discipline design firm. She has found the time to make this business a success as well as pursuing her more ethereal artistic dreams.
“In Dreams” opened this week, a glamorous event on this week’s hectic Dubai social calendar, and the exhibition will run until June 1. Sheikha Wafa was delightfully modest about her expectations for her exhibition telling me that as it was her first solo show she “wasn’t expecting much.” But on opening night, Sheikha Wafa sold 15 of the 21 original artworks on show so Dubai art lovers will have to be quick if they want to snap up a potentially very valuable piece of art from an emerging talent.
Click on the images below to enlarge.
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