British-American artist Anthony James’s first solo exhibition in the UAE is a beautifully curated experience of wonder and geometry.
Opening on Wednesday at Opera Gallery in DIFC, the show, titled Light, features standalone sculptures, alongside mural pieces and paintings. They are all connected to James’s study of geometry and mathematics, fused with a greater sense of the spiritual world.
With his work recently featured in the Netflix film, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, James’s work also feels aesthetically connected to the visual language of Dubai. The sleek attention to detail, the considered way light and geometry co-exist and the rooted idea of something ancient reimagined through a futuristic sensibility is an apt and coincidental extension of the city's architectural ethos.
“I love Dubai; I liked it from the moment I landed," James tells The National.
"I can just pick up on the ambience and vibe of the place. I just fell in love. I think my work complements the architecture of Dubai and vice versa."
The 18 sculptural works are a mesmerising feat of construction and an entrancing play on reflection and geometry. The collection of circular and geometric sculptures, made of mirrors carefully placed within steel frames, radiate light and create endless reflections and patterns.
Placed on top of plinths or mounted walls, the pieces feel like an homage to the universal language of mathematics; imbuing the space with a serene, sci-fi aura. Individually and collectively, they challenge viewers' perception of space, creating an imaginary futuristic temple-like space.
“My aim within my art practice is to visually demonstrate something that is an impossible concept,” James says.
“Whether it's the infinity of the cosmos, in a more scientific way or expressing the divinity inside oneself. The very big to the very small.”
James attempts to connect the individual to something more infinite and celestial through his work. It’s a concept that has been explored through the works of abstract expressionists such as Barnett Newman or Mark Rothko. But instead of paint on canvas, James uses geometry and light.
Fusing science and spirituality is a difficult concept to execute, but one that James believes he balances through mastery of his chosen materials. He hopes the works seem "natural" and "effortless, like they just appeared."
With this in mind, James doesn’t usually draw to explore and plan his more precise concepts. As shapes take form in his head, the artist creates small 3D models.
“I don't want too many stages between the concept and the actual piece. Drawings can muddy up the idea,” he says.
“I'll just make something in wood or in a simple metal form, but not for show, just for myself and then if I see the art in it, I replicate it to as near perfect as I can.”
From there, James and his team use various technologies — such as computers, laser cutters, and even 3D printing their own tools — to bring the pieces to life.
“I want them to be simple," he says. "So it doesn't matter if you're a four-year-old, an 80-year-old professor at a university or director of a museum, you're still going to get something out of these works.”
The universal quality of James’s craft is perhaps why he is the only living artist with sculptures on display in all seven continents, including Antarctica.
Earlier this year, James installed one of his sphere-like sculptures in British tour operator White Desert’s new base camp Echo, in Antarctica.
“It's the craziest thing, you just see endless ice,” James says.
“It’s 24 hours of the brightest sunshine you've ever seen. You have to wear your sunglasses, because your eyes burn, your skin burns. There’s a perfectly blue sky, perfectly white ice with some silhouettes of mountains. And you can literally feel the rigour of the cosmos or the serenity of infinity. It’s a very bizarre sensation.”
The sister of the piece in Antarctica, an identical sphere-like sculpture, is part of James's solo exhibition in Dubai.
James's work also recently featured in the Netflix hit Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, starring Daniel Craig. Set designer to the film Rick Heinrichs, created the recognisable glass dome of the mansion in the movie, inspired by James’s work.
“After they designed the dome, he and his team approached me for one of my sculptures that inspired them,” James says.
“They wanted it for the centre of the Glass Onion house. I agreed to it and the piece was like a character in the movie.”
James's exhibition also features two series of paintings, including large pieces where the experiential artist used assault rifles as a mark-making tool — firing bullets at sheets of aluminium, framed by stainless steel.
“It's nice to be lucid in my art practice because my other work is so precise,” he says.
“You start off by shooting and making the painting around your initial gesture. You build a gesture upon a gesture to get something that resembles a painting. It’s meant to resemble something like the cosmos and the stars.”
His other series, Rain Painting, comprises a collection of photorealistic works, painted on large circular aluminium panels. Like James's sculptures, the monumental pieces of varying colours echo ideas of infinity and the cosmos, but through a different perspective and medium.
“Whatever the medium I use, it will always carry my signature on it,” he says.
“I just think what is the best way I can convey an idea to its essence? What is the best material use that I can use? Because I want to communicate my message in the cleanest, most direct way.”
Anthony James’s exhibition, Light, is on show at Opera Gallery, DIFC until March 24
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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England 19 (Try: Tuilagi; Cons: Farrell; Pens: Ford (4)
New Zealand 7 (Try: Savea; Con: Mo'unga)
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2.45pm: Handicap Dh95,000 1,200m
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Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
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Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
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Abu Dhabi GP schedule
Friday: First practice - 1pm; Second practice - 5pm
Saturday: Final practice - 2pm; Qualifying - 5pm
Sunday: Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (55 laps) - 5.10pm
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
The 24-man squad:
Goalkeepers: Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea), Simon Mignolet (Liverpool), Koen Casteels (VfL Wolfsburg).
Defenders: Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham), Thomas Meunier (Paris Saint-Germain), Thomas Vermaelen (Barcelona), Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham), Dedryck Boyata (Celtic), Vincent Kompany (Manchester City).
Midfielders: Marouane Fellaini (Manchester United), Axel Witsel (Tianjin Quanjian), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Nacer Chadli (West Bromwich Albion), Leander Dendoncker (Anderlecht), Thorgan Hazard (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Youri Tielemans (Monaco), Mousa Dembele (Tottenham Hotspur).
Forwards: Michy Batshuayi (Chelsea/Dortmund), Yannick Carrasco (Dalian Yifang), Adnan Januzaj (Real Sociedad), Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United), Dries Mertens (Napoli).
Standby player: Laurent Ciman (Los Angeles FC).
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A fraudulent investment operation where the scammer provides fake reports and generates returns for old investors through money paid by new investors, rather than through ligitimate business activities.
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4,872 matches
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2 Kuwaiti teams
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Rashid & Rajab
Director: Mohammed Saeed Harib
Stars: Shadi Alfons, Marwan Abdullah, Doaa Mostafa Ragab
Two stars out of five
SERIES INFO
Afghanistan v Zimbabwe, Abu Dhabi Sunshine Series
All matches at the Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Test series
1st Test: Zimbabwe beat Afghanistan by 10 wickets
2nd Test: Wednesday, 10 March – Sunday, 14 March
Play starts at 9.30am
T20 series
1st T20I: Wednesday, 17 March
2nd T20I: Friday, 19 March
3rd T20I: Saturday, 20 March
TV
Supporters in the UAE can watch the matches on the Rabbithole channel on YouTube
Coming soon
Torno Subito by Massimo Bottura
When the W Dubai – The Palm hotel opens at the end of this year, one of the highlights will be Massimo Bottura’s new restaurant, Torno Subito, which promises “to take guests on a journey back to 1960s Italy”. It is the three Michelinstarred chef’s first venture in Dubai and should be every bit as ambitious as you would expect from the man whose restaurant in Italy, Osteria Francescana, was crowned number one in this year’s list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
Akira Back Dubai
Another exciting opening at the W Dubai – The Palm hotel is South Korean chef Akira Back’s new restaurant, which will continue to showcase some of the finest Asian food in the world. Back, whose Seoul restaurant, Dosa, won a Michelin star last year, describes his menu as, “an innovative Japanese cuisine prepared with a Korean accent”.
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
The highly experimental chef, whose dishes are as much about spectacle as taste, opens his first restaurant in Dubai next year. Housed at The Royal Atlantis Resort & Residences, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal will feature contemporary twists on recipes that date back to the 1300s, including goats’ milk cheesecake. Always remember with a Blumenthal dish: nothing is quite as it seems.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Sole survivors
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- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
UAE v Ireland
1st ODI, UAE win by 6 wickets
2nd ODI, January 12
3rd ODI, January 14
4th ODI, January 16
'Joker'
Directed by: Todd Phillips
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix
Rating: Five out of five stars
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Fatherland
Kele Okereke
(BMG)
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Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
