There’s a little stare a horse gives when commanded to turn and bump someone in a polo match, according to Michael Arnold.
The equestrian artist explains that his biggest challenge is trying to capture that split-second moment on canvas, “or when the horse is trying to muster that extra bit of energy, as they’re galloping down the final stretch in a race”.
“You can tell a human being to stop or correct the smile, turn your head a different way. But you don’t have that luxury with horses.”
The American can often be found with his sketchpad or camera on the sidelines of Dubai’s polo fields and racecourses; he later recreates them in his studio at Dubai’s Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood. As well as painting oil on canvas, Arnold uses a mono-print painting technique.
He applies oil paint onto a foil base plate on a glass surface, layering oil paper and sketch paper on top to generate positive and negative prints, which express movement, energy and attitude.
“I’m always trying to chase light and energy, and within that I’m trying to capture the emotion of the horse and rider, and the oneness between the two. In a game of polo or a horse race, the rider and his horse have to be in unison. There’s something really elegant and exciting about that.”
When Arnold was in art school in Philadelphia, he recalls being struck by the way horses were depicted in the paintings of battle scenes at the Philadelphia Museum.
His affection for horses grew when he moved to Dubai 13 years ago. With the Dubai World Cup set to be held on Saturday at the Meydan Racecourse, the artist will have more opportunities to hone his skills.
“The love that people have for horses throughout this region was something I was captured by, even more because I was able to witness horses running in the desert, on the polo fields and on the track. There’s something a little bit more wild about horses here in the UAE.”
However, for the first 40 years of his career, Arnold was preoccupied with the structure of buildings, and was involved in the field of architecture. He quit his job two years ago to become a full-time artist. Arnold’s paintings can sell for up to Dh45,000.
“I love to depict the anatomy of the horse when it is running,” he adds.
“I like doing my work for polo players and equestrian experts, because I like to focus on making sure I’m catching the movement of the knee, the leg, the hip, the turn of the neck and the direction of the ears. All those elements are telling part of the story.”
Briton Dianne Breeze’s career as a dressage trainer guided her passion for painting horses.
Breeze, who worked for Dubai Polo and Equestrian Club until last December, has just returned to Dubai to coach riders and horses for the UAE National Dressage Championships and World Dressage Challenge.
“I collect reference photographs for my paintings, although it is much easier if I have seen the horse itself, to get a feel for their character,” she says.
“I sketch the outlines, then work on the light and shade, slowly working on the details until it is finished.”
Breeze got her first pony at the age of 7, while fellow equestrian artist Vineta Sayer grew up in the former Soviet Union, “where little girls didn’t have little ponies”.
“It didn’t matter whether you had money or not, the concept just didn’t exist,” she says, adding that her grandparents would occasionally borrow a horse from a neighbour for work around the farm.
“I remember when I was about 2 years old, the horse’s knees were at my eye level. I looked up and I wasn’t scared – I was full of awe for this huge animal. From that moment, I knew I wanted to be near horses.” Sayer’s paintings capture the heat of the moment in a polo match, a racing or a hunting scene, using multiple layers of oil paint in black and white, or stark reds or blues, to transmit dynamism. “I feel the horses’ energy as I paint,” she says.”
The 48-year-old sometimes visits polo matches and races to watch Arabian horses “for hours on end, totally absorbed by the form of the horse”.
Onlookers expect Sayer to take out a sketchpad or camera. “I say no, I’m just watching, and trying to understand what I see. It all stays inside me, and some time later, I spit it out in my paintings.”
Another enthusiast is Pakistani-Finnish artist Zari Jafri, who says living in Abu Dhabi has exposed her to the grace, power and beauty of Arabian horses.
Jafri uses phosphorous powder mixed into a gel to make her paintings glow in the dark, which “give symbolic yet spiritual experiences to the viewer”.
“The might of these majestic creatures inspired me to express my awe of the divine by hiding names of Allah and small ayahs [Quranic verses] in the pictures, connecting the inner to the outer,” she says.
• An exhibition of Sayer’s paintings is being held until the end of March at Desert Palm Per Aquum Resort while Arnold’s paintings can be viewed at Dubai’s Showcase Gallery and at his studio in Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood. Breeze’s pictures can be viewed at www.diannebreeze.com
artslife@thenational.ae
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Company%20Profile
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Diriyah%20project%20at%20a%20glance
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Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
More on animal trafficking
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The Intruder
Director: Deon Taylor
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Michael Ealy, Meagan Good
One star
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Empire of Enchantment: The Story of Indian Magic
John Zubrzycki, Hurst Publishers
info-box
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Happy Tenant
Started: January 2019
Co-founders: Joe Moufarrej and Umar Rana
Based: Dubai
Sector: Technology, real-estate
Initial investment: Dh2.5 million
Investors: Self-funded
Total customers: 4,000
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE%3A
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
if you go
The flights
Emirates flies to Delhi with fares starting from around Dh760 return, while Etihad fares cost about Dh783 return. From Delhi, there are connecting flights to Lucknow.
Where to stay
It is advisable to stay in Lucknow and make a day trip to Kannauj. A stay at the Lebua Lucknow hotel, a traditional Lucknowi mansion, is recommended. Prices start from Dh300 per night (excluding taxes).
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
