Aicon Contemporary is pleased to present Divine Chaos, Emirati artist Noor Al Suwaidi’s first solo in the United States. Al Suwaidi’s new body of work explores the space between the material and immaterial; between touch and desire, reality and dreams. By collaging, melding, mixing, and contrasting colour, she effectively explores spectrums of relationships between the physical figure and nature through her visual language, inviting the viewer into her world.
Noor Al Suwaidi (b. 1981, Abu Dhabi, UAE) is an artist and curator with a career spanning over two decades. Known for the abstract, figurative shapes that make up her artworks and a masterful use of colour, Al Suwaidi has exhibited her work all over the world, including in London, Berlin, Istanbul, Kuwait, Washington, D.C., and throughout the United Arab Emirates. From 2018 to 2022, Al Suwaidi worked at Abu Dhabi’s contemporary art fair, Abu Dhabi Art, heading the VIP relations team while simultaneously continuing her art practice.
Her works are held in numerous public and private collections, including Barjeel Art Foundation (Sharjah), Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation, and the private collection of His Highness Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Bin Zayed Al Nayhan. Al Suwaidi earned her Master’s degree in curating contemporary design from Kingston University in London, and before that, she received her Bachelor’s degree in Studio Art from American University in Washington, D.C–as a result, she already has a relationship with art in the U.S. Divine Chaos will be Al Suwaidi’s first time back in the U.S. exhibiting her work on such a scale, and the show brings together her American art education and positionality as an Emirati woman.
“We are so excited to present Noor’s first solo in the United States. Aicon Contemporary has been committed to bringing art from under represented geographies to global audiences,” said Projjal Dutta, owner of Aicon Contemporary. “The gallery has had a relationship with the cultural landscape in the UAE through our participation in fairs such as Abu Dhabi Art and Art Dubai. We look forward to representing Emirati art in the US and further bring together artists, curators and collectors from the two geographies.”
Aicon Contemporary was founded in 2019, built on a 20-year-old legacy of Aicon Gallery. We focus on cutting-edge art from constituencies underrepresented in New York. Our artists come from diverse geographies, often distant, immigrant, and / or marginalized. Through placing their work in prominent institutions around the world, as well as exhibiting at renowned global art fairs Aicon Contemporary forms an art bridge between New York and the world. Our practice is interested in universalizing the concepts of modernity and contemporaneity instead of viewing them as monopolies of the west.
Press release from Aicon Contemporary
Image: Noor Al Suwaidi. You Are Your Compass. 2024. Acrylic and pastel on canvas. 127 x 167.64 cm. Image courtesy of the artist
