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Sotheby’s is delighted to announce an evening auction of Contemporary Art in Doha at 7pm on 22nd April 2013 comprising a selection of top calibre works by a selection of leading Arab and Iranian artists as well as International Contemporary artists. Outstanding examples of painting, installation art, photography and sculpture will be offered for sale, prior to which an elegantly curated highlights exhibition will run from 16th to 22nd April. The auction, which is expected to raise a total in excess of $11 million features 40 Modern and Contemporary works of Middle Eastern origin, and seven International Contemporary pieces. Both the public exhibition and the sale itself will be held at Katara Cultural Village Foundation, Building 5, Doha, Qatar. Commenting on the sale, Lina Lazaar Jameel, Sotheby’s International Contemporary Art Specialist, said: “Doha is a hugely exciting art hub of the MENA Region and a fitting location in which to showcase and offer for sale the range of exceptional art we have sourced for this carefully curated auction. The sale presents only exemplary works by extremely important artists. We have toured a number of highlights to both Jeddah and Dubai in order to enable our clients across the region to preview the works, and it is also a priority for us to now publicly showcase the works and offer a range of educational events in Doha prior to the auction.” Among the Modern and Contemporary Arab and Iranian art highlights are works by Ayman Baalbaki, Julie Mehretu and Chant Avedissian, while the extremely appealing offering of International Contemporary art includes important works by Ai Weiwei and Subodh Gupta, each of which is richly infused with the cultural heritage of these respective artists. A work of monumental scale, yet displaying remarkable detailing is Chant Avedissian’s Icons of the Nile. Created in 2010, this gouache, hand coloured stencil, gold and silver acrylic paint on cardboard, in one hundred and twenty parts, is the largest piece the artist has created to date (est. $1,000,000 – $1,500,000). Chant Avedissian’s remarkable use of stencils is the result of more than twenty years of research during his extensive travels. During this time he has gradually integrated the knowledge gained from his formal studies in Canada and France with his understanding of legendary iconography from the Pharaonic era: the geometry of Arab architecture; the floral patterns of Ottoman textiles; and 20th century imagery of well known figures from the Arab world. Avedissian first started his stencils series in 1991, during the Gulf War; witnessing the media coverage he became overwhelmed with feelings of hopelessness and began to recollect faces, places and symbols from his past. This astounding installation from Avedissian’s Icons of the Niles series, creates a mosaic of Egyptian culture that retraces his country’s past, combining nostalgic imagery with a celebration of Egyptian iconographical motifs. Prominent among the group of works to be offered is a supreme series of paintings by the influential Iranian artist Mohammed Ehsai entitled ‘Eshgh’ or ‘Love’ and dated 2012 (est. $300,000–400,000.). Throughout his career, Ehsai has pushed aesthetic boundaries, creating innovative art which has inspired an entire younger generation of contemporary Iranian artists. His distinctive style is shown at its best in the ‘Eshgh’ series. Blending traditional calligraphic techniques with modern graphics, the artist has repeated the word ‘Eshgh’, meaning love, on each canvas, intertwining the letters rendering them undecipherable. In this striking series of canvases, Ehsai offers an innovative response to traditional Islamic decoration and calligraphy, transforming preconceived notions, via a renewed use of colour, graphic rules, and a variety of materials. Ya’illahi (Dear Lord) is one of the most important paintings to ever come to auction by Ayman Baalbaki (est. $100,000 150,000). Depicting the shrouded face of a lone, heroic figure gazing up to the skies, the work was created in 2008 in acrylic and gold leaf on panel with brass frame and light bulbs. Baalbaki was born in Lebanon in 1975 the year the civil war began that eventually led to the displacement of his family. As eye witness to numerous brutal, war inflicted years spent in Beirut, many of the artist’s traumatic experiences there have provided the inspiration and subjects of his most powerful work. Ya’illahi is a powerfully charged portrait saturated with ambiguity, nostalgia, controversy and hope. Dominated by the traditional red and white kaffiyeh headdress, a garment worn by men throughout the Arab world as protection against sun exposure and sandstorms, Baalbaki’s monumental portrait evokes a broad spectrum of interpretations and responses ranging from the political to the emotional. By focusing upon the kaffiyeh, the artist seeks to explore the acute tension and ambiguity within this everyday garment which has, through war, conflict and the media, morphed from a traditional utilitarian object into a powerful symbol of turmoil in the Middle East today. The cover lot for the sale is a magnificent work, in both scope and scale, by Ethiopian born artist Julie Mehretu titled Rising Down (est.$2 3 million). Executed in 2008 in ink and synthetic polymer paint on canvas, the monumental work (243.8cm x 365.8cm) is one of the most visually arresting works ever produced by the artist. Within the work, an astonishingly detailed architectural matrix collides with an exquisitely drafted cityscape, delineated with extraordinary precision. Mehretu’s painting draws the onlooker inexorably inwards. From a distance Rising Down appears wholly abstract in nature, juxtaposing geometrical shapes against more organic forms. Yet it is only on closer inspection that the true mastery of the drawing beneath is revealed, unveiling urban architectural elements and metropolitan plans of breathtaking exactitude. Her works are inspired by a hugely diverse range of influences, including cityscapes, cartography, Chinese calligraphy and modern master Wassily Kandinsky. Further works by Contemporary Arab & Iranian artists to be offered in this sale include superb works by, among others, Ahmed Alsoudani, Batoul S’himi, Mona Hatoum and Rachid Koraïchi. Among the International Contemporary works to be offered is Pink Chimta, a magnificent example of Subodh Gupta's celebration and elevation of everyday domestic objects to an artistic plane (est. $400,000 600,000). Composed of a cascade of steel tongs, or Chimta utensils routinely used within Indian cooking for the preparation of Chapatti the shocking pink hue adds another dimension to the work, imbuing Pink Chimta with connotations of festivity and good humour. Pink Chimta remains one of the most visually striking objects within the artist's entire oeuvre to date: the sheer genius of its conception reveals why Gupta is considered to be one of the most influential Indian contemporary artists working today. The thirty glass jars in Ai Weiwei's work Dust to Dust contain tiny fragments of Neolithic pots that have survived the vicissitudes of fate for around five thousand years a reinvention of archaeological relics of China's past (est. $550,000 750,000). The granules of dust further reference China's building boom, in which older, more traditional buildings have on occasion been swept aside to allow for the undisturbed progress of a twenty first century megalopolis. Further International Contemporary works of art to be offered in this sale include those by Rudolf Stingel, Donald Judd and Damien Hirst In the lead up to this important sale, exhibitions of the auction highlights have punctuated the arts calendar of events across the MENA Region. Select works have been showcased in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during Jaou Jeddah Art Week a week founded by Lina Lazaar Jameel to bring Arts, Culture and Education to the Kingdom where new galleries are opening and instrumentally developing the nascent art scene as well as in Dubai to coincide with Art Dubai. Following the public pre sale exhibition at Katara Cultural Village, Building 5, Doha, Qatar, from 17th – 22nd April, these events culminate with the auction in Doha at 7pm on the evening of 22nd April 2013 , also at Katara Cultural Village Foundation, Building 5.