Ten artists from across the Gulf have been nominated for the second Richard Mille Art Prize. The complete list is available here.
The artists’ works are exhibited at Louvre Abu Dhabi until March 19 and the winner will be announced on March 20.
Nature is at the center of Elizabeth Dorazio’s art. “I’m always amazed by nature as something unpredictable, as well as random things that happen. This is what guides my work. She collects images from the internet and scientific sources – the sky, mountains, lakes, plants and microscopic views of “things we don’t even imagine exist, but do”. These fuel a creative practice that uses many different forms of media, but is grounded in drawing.
Dorazio (born in 1957 in Araguari, Brazil) began her career over 30 years ago in her native country and has lived and exhibited all over the world. She moved to Abu Dhabi eight years ago and is amazed at the change she has seen in that time. “It’s such a young country, it’s unbelievable. Suddenly there is a new building, suddenly there is a new museum.
She recently took the opportunity to go back to school, undertaking an MFA at New York University in Abu Dhabi, which gave her access to the institution’s woodwork shop. . She was able to salvage pieces of scrap wood, which they intended to throw away, and make a kind of collage out of them, etching the surfaces with a hot spot. The piece on display at the Louvre Abu Dhabi is titled Xylophone, part of a series inspired by the outdoors. “It’s my attempt to remind people of the sounds of nature at a time when it’s under threat,” says Dorazio.
Another body of work on display is his nature drawings, which are made using a traditionally non-artistic medium: the ballpoint pen. Dorazio is able to summon an unexpected variety of lines and shades from this humble item, which she occasionally complements using that other desk essential, Tipp-Ex. “It’s the most fundamental thing, [something that is] available everywhere. And wherever I am, I can find this ballpoint pen. It’s very intimate, that’s where I know I’m really observing something deeply.
