By Standouts from Art Dubai 2026
The 20th addition of Art Dubai is finally here taking place at Madinat Jumeirah, from May 15th to 17th 2026. This year’s fair honours its collaborators with a celebratory partnership with long exhibiting artists, galleries, institutions and partners. Free to attend, the fair is today a well-known international platform supporting creativity in all forms. Walking through the exhibits and installations, it is evident that diversity and freedom of expression are the fair’s core strengths. Middle East Masala’s highlights from Art Dubai 2026:
The Land and I by Nabil Anani, Zawyeh Gallery
Anani’s work features colourful and textured paintings of the Palestinian landscape, which serves as a celebration of Palestine that he dreams of. Free, manicured nature, without checkpoints and cement barriers, through the use of organic materials, the artist portrays the landscape by using it as a physical medium on his canvas. His work often consists of natural materials — such as wood, straw, dried herbs, quinoa and spices, infusing his paintings with the very elements of the earth that he intimately portrays.
Maat by Hashel Al Lamki, presented by Tabari Artspace
Inside the fair, don’t miss looking up at the ceiling, where this suspended textile installation is sure to catch your eye. Maat is composed of layered fabrics, reclaimed textiles from hotel linen to burial clothes, bridal fabric and silk chiffon, dyed with pigments from discarded flowers. Working with the processes of natural dyes, embroidery and reuse, the Emirati artist has traced how materials move through cycles of labour, attention and value. Developed through residences in Mallorca, Kerela and Cairo in collaboration with local artisans, the work reflects the convergence of cultural practices and material knowledge.
A Song A Story by Sudarshan Shetty, presented by Laila Heller Gallery, Dubai
An impressive hand carved wooden dome by Indian artist Sudarshan Shetty explores architectural forms and cultural elements of the Indian Subcontinent bringing together sculpture and film through a narrative derived from a folktale centred around a woman with a repressed story and song. The story is told and retold across two screens and through songs creating shifting perspectives and a sense of unfolding time.
IRIDIA by Soliman Lopez, Rizq Art Initiative
This phygital art project is distinctly unique and revolves around an asteroid called 16 Psyche, a metal rich rock floating between Mars and Jupiter, and is backed by one Kg of real iridium, the rarest metal on earth. Lopez has design IRIDIA as a conceptual art ecosystem, which proposes a new model of civilization, a digital coalition of 128 AI powered elements, each one, a unique mineral codesigned with a university, company or institution and addressing a real planetary crisis — climate change, biodiversity loss or resource wars.
Arbusti (shrubs) by Riccardo Baruzzi, P420 Gallery
Italian artist Riccardo Baruzzi’s layered canvasses with delicate aesthetics have a poignant appeal. There are textiles, signs, cutouts and pastel shades, all coming together coherently on the canvas. The shrub figures float across the transparent canvas which acts as a light screen while coloured silhouettes, sometimes covered in gold leaf — unfold on the rivers. It is a layered play of planes and depths that transforms the image into a contemporary mosaic, where each element – signs, colours and light – all contribute to a shared vibration.
Abdul Rahman Al Muzayen, Gallery One, Ramallah
Celebrated Palestinian artist Abdul Rahman Al Muzayen, a Gazan-born painter and print maker is well-known for his symbolic style featuring Palestinian motifs such as arches, olive trees, birds and stylized costumes often focusing on themes of heritage and liberation. Artworks by Muzayen are part of major collections including the British Museum, Barjeel Art Foundation and Dalloul Art Foundation.
Michiko Tsuda video installations, Dom Art projects
Japanese artist Michiko Tsuda’s video installations explore space for experimentation and archiving, a field for reflection on the role of media, memory and perception. Tsuda has persistently examined the volatility of human perception and the richness of illusions afforded by manipulating our sensations in terms of understanding space and time.
Pulse, Arab masterpieces from the Barjeel Art Foundation
A landmark exhibition of 20 modern Arab masterpieces from the Barjeel Art Foundation, curated by Rémi Homs featuring prominent artists such as Mahmoud Said, Mohamed Melehi, Samia Halaby and Safeya Binzagr, tracing social and political transformations across the Arab world. Founded in 2010 in Sharjah, the Barjeel Art Foundation is dedicated to collecting, researching, and exhibiting modern and contemporary art from the Arab World.
Memory of a Paper City, Alfred Tarazi, Blue Rose, Lebanon
Tracing Lebanon’s tumultuous past through paper cuts in an eye-catching installation, artist Alfred Tarazi preserves and showcases a nation’s story through the lens of the publishing industry. Through paper archies from now defunct magazines, newspapers, posters and pamphlets from 1930s to the end of 1980s, Tarazi documents popular cultural news and icons.