Andaz Dubai The Palm

Dubai · 2014–2019 · Art, place and art consultancy · MAA-PR-2014-001

An art programme bringing the Emirati environment and the Arabic letter into a contemporary hospitality experience.

54 works shown here · 73 images

A corridor at Andaz Dubai The Palm lined with works from the Riah Al Sharq collection — From Riah Al Sharq in the hotel corridors

The project began with consultancy, experimentation and artistic development, and progressed to producing the works and contributing to their arrangement within the hotel. Mahmood Al Abadi's role included reading the spaces with the design team and developing a vision for the works and their relationship to the function and character of each space.

The approaches ranged across paintings, abstract experiments, sculptures and murals. In Riah Al Sharq, dividing the work into units answered an architectural need; in All Colors of Love the exploration of letter and colour widened; while Orbits of the Letter and Raqi gave calligraphy an independent presence in space.

The project began in 2014; most of the works were approved in 2018, and final delivery took place in 2019. The artist describes its scope as nearly one thousand works, including repeated editions of some designs.

The artist's role

Art consultancy and development, production of the works, and contribution to their arrangement and integration with the interiors.

Works in the project

54 works shown here

See the project works in the full index

Metal works

4 works

Sculptures and metal works in which Thuluth Jali takes on an independent presence in space, their relationship with light and architecture becoming part of how they are read.

Riah Al Sharq (Winds of the East)

12 works

The collection draws its colours from the diversity of the Emirati environment, combining treatments of letter, colour and abstraction. Each work consists of eighteen pieces of stretched canvas mounted on a black ground with calculated gaps between them.

This structure arose in response to the nature of the hotel corridors and the need to access services behind some of the work locations. The units and gaps became part of the visual rhythm and, at the same time, part of the solution linking art to the function of the place.

In place 2

A long hotel corridor; on the left an eighteen-panel canvas work in turquoise and yellow with large white calligraphy — Riah Al Sharq 06 in a guest-floor corridor: the eighteen units run along the wall, their rhythm continued by the carpet pattern.Winds of the East — 06

Close view of an eighteen-panel work on a black ground with a large white letter and red and blue strokes; room numbers on the wall — Riah Al Sharq 03 up close: the black frame, the calculated gaps between panels, and the room numbers beside the work.Winds of the East — 03

All Colors of Love

9 works

The collection approaches the letter through its mass, its curves and the space that forms inside and around it. Colour relationships come forward, and a fragment of a letter becomes an element capable of building the composition.

This approach opens a wide field for experiment: knowledge of the letter's structure remains present, while the way it appears varies from one work to the next, and sizes differ according to each piece's location in the project.

In place 1

A large painting of pale-blue letter fragments and flat colours on a navy ground, with a chair and small table in front — All Colors of Love — AW-408 on a dark wall beside a seating corner.All Colors of Love — AW-408

Individual works

29 works

Paintings on canvas that move between abstractions of the Arabic letter, words from the UAE national anthem and elements of Emirati architecture such as wind towers and windows, distributed across the hotel's suites, corridors and public spaces.

In place 14

A painting of navy and turquoise strokes above a red shelf; at the end of the corridor a red and silver spiral sculpture — Royal Suite entrance: Qithar on the wall, with Orbits of the Letter visible at the end of the corridor and in its reflections.Qithar, Orbits of the Letter

A living room with two tall panels in blue and pink with white calligraphy, and a matching pair on the far wall — Wasl as a diptych in a residence living room, repeated on the opposite wall: the work was installed in two locations.Wasl

Two tall panels above a leather sofa, in blue, pink and orange with white calligraphy — Wasl above a sofa in an Andaz suite: "Eishi Biladi" in the mashq manner, from the blue of the sea to the blue of the sky.Wasl

A wide living room; on the left a gold and red painting, and at the back a wide dark-blue painting of scattered letters — Prince Suite: Dawn on the left, and Dew at full width above the dining table.Dawn, Dew

A wide gold and red painting above a sofa, with a dining table in front — Dawn in the Prince Suite: an abstraction of the word "salam" in the colours of dawn above the seating area.Dawn

A very wide painting in turquoise and yellow with calligraphic circles above a curved leather sofa — Rain at its full length (2820 mm) above a curved sofa in a suite.Rain

A bedroom with a turquoise painting of dark shapes above the bed; a stained-glass partition on the left — Wasl III above the bed in an Andaz room, beside the stained-glass partition.Wasl III

A painting of broad navy strokes with turquoise and pink, two gold sculptures on a red shelf in front — Qithar behind gold sculptures at the Royal Suite entrance.Qithar

A dressing room with a white desk; at the back a turquoise painting of scattered red and blue letters — Celebration at the end of the Royal Suite dressing room, its letters reflected in the side mirrors.Celebration

A geometric painting in yellow, black and red with white circles on a marble wall beside a bathtub — Dunes in a suite bathroom, between marble and wood.Dunes

Two mint-green panels with black letterforms above the bed — Praise as a diptych in the Terrace Suite bedroom.Praise

Two small panels in red and black on white and on yellow, above a desk in a bedroom — Contrast as a diptych in a large bedroom.Contrast

A painting in brown and gold tones on a pale wall, with a sofa, round table and stained glass — Homeland on the wall of a curved living room overlooking the city.Homeland

A living room with a small painting on a peach ground with a red and grey form above a dining table — Jazz in the studio residence, behind the dining table.Jazz

From the project documentation

Works in place

1 image

A large lounge with a radial ceiling of wooden slats; large yellow, orange and purple paintings on the walls — The main lounge: large flat-colour paintings surround the seating under the radial ceiling.