DE51GN

DE51GN spoke to New York-based Dean Project gallery founder Mark Dean, who after a chance meeting with perhaps Middle East’s most design-savvy man– Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah, brought his pop-culture philosophy to the region with an exhibition titled Exporting Pop: A Western Fantasy that was recently on view at The Al-Sabah Art and Design Gallery in Kuwait.

Tell us something about the origins of Dean Project and a little bit about yourself.
I opened my gallery DEAN PROJECT in September 2007. I had worked as a private dealer for a year before opening in NYC. Prior to opening my gallery, I went to business school and worked in the business industry.

How did the collaboration with the Al Sabah Art and Design collection come about?
I met Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah at a Miami art fair in December 2007. He was interested in the artists that I exhibited and offered collaboration with his gallery.

Pop art has become fairly ubiquitous. How would you define it in the current context?
Contemporary society has embraced pop imagery in the same way societies of the Byzantine or Renaissance eras embraced those styles. In a way, I believe Pop can be seen as the highest cultural denominator among all social classes.

Have you been to the Middle East before? If yes, how did it appeal to your senses?
Yes I’ve been to Dubai and Kuwait City and I truly loved the experience. I found a very honest and rich culture; I look forward to returning and working with Sheikh Majed on future projects.

What do you think about the burgeoning art scene in the Middle East? How well-known is it in the West and how is it perceived? Is it stereotyped?
In the past decade the art scene in the West has witnessed a hunger for “new-Eastern” art that approaches traditional aesthetics with a contemporary look; I would think that the Middle Eastern art scene is not a stereotyped version of the West but under another hand and this has clearly been embraced and welcomed by the West.

What are the underlying sociopolitical nuances that the exhibition– Exporting Pop: A Western Fantasy aims to portray?

The works in this exhibition are based on a wide range of ideas from mass consumerism to global warming, and yet the selected works address these issues in such a soft manner that it becomes easier to engage the viewers.

The Middle East too has an emerging breed of young and talented artists who are making a mark with a new genre of pop art that is contextualized to the current social and political environment in the region. How different is it from the pop art leanings of the West, if so? Or perhaps there is a common ground somewhere? What do you think?
I feel perhaps the way both the West and the East address current social-political situations, whereby, transforming them into a commonly understood language throughout the use of popular imagery, is one of the most interesting cultural global connections in our contemporary society.

Are there any more future collaborations with Middle Eastern artists/galleries in the pipeline?
Yes. Sheikh Majed and I are in talks about future collaborations.

Tell us who are some of your favourite artists and why? Which Middle Eastern artist do you most admire, if any?
First, Andy Warhol who is responsible for the fusion of art, popular culture and celebrity, conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner, Shirin Neshat for her exportation of Islamic society, and both Ken Price and Peter Voulkos for their relationship with form and material, just to name a few.

The boundaries between art and design have blurred over the years. Do you think it causes conflict sometimes for the audience as well as perhaps the artists/designers themselves?
I have always thought that the boundary between art and design is modernism, nevertheless the visual experience that both worlds provide is unique in its own way. It is up to the artists and designers to create works that clearly define the way we experience each. Yes confusion may be created by these two worlds but that’s also what keeps things interesting!

Below is an excerpt from the press release of the exhibition Exporting Pop: A Western Fantasy

The exhibition will showcase the work of the artists of the Dean Project who have explored the subject of “Pop” as an aesthetic unifying concept of our global society bearing in mind the current sociopolitical conflicts between the West and the Middle East. Pop Art emerged in the mid 1950s in England, but realised its fullest potential in New York in the 1960s where it shared, with Minimalism, the attentions of the art world. In Pop Art, the epic was replaced with the everyday and the mass-produced; awarded the same significance as the unique and the gulf between “high art” and “low art” was eroded.

The media and advertising were favorite subjects for Pop Art’s often witty celebrations of consumer society. Pop Art brought art back to the material realities of everyday life, to popular culture, in which ordinary people derived most of their visual pleasure from television, magazines, or comics. It made a commentary on contemporary society and culture, particularly consumerism, by using popular images and icons and incorporating and re-defining them in the art world. Pop continues to be a strong force in today’s art world and forms the framework for this exhibition, which reflects how this artistic phenomenon has evolved from the 1960’s to the present.

This exhibition presents twenty contemporary artists working in sculpture, photography, drawing, mixed media and painting. They will share their personal visions and ideas of the present popular culture. What is the significance of pop art for the non-Western world? How is the fantasy of the West perceived by Kuwaitis? What gets lost in translation? These concerns have been visually depicted by the artists of the Dean Project. The gallery is open from Saturday to Thursday, 10am -10pm. Call +965-2563 5424 for more information