So it seems an anomaly, perhaps, that the city should be host to the first gallery in the UAE, and possibly the Middle East, dedicated to the art of the spray can.
Not so says Thomas Perreaux-Forest, partner in the groundbreaking venture, Street Art Gallery, in one of Dubai’s more salubrious suburbs.
The Frenchman — smart, handsome, well educated — is, in some ways, an unlikely champion of such a polarizing genre.
He’s the kind of upstanding citizen you might expect to revile youths armed with spray cans.
He says the art form goes way beyond graffiti, however.
His gallery in Dubai’s Jumeirah neighborhood appears to support his theory, offering spray-painted works an unlikely home in a country largely devoid of graffiti — and attracting healthy prices.
Work at recent exhibitions has been fetching up to and upward of $10,000.
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“But one of our missions is to help the local guys and to make local culture and people from the region understand that street art is not about degradation and that there are many different styles in street art.”
For now, Street Art Gallery is opening its walls to the likes of Jenni Perez, Godzilla, Hep and One Love and is plotting a busy 2015 as its own exterior white walls are gradually replaced by visiting artists spraying what they think of Dubai’s new art hotspot.
Street Art Gallery is currently hosting one of the first and most infamous graffiti writers of the South Florida movement.
Miami’s Hec One Love is showcasing more than 100 of his works in Dubai under the banner “Loveism” until December 10.
The artist is known for his massive walls and post-graffitism abstracts and the Dubai show represents his biggest publicly displayed collection yet.
Street Art Gallery, Villa 23, 10th B St., Dubai; +971 55 88 88 247; 10 a.m.-7 p.m.
