Fann-À-Porter art gallery is just an escalator trip away from the Mall of the Emirates. From the food court that is next to the cinemas at the Mall of the Emirates, just take the escalator that leads into the adjoining Kempinski hotel and you will most likely walk into the art gallery before you get to the hotel.  Translated into English as ‘art-to-go,’ the gallery was launched early this year, and promises to promote international talent, each month focusing on a particular artist or theme.

 

The gallery entrance.

The gallery entrance.

This month is dedicated to the artwork by Finnish artist Soile Yli-Mayry. She has been painting for more than 25 years, has held 255 exhibitions to date, in more than 25 countries.  She shares with me that she has a PhD in culture. And when I ask her what she thinks about Dubai, she whispers, “I have left my furs at the airport. The weather is amazing.” True, winter is on its way to Dubai, and over the last one week, the temperature slipped from the hot 40s into low 30s, much to my relief (I don’t cope with the sun and the heat too well, and I was aching for the cool breeze of Dubai winter).

 

The artist posing in front of her colourful works of art

The artist posing in front of her colourful works of art

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This is my favourite painting, even though white has been used more than any of the other colours.

This is my favourite painting, even though white has been used more than any of the other colours.

The very nature of the artist’s work is pleasing to the eye. Upon closer inspection, I find that she has blended various techniques to create figures that have a story to tell. Nearly every acrylic painting I discover has a dreamy character with pursed red lips and closed eyelid while the fringe of her body shape blends in with the rest of the painting.
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Soile Yli Mary, I believe, is  one of Finland’s most internationally renowned artists.  Graduating from the Liberal Art School of Helsinki in Finland and the Stuttgart Art Academy in Germany, her art style embraces expressionism but she still keeps it all personal.  Her technique uses palette knife, one art technique I am aching to learn in time. You can see from the pictures I took that there seems to be deep scratches which give a three degree feel to an otherwise solid painting. These etches form a perfect union with layers of thin acrylic coats of paint. The overarching theme of her work borders on the meaning of humanity and how the urban world tends to alienate people from their natural (perhaps original?) surroundings. Certainly her vibrant paintings offer the stark white walls of the gallery a colourful option to ‘wear.’More on Fann-À-Porter here.