Brownmonkeys leads a Street Art Renaissance in Deira

Despite the seeming contradiction of street art and the strict anti-vandalism laws in the UAE, the urban art movement is slowly creeping its way into the heart of Dubai, lending a voice to a new generation of settlers and creating a counter-culture bent on exposing the soul of the city. 

At the forefront of this creative revolution is a group of Pinoy artists collectively known as the
Brownmonkeys, who were commissioned for Street Connection, a 10-day Art festival held  recently at the Al Ghurair Center aimed at reviving the city’s pioneering roots.

Ground zero to Dubai’s very first metropolitan center, Deira continues to be among the handful of old neighborhoods in the city that offers a real sense of urban community drawing in a diverse mix of nationalities, including a significant Filipino population. 

Busy, vibrant and pedestrian friendly, very few areas in Dubai can rival the authentic street cred of Deira such that various art installations, creative displays, live exhibits, graffiti, music, and street performances fell right at home in its inner city streets.

Visual artist Mark Ganzon shares his thoughts on the current popularity of Street art and takes their group’s involvement at the recent Street Con as a sign of good things to come.

“I feel that it (Street Art) is getting slowly accepted by the city which is good. At the moment the art scene in Dubai is a bit locked down in sterile environments of galleries. Street art is for the people.  It's for the average person walking down the street, for them to find something interesting other than just advertising billboards that they can relate to.

Rollan Rodriguez, founding member of the Brownmonkeys and curator of Street Con says they chose the venue in Deira because most people don’t realise “how rich Deira is in terms of culture and diversity – it’s a perfect incubator for art”. Describing it as the “original urban community”, Rodriguez also noted that the Street Con aimed to expose urban art to the wider public.

“Urban art is created by artists living, depicting or experiencing city life,” he explained. “This may be the illustration on your T-shirt, the design of your sneaker or the shape of your toys. The artist’s responsibility is to amplify these visual cues and reinterpret them.”

Indeed, the community in Deira has been very receptive, with the Street con gallery conveniently hosted just beside the grocery and the right across the mall. It served as a great platform for the artist to communicate their ideas and engage audiences of all ages and from different background. 

Locals, tourists, laborers, regular office workers, passersby, were treated to a burst of creative energy. Everyone was welcome to take part in the graffiti, toy decorating, sticker-making and even the live performances.

Filipina artist Victoria Viray-Ganzon describes the experience as enthusiastic.

“I loved the whole vibe, how it was very down to earth and very approachable. Unlike the typical gallery scenes, there were no high-brow art critics to ruin it for everybody else. You don’t need any knowledge of art history or to be an art buff to be able to participate and enjoy. It’s a fun activity and for us artists, it was a really good way to give back to the community.”

Victoria who is known for painting strong female characters was invited to work on a mural that would be the only permanent fixture in the Street Con exhibition. Her work showed off a stunning tribal goddess in a huge space, 6 x 4 meters, the largest piece she has have ever worked on in her career so far.

“I prefer to portray strong female characters in various states of emotion. The centerpiece lady in my mural is one of those characters. I imagine her as a goddess of sorts, watching over Deira.” 

Pinoy revelers were happy to see her working on her wall, with some referring to her as “Chichay”, a character from a famous teleserye. Victoria takes no offense though, as this can only mean that our kabayans are connecting with art based on their daily life, whether they were art enthusiasts or not.

 

Expressive and passionate, Filipinos are natural trendsetters who somehow tend to bring in the cool and happy vibe wherever we go. The Brownmonkeys bringing their urban art explosion to an old community is one example of how our creative pursuits always lead to a role as agents for social change, or simply to connect, to bring fun and color to the otherwise mundane world of the daily grind.

Here’s hoping to see more of our Brown and Proud art all over the city!


All Photos stolen with permission from Joseph Manata. xoxo 

Staring at Walls

Before I came to Dubai  I had this bad idea of a fake city devoid of any art, culture, history or inspiration. All I ever knew about it were all the superficial superlative stuff - the tallest buildings, the gold, the Louis Vuittons, the Ferraris and Lamborghini’s of the affluent Arab masters. 

Perhaps in some ways, on the surface it is true, but I would now rather reserve judgment. The truth is Dubai, of all places, has gotten me face to face with Art, as much as it did with consumerism.

Unimpressed with the grand shopping festival culture, I was drawn to the inner dungeons of the city, and pretty soon found my way to the backstreets of Al Quoz, in spacious empty warehouses converted into comfy loft galleries.

"Saying goodbye means forgetting." This sculpture reminded me of Peter Pan.

A collection of war portraits painted based on real photos.

Growing up in the Philippines, where much of high-brow art was reserved for the buyers or the academe, my initial idea of art galleries was synonymous to my idea of museums, which is pretty much lethargic, confined to memories of boring school field trips.

By this I mean, staring at hanging paintings on the wall didn’t really appeal to me as a cool activity until Dubai, where the galleries have more to offer than any mall, and where staring at art seemed more interesting than  staring at people getting drunk in a bar.

To its credit, in a few short years, Dubai has managed to attract a bustling creative scene, that after three years of hosting the annual Art fair every March, it apparently has become one of the major avenues for showcasing the region's best on a global platform.

Filipino visual artist Mark Ganzon was commissioned to paint the Art Bus
that can take you to all the Galleries around the UAE for 50dhs 

Women behind bars, ignoring the open door.  

The Conductor.

Art as therapy.

My favorite author Kurt Vonnegut once said that “the arts is very human way of making life more bearable.” He couldn’t have said it better.  Perhaps I will never learn enough of art history, or be anywhere close to drawing a straight line, but what I’ve seen is enough to compel me to write and drag people out of their comfort zones into a strange world of walls that talk.

More my style. A collection of woodworks by
Spanish grafitti artist Ruben Sanchez.

Threads and tongues.

Where are the superheroes? A bold statement by FN Designs.

Don’t take my word for it! Check out the interesting exhibits at the Sikka Art Fair at the old Dubai Museum,  Al Serkal Avenue in Al Quoz, the Gate Village in DIFC and Madinat Jumeirah. Art Dubai opens every second week of March. For a full calendar of activities log on to : https://www.facebook.com/DubaiCultureArtsAuthority

Stumbling upon the Dubai Underground

Back in the 80s, when you say “Middle East” it immediately conjures images of the desert, oil riggs, construction, 24carat gold, strict Arab masters and of course, our lonely OFWs. The Gulf war in the 90s and 9-11 terrorist attacks didn’t seem to improve that image much, but that didn’t stop the diaspora of pinoys in this region, especially the “open” city of Dubai.

See, I had been warned about Dubai, fake, pretentious, boring and removed of any of real soul, but lately I’ve been finding myself checking-in at more and more good art and music venues enough to make me reconsider.


Today a new cultural movement is emerging from the underground, and with that a new breed of talented pinoys are again at the forefront. We caught up with one of them one night, Filipino artist Darwin Gueverra, while he was working on this huge graffiti in some 5-star hotel’s parking lot along with other international artists who flew in for the occasion.

We went further inside, a world-famous DJ was playing, the cool crowd was trickling in and as we took a seat in the gutter with our beers, we thought to ourselves - well look at that, Dubai is not what it used to be. Ironically, despite its array of swanky places, it was there in that parking lot that night that we stumbled upon the city’s real pulse, faint but alive and definitely a sign of good things coming.

*cool photos courtesy of Brutal Grace

Art Dubai and my Big 3 (Part One)

Life is short,

Art long,

Opportunity fleeting,

Experience treacherous,

Judgment difficult.

- Hippocrates, 400BC


I got this quote from  a New York times article i'm reading just now and it fittingly sums up my week and come to think of it,  my 3 years in Dubai.

I've been too busy past few days that I forgot about my "Coming to Dubai" anniversary. March 15. Its official, I've been in Desert City for 3 years, and yes, I've been mostly away from home for 3 years. If I stayed in my first job, i wouldve finished my contract by now, but thankfully God had other plans.

The decision to come here was a one-eye-open-jump-off-the cliff kind-of-thing. You know one of those moments where you really just decide to drop all inhibitions and just TAKE A CHANCE, because something inside tells you if you don't do it, you'll never know and you'll be left wondering, and boy, am I glad I did.

Three years ago i took that leap and now I'd say I'm finally in the water floating free.


Life is short. Opportunity Fleeting, and though you do get a lot of chances to get it right, the opportunities are never the same, and if you don't take the high road, and take a risk you could be missing out on something really special or even life-changing.


Experience Treacherous, Judgement Difficult. Dubai is not the easiest foreign city to live in, especially if you've been raised in Asian-meets-Catholic values and predominantly Western ideals of Freedom, and where you can get away with much of everything if you know how. When i first came here, I pretty much had to let go of most of my previous self, my old experiences, and reserve most of my judgements until i learned ropes.

Life is short. Art long. For what is Art but the imitation of life, and vice versa, a certain truth, and a way of looking at things differently. This week Dubai was alive with Art, and despite the fact that the city hides a dangerous ugly dungeon, it gave me the unique opportunity to reconnect with Art, and eventually brought me back to myself. Only this time, I am a different person looking at another angle, recognizing parts of myself and seeing that my life's painting has a lot more to offer now.

I am the same but not the same, and this week has been pivotal to that change. 


MONDAY :  

5pm Monday - Dubai Mall :

I found myself in Dubai Mall with some spare time, and as an old habit, whenever I find myself in the mall with time to kill, I go to the bookstore. It's been a while since i let myself wander around books, i took some to read, and lo and behold at the far end of the bookstore, behind the Manga section, I found a Japanese coffeeshop overlooking the famous Dubai fountain.

If there's one thing in Dubai ill never get tired of seeing it is this fountain. I order cappucinno, four Japanese women walk in, a grandma, her 30something daughter, her 20-something young niece and a 2-year old little girl. They sit in front of me and the fountain show starts. For a moment there, it felt like I was sitting at the border between two worlds - asian-Japan and the the very Vegas-inspired Dubai Fountain, and that the Universe or God is trying to tell me a secret.

I take out my Muji notebook and I'm writing again, the traditional way, with Pen and Paper. The return of the Familiar. "Welcome back" - i whispered silently to myself. My Blackberry phone dies before i could share the moment. Just as it should.


7pm, Monday - Armani Hotel  : 

My photographer friend calls me out on my reverie and I go with her to the much-hyped Armani Hotel, where she had to take some photos of some high-end Art exhibit. As expected, high-end art was nowhere near real art, so she went to work taking photos of people who were mostly there for the Champagne and prestige. I wandered off to check out the so-called art, only to find a pixelated hundred dirham bill stuck in a gold frame, with a 22,000aed price tag. "Yes, Dorothy, you are still in Dubai" - I whispered to myself.

At that point I lost interest in Armani art, got myself a glass of free champagne, sat on a corner and people-watched. My friend comes back after 15minutes, she's done taking photos, and dying for a cigarette. We went to the overpriced veranda of the Armani Hotel to watch the Fountain again. And while smoking i decided to ask her about the incredibly story of how she met the rock icon Karl Roy, who died on Sunday. Her story was larger than life, like Karl and it blew me away. It was a story that made me think about chances. There on the Armani balcony, I hear a true-to-life story about Taking chances, more importantly Taking a chance on people and giving people a chance. How a small thing can change one person's life, and eventually make a difference in the world. A Stone picked up and thrown in the river creating ripples.

Almost Famous: Brutal Grace, my friend-photographer, got her first big break because she was a fan of Karl Roy and then Karl Roy became his fan, and their lives we're never the same again. 

It was then I realized that your life is not entirely yours, like how a painting or anything created out of nowhere becomes a part of the collective world and now has the potential to affect the next person that you come across - and because of this one should never, if he can help it, put a pixelated Hundred Dirham painting on a Gold canvass and call it Art. Karl Roy never did. God bless your soul Karl.


9PM, Monday - DIFC: 

To shake away the Armani Art exhibit let down, My friend and I decided to get a dose of some real art and headed to, well the Dubai Financial Center, the hub of decent art galleries in Dubai. Of course, money brings the best art to the region, and art without the means, well, it is good but sad. So DIFC galleries at least had more real art to showcase and the crowd was much more eclectic. I cannot go as far as say authentic, but for what its worth the crowd had character.

We meet a young famous artist - Sacha Jafri, who had an exhibit filled with doodles he'd done with special ed kids. These were very good doodles with good messages for a good cause. He was a fan of Kafka, and one of his drawings had a cassette tape that says SideA-Side B. Of course, we fell in love with him.

We stayed till the everybody left coz the art vibe was really getting to us and it was a good feeling. Then, when you least expect it magic happens. A take-away moment, mostly for my friend, but i was happy to be there.

Sacha comes out of his gallery tired, and sits with us for a while. He said he's been mostly travelling, London, New York. I, mere consumer of art, sit there comfortably with the maker, chat and drink a bit, thinking that  this guy is possibly a toast in his circle. It doesn''t matter, at that moment he was like any other guy. At that moment we were on the same playing field. Such is the charm Dubai, chance meetings are extraordinarily ordinary.

*End of Part 1*

to be continued.