There have been lengthy discussions as to how the talents of Azza Al-Qubaisi and her thriving business could merge with the ambitions of Sturiale Contemporary Arts to establish the concept of a joint project that could enhance both parties in their desire to establish a cultural hub. A hub that would provide a fresh perspective into the creative process and a further insight into the possibilities that arise when two such prominent cultural figures find the manner and means to satisfy their mutual respect and admiration for each others activities and establish a third party joint venture. The joint venture will be based in Abu Dhabi and will be known as: A.QUBAISI / STURIALE PROJECT.

The venture will start at the end of April with an opening exhibition by the British born artist Galvin Harrison. The exhibition is titled, "Stack" original works on paper. Galvin Harrison has been represented by Sturiale Contemporary Arts since it was first established and is a mid career artist with an established reputation. The exhibition that is being curated at A.Qubaisi/Sturiale Project is a forerunner to an ongoing project that has been initiated by Azza Al-Qubaisi in her capacity as a jewelry designer and Galvin Harrison as a fine artist. A working collaboration has been established to create an innovative form of jewelry that utilizes both their respective unique talents. The results of which is a working partnership that will launch the jewelry concept "Sculptures to Wear" of which the official launch date is scheduled in December 2012.

Galvin Harrison

"Stack" work on paper, 2008

Courtesy: A.Qubaisi/Sturiale Project

Galerie Møller Witt

30th March / 28th April 2012

The Danish artist Kresten Havgaard who is represented by Sturiale Contemporary Arts will be exhibiting new paintings in a solo show at Galerie Møller Witt in Denmark.

As far as painting style is concerned, Kresten Havgaard works within the boundaries of the abstract picture language. He is in possession of a describable painterly sensibility that allows him to create paintings that have a very intense expression, a vibrant color sense and a `no nonsense´ clarity of composition.

"The Flatlands Camp Project"

The National Museum of Photography

Copenhagen - Denmark

February 10th - April 28th 2012

Adam Jeppesen who is participating in the current exhibition Sturiale Paper Project 2 will open a solo exhibition at the National Museum of Photography in Copenhagen.

"In the middle of 2009 Adam Jeppesen began a period of uninterrupted, unaccompanied travel that lasted for 487 days. He traveled on a continuous grade, in one direction, constantly, on the ground, from the Arctic to Antarctica through the Americas.

During this period, the artist grew distant from the validation of other people and the convenient markers of cultured society. The long, solitary trip took him progressively further from a traditional understanding of space and time. Only his photographs, he says, became a means of “guaranteeing a present.” From day to day, the camera received the artist’s experiences and confirmed them to him.

Jeppesen has become known, over the past decade, for a body of work that is both meticulously edited and nakedly diaristic. The artist’s distinctive style, which crystallized in his first major monograph, Wake (Steidl, 2008), located a space in between documentary and dream.

Nostalgia remains important to Jeppesen, and many aesthetic decisions are still made by remembering, projecting and dreaming. The works emerging from his most recent travels, however, are primarily concerned with direct, immediate responses. This need for straight confirmation was borne of human necessity as the artist burrowed deeper than ever before into a dreamlike state.

Some of the pictures are far from pristine. Grit jiggling in a box has gnawed the surface of certain negatives, leaving scuffs of evidence on the final prints that speak to the extended physical journey that the work shared with the artist. The occasional occurrences that most photographers will trash, such as light leaks and odd exposures, are allowed to live. Certain shots flirt with total abstraction. At the printing end of the process, Jeppesen is experimenting with unconventional, offhand and ephemeral techniques. The artist is keen to question the authority of the print, the end result, the expected conclusion of the photographic act.

Because what is an end result? These works appear to ask what an image is worth, what a moment is worth, and what a memory is worth. What were these experiences? Jeppesen fastidiously avoids the fetishized travel narrative. Location and context are irrelevant. So what was important about these experiences? What is most relevant for this particular body of work, it seems, is the very act of experiencing something. “The Flatlands Camp Project,” which will evolve dramatically over the course of the next year, aspires to become an experience of its own."

Mats Bergquist likes to work in seclusion. Born in 1960 into a Swedish family of diplomats, he grew up and lived in different countries, among them Russia. He now lives and works both in Bassano del Grappa, north of Vicenza, Italy and Nyköping, southwest of Stockholm, Sweden. Both the meditative, contemplate work as well as the openness and the interest in cultural aspects of his homelands are evident in his art. Life and work, experience and artistic expression have to be coherent to be able to let the art emit honesty that an observer can perceive, says Bergquist.