Cai Yuan - One World, One Dream - courtesy of TAG Fine Arts

 

Art Bahrain Across Borders 2019 | March 6th - 10th | International Exhibition and Convention Centre | Kingdom of Bahrain

 

We are very proud to present a specially curated Contemporary Cartography exhibition for Art Bahrain Across Borders. Ewan David Eason’s impressive Mappa Mundi Bahrain is inspired by his series of continents, countries and cities. The title comes from the Medieval Latin Mappa, meaning sheet, and Mundi, of the world. Ewan has taken inspiration from the study of maps from ancient to modern and his use of gold leaf, with its sacred and precious quality, draws on the egalitarian nature of people.

Justine Smith combines banknotes and mapping to explore how money touches every aspect of our lives, while also exploiting their visual beauty. Smith’s strikingly powerful Money Maps of the World feature Africa, the Middle East and China. The images on the banknotes illustrate key aspects of their country’s history, culture, religion and economy. Alongside, Rebecca Coles, who draws and cuts butterfly silhouettes using recycled international currency and entomology pins.

Claire Brewster, also a master paper cutter, uses vintage maps to create delicate paper cuts of this urbanised natural world. While Yanko Tihov’s playful Branded World represents the different countries of the world using Lego characters, with each figure wearing its country’s passport cover, Bahrain features on the top row.

Kristjana S Williams is an Icelandic born artist who studied graphic design and illustration at Central St. Martins. Her work has been commissioned for Coldplay’s recent album cover, The Shard and designing the infamous Christmas displays for Fortnum & Mason's. Cai Yuan’s One World, One Dream prints expertly combine strong colour and composition with creative social commentary. The balanced scattering of shapes looks like an archipelago of islands, close but independent.

TAG Fine Arts is thrilled to be exhibiting these artists in Bahrain for their inaugural exhibition, to reengage with mapmaking processes and aesthetics, and creatively transform them across borders. This is a fantastic opportunity literally to redraw the map in artistic terms.