Flicking through his sketchbook, David Paskett recalls his days in Dubai as moments. There are the etched lines of a baby in a pushchair on the Metro, a boy feeding seagulls by the Creek, an Emirati man on an abra and some boatbuilders down at the port. This is just one of a handful of sketchbooks Paskett filled during a three-week residency at Majlis Gallery in December 2012 and it was the first stage of his exhibition that is now showing at the gallery until June 12.
“My sketchbook actually starts at the airport in London when I saw a man in a coffee shop with ‘Hope’ written on his carrier bag and then I did some sketches on the plane as we approached Dubai. In fact, the first thing I did when I arrived was a painting.”
Paskett is a British artist who generally works in watercolours and was the president of the Royal Watercolour Society in the United Kingdom from 2009 to 2012. His work varies from realistic renderings of everyday scenes to more abstract wanderings over the canvas and a plethora of work in oils, acrylics, pastels and charcoal.
When Paskett came to Dubai in 2012, it was his first time in the city and he was immediately drawn to the hub of activity on the Creek, which runs adjacent to the gallery’s location in what was then known as Bastakiya but is now the Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood.
“The first night, I was down by the Creek drawing the boats and the boatmen,” he remembers. “It was lovely to be in the middle of Bastakiya and to be able to walk around and immerse myself in the historical parts of the city as well as enjoy the relaxed vibe.”
Paskett then began painting architectural scenes based on the windtower structures and the coral walls that surrounded him, as well as the alleyways and an old school that he stumbled across.
And soon he was selecting views typical to the UAE, such as Emirati men in the coffee shops eating lunch or the latticed screens on the backs of trucks, and emphasising their innate geometric patterns.
All the sketches, photographs and paintings he made while he was here served as the starting point for the paintings that are now on display in the gallery.
What is unusual about Paskett is that his work is divided into quite distinct styles that address his subjects through many different lenses.
A personal favourite is the abstract series, which he describes as “mapping memories”.
In Out of Coral, shapes of mosque domes are somehow paired with those of the fishing nets and while the jutted shapes of the windtowers can be made out in the foreground, the Burj Khalifa spikes through somewhere in the back. The title, a reference to the fact that the city was originally made from coral walls, is also relevant to the mostly blues and greens that gives the piece an aquatic feel.
“These pieces came from trying to depict the feel rather than the exact views of what I saw in Dubai,” he says. “I find myself walking through them; they are a compendium of fragmented memories of the city.”
Others, such as The Old School Room and Palms in the Mirage Garden, depict much more realistic scenes with excellent use of light and shade, while A Square Meal, an aerial view of two men having lunch, is a blend of both. "It was the patterns that struck me about this scene," he says. "The triangles and squares that are found in the floor tiles as well as in the food itself. It is all converging together."
Situated in the heart of historical Dubai and in Majlis Gallery’s charming back gallery, the exhibition is certainly worth taking the time out to ponder upon.
“In the end, I’m not interested in making something that is photographic,” Paskett says. “I’m interested in how it all knits together and because of that I believe my paintings can stand contemplation.”
• Drawn to Dubai: An Exhibition of Watercolours by David Paskett is on display at Majlis Gallery in Dubai until June 12
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