Artist Emily Gordon, who has been living in Abu Dhabi for 27 years, now plans to move back to the United States. Christopher Pike / The National
Artist Emily Gordon, who has been living in Abu Dhabi for 27 years, now plans to move back to the United States. Christopher Pike / The National

After colouring Abu Dhabi, artist Emily Gordon has US in frame



After almost 27 years in Abu Dhabi, renowned American artist Emily Gordon is leaving the city. But she won’t do so without leaving a little piece of herself behind, in the form of her paintings, many of which adorn the lobbies, boardrooms and living rooms in the capital. Her artworks pay tribute to some of the emirate’s iconic buildings, which are depicted in bright colours, using quirky logos, old jewellery and scraps of patterned materials.

These buildings that make up the modern-day skyline – including the Hyatt Capital Gate, Emirates Palace and Aldar’s headquarters – did not exist when Gordon arrived in Abu Dhabi in 1990 with her husband Patrick, a training captain for Presidential Flight.

“Abu Dhabi was a little village: everything was just a couple of streets off the Corniche,” she says.

Gordon previously worked as an agronomist (soil scientist) in the United States.

“I didn’t want to pursue that line of work here, as it would have meant sharing a cabin out in the sticks with a group of men,” she says, laughing.

“There weren’t really many job opportunities here for women back then, apart from nursing and teaching. Even most of the secretarial work was done by men.”

There were no expat artists in the UAE at that time, says Gordon – just a few “British journeymen” artists, such as watercolourist Trevor Waugh, who exhibited at the country’s only gallery, Majlis Gallery in Dubai.

“Emirati artists existed, but the arts weren’t a great priority then,” she adds.

With time to invest in a new hobby, Gordon developed a unique art style that reflected, in an abstract way, the architecture of the new city emerging around her. It was her good fortune that the empty walls of all these new buildings needed art with which to decorate them.

She slowly developed her pioneering style by layering paint, resin and discarded objects to create distinctly Arabian-style artwork rich in depth and colour. Each piece takes two-to- three months to build up the layers – and it’s a dirty job.

“I have to work really fast with a blow torch, a mask and full gear on – these used to be nice pants,” says Gordon, pointing to the paint-spattered leggings she is wearing, with a smart purple shirt. “It’s like a soufflé, either it sets and it’s yummy or it’s mushy and collapses. ”

Gordon found a particular niche in depicting traditional Arabian doorways, adorned with jewellery salvaged from curiosity shops during her travels.

Her decision to focus on doorways was a shrewd one.

“Strict Islamists take exception to anything that God’s created, which could be a landscape picture – that’s why a lot of Arabic art is calligraphy, poetry and mosaics,” she explains.

“With the doors, I managed to reflect the local culture in an inoffensive way.”

Gordon’s art sells for between Dh2,000 and Dh14,000, but she points out that a large percentage of that goes towards costs. She says she jokes with her husband about that fact that it is usually the paintings she “absolutely hates” that sell quickest.

Like the city she has painted, Gordon’s art has evolved.

“My work was more naive, looser and more open, and now I’ve gone to busier and more intense,” she explains.

Some of her recent pieces, which take pride of place in her Abu Dhabi villa, have a charm and humour to them and often strike a chord with guests. A curious column of colourful puppet heads are, she explains, the faces of tailgaters.

“I was driving back and forth to Dubai for commissions, and you know how they get so close to you that you feel they’re in your back seat – they look demonic back there,” she says. “It’s more to amuse me.”

Gordon adds a further Abu Dhabi flavour to her pictures by scouring newspapers for eye-catching headlines, which she cuts out and glues onto the windows of her buildings.

“I’m obsessed with the weirder stuff,” she says.

Her home will be back in the US from now on. But she will not be staying away from the UAE for long – this autumn, she has signed up for another No White Walls exhibition, which she takes part in annually at the Fairmont Hotel alongside other veteran expatriate artists.

Gordon adds that she plans to put away her blowtorch to do something else that inspires people.

“I need to teach kids coming into the US, to get them up to scratch on English,” she says.

She admits she will greatly miss Abu Dhabi, and the welcoming aspect of the culture she has tried to depict in her pictures.

“The fact that in Abu Dhabi you’ve got a Greek Orthodox church next to a Roman Catholic church and a mosque, it’s so understated – but so welcoming and open,” she says.

“That’s what a lot of people don’t understand about this part of the world. In my pictures, I emphasise that welcoming aspect. We’re all here and we’re all leaving our fingerprints. How big they are, history will tell.”

artslife@thenational.ae

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

The%20Genius%20of%20Their%20Age
%3Cp%3EAuthor%3A%20S%20Frederick%20Starr%3Cbr%3EPublisher%3A%20Oxford%20University%20Press%3Cbr%3EPages%3A%20290%3Cbr%3EAvailable%3A%20January%2024%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
RESULT

Los Angeles Galaxy 2 Manchester United 5

Galaxy: Dos Santos (79', 88')
United: Rashford (2', 20'), Fellaini (26'), Mkhitaryan (67'), Martial (72')

Jigra
Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Rated: 3.5/5
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)

Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits

Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine

Storage: 128/256/512GB

Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4

Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps

Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID

Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight

In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter

Price: From Dh2,099

Moral education needed in a 'rapidly changing world'

Moral education lessons for young people is needed in a rapidly changing world, the head of the programme said.

Alanood Al Kaabi, head of programmes at the Education Affairs Office of the Crown Price Court - Abu Dhabi, said: "The Crown Price Court is fully behind this initiative and have already seen the curriculum succeed in empowering young people and providing them with the necessary tools to succeed in building the future of the nation at all levels.

"Moral education touches on every aspect and subject that children engage in.

"It is not just limited to science or maths but it is involved in all subjects and it is helping children to adapt to integral moral practises.

"The moral education programme has been designed to develop children holistically in a world being rapidly transformed by technology and globalisation."

Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

MATCH INFO

Chelsea 0

Liverpool 2 (Mane 50', 54')

Red card: Andreas Christensen (Chelsea)

Man of the match: Sadio Mane (Liverpool)

Company Profile

Company name: Yeepeey

Started: Soft launch in November, 2020

Founders: Sagar Chandiramani, Jatin Sharma and Monish Chandiramani

Based: Dubai

Industry: E-grocery

Initial investment: $150,000

Future plan: Raise $1.5m and enter Saudi Arabia next year

Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Cargoz%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EDate%20started%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20January%202022%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Premlal%20Pullisserry%20and%20Lijo%20Antony%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2030%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Seed%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlmouneer%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dr%20Noha%20Khater%20and%20Rania%20Kadry%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EEgypt%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E120%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBootstrapped%2C%20with%20support%20from%20Insead%20and%20Egyptian%20government%2C%20seed%20round%20of%20%3Cbr%3E%243.6%20million%20led%20by%20Global%20Ventures%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
THE NEW BATCH'S FOCUS SECTORS

AiFlux – renewables, oil and gas

DevisionX – manufacturing

Event Gates – security and manufacturing

Farmdar – agriculture

Farmin – smart cities

Greener Crop – agriculture

Ipera.ai – space digitisation

Lune Technologies – fibre-optics

Monak – delivery

NutzenTech – environment

Nybl – machine learning

Occicor – shelf management

Olymon Solutions – smart automation

Pivony – user-generated data

PowerDev – energy big data

Sav – finance

Searover – renewables

Swftbox – delivery

Trade Capital Partners – FinTech

Valorafutbol – sports and entertainment

Workfam – employee engagement

Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Fasset%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2019%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Mohammad%20Raafi%20Hossain%2C%20Daniel%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%242.45%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2086%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Pre-series%20B%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Investcorp%2C%20Liberty%20City%20Ventures%2C%20Fatima%20Gobi%20Ventures%2C%20Primal%20Capital%2C%20Wealthwell%20Ventures%2C%20FHS%20Capital%2C%20VN2%20Capital%2C%20local%20family%20offices%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hoopla%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EDate%20started%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMarch%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Jacqueline%20Perrottet%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2010%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPre-seed%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20required%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%24500%2C000%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The BIO

Favourite piece of music: Verdi’s Requiem. It’s awe-inspiring.

Biggest inspiration: My father, as I grew up in a house where music was constantly played on a wind-up gramophone. I had amazing music teachers in primary and secondary school who inspired me to take my music further. They encouraged me to take up music as a profession and I follow in their footsteps, encouraging others to do the same.

Favourite book: Ian McEwan’s Atonement – the ending alone knocked me for six.

Favourite holiday destination: Italy - music and opera is so much part of the life there. I love it.

match info

Athletic Bilbao 1 (Muniain 37')

Atletico Madrid 1 (Costa 39')

Man of the match  Iker Muniain (Athletic Bilbao)

THE BIO:

Sabri Razouk, 74

Athlete and fitness trainer 

Married, father of six

Favourite exercise: Bench press

Must-eat weekly meal: Steak with beans, carrots, broccoli, crust and corn

Power drink: A glass of yoghurt

Role model: Any good man

The specs

Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors

Power: 480kW

Torque: 850Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)

On sale: Now