The Beirut Sale

On July 1, 2010, Ayyam Gallery, Beirut will host its second Beirut Sale, an in-house public auction that will feature a staggering selection of painting, sculpture and photography from some the Middle East's most prominent and emerging trendsetters.

Following the success of the gallery's recent installment of its Young Collectors Auction in the UAE, which is geared towards budding art patrons and fetched over $250,000 USD with nearly 50 lots, the forthcoming Beirut Sale will maintain the exciting momentum of the regional art market. It will do so by featuring artists that have played a significant part in the art scenes of Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, covering virtually every corner of the Arab art world and demonstrating its wealth of visual culture.

This forthcoming sale will take place at an exhilarating time. In May, Christie's Dubai surprised the world with three times pre-estimate sales and 23 new international auction records for Arab artists, which included the $2.4 million purchase of a work by Egyptian modernist Mahmoud Said. This astonishing rise in prices is making waves across the globe with everyone from Time Magazine to the Wall Street Journal taking notice. This has meant an increased interest from the global art community (not to mention the financial sector), as international collectors and galleries flock more and more to art fairs such as Art Dubai. Most importantly, this points to the rapid ascent of places like Beirut and Abu Dhabi as leading international hubs and the establishment of scenes in Damascus and Doha as cultural hotspots.

This latest edition of the Beirut Sale will engage with these stirring developments by offering lots from a range of artists—seminal and up-and-coming talents that have been helping put local art on the map. Influential figures Samia Halaby, Assad Arabi, Moustafa Ali and Mona Saudi will be represented with important works, while Manal Al-Dowayan, Kais Salman, and Oussama Diab will hold court as a part of a young generation that is breaking ground. Also of note is the inclusion of prominent painter Safwan Dahoul, who is one of the highest grossing Syrian artists to sell at Christie's and a favorite among collectors worldwide.

Special attention has been given to reflecting the currents of the Beirut art scene, as it makes leaps and bounds with a number of new commercial and non profit spaces, a forthcoming art fair and talks of a cutting-edge art school. As Ayyam Gallery acknowledges the city as an anchor of regional art, rising star Walid El-Masri will be highlighted alongside established painters Paul Guiragossian, Mohamad El-Rawas, Nadim Karam and Jean Marc Nahas.

Join Ayyam Gallery at its Beirut Sale as it continues to make history.