Etihad Modern Art Gallery in Abu Dhabi, UAE, encourages the creation of art with local references,
showcasing work from well-­established and upcoming Emirati and international artists. Being a
dynamic multi-­function art space it has left a positive imprint on society and contributed to the
cultural movement by attracting activists in this area in addition to the development of some
emerging talents. Etihad Modern Art Gallery’s ambition is the continuous revival of the emerging art
scene in Abu Dhabi, as well as opening a dialogue with the public, introducing new art concepts
while promoting the vision of its founder, H.E. Khaled Seddiq Al Mutawaa. The gallery operates an
open door, free admission policy throughout the week.
For more information, contact:
Etihad Modern Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi
Tel: 02 621 0145
Email: office@etihadmodernart.com
About Etihad Modern Art Gallery

Yiannis was born in Athens, Greece. For the past 12 years, he has been living and working around the world
(Indochina, Qatar, Mexico, Ghana, India, Oman, Scotland, London and Athens). He is now based in UAE. With his
photos he aims to reveal the surreal nature of seemingly trivial objects, spaces and moments, reflecting the idea that
our personal reality is a state of dreaming. He has presented his work in solo and collective shows in London,
Athens and Glasgow. His work was commended at 2012 Sony World Photo Awards and was included in the final
show at Somerset House in London.
"From a very early age, people build a personal symbolic language out of fragments of their everyday experience.
Some of these symbols have deep roots in archetypal forms of our common legacy as a species. Through this
symbolic language we describe and interpret deep internal personal processes. Those symbols are usually made out
of the most humble materials, out of experiences that are considered trivial and insignificant, like the curve of a shell,
the sound of a pot boiling, the lights and shadows from the streetlights on the bedroom’s ceiling. During our lifetime,
whenever we come across one of those personal symbols, we experience an instant moment of clarity. A moment
stripped from the usual confusion and continuous noise of the conscious incontinent mind. Our analytical self is
caught off guard, unequipped to process and make sense, to extract a safe logical pattern or a "lesson" out of this.
The symbol hits below the skin, delivering an instant message, like an echo from the psyche, raw and unprocessed.
Some people live their whole lives in a state of calm awareness and observation, until all things around them
become symbols, literally transforming everyday life into another dream state, a metaphor about the unconscious
reality. An artist is ANYBODY who can capture -­ in that precious moment of clarity-­ a line, a shape, a phrase, a
sound sequence, anything that works as a symbol for him. Albeit very intimate, this symbol could potentially invoke
moments of clarity to other people, too. The human spirit spontaneously responds to all things true."
Yiannis Roussakis
Digital Artist/Photographer

"Heritage Festival 3"
Photography
80 x 80 cm

"Heritage Festival 3"
Photography
90 x 120 cm

"Heritage Festival 1"
Photography
90 x 120 cm

"Heritage Festival 4"
Photography
80 x 80 cm

"Heritage Festival 2"
Photography
90 x 120 cm

"Racing Camel 5"
Photography
90 x 120 cm

"Heritage Festival 24"
Photography
120 x 90 cm

"Fawaad"
Photography
120 x 90 cm

"Heritage Festival 16"
Photography
120 x 90 cm

"Minarets"
Digital Art
80 x 80 cm

Mu'tasim is an Iraqi Visual Artist, from Mesopotamia, born in 1968 and graduated from Fine Art Academy-­
University of Baghdad in 1991.
One of his favorite themes is the horse, carefully placed in the cultural and social context of the Arabic world. His
work goes beyond the apparent representation of the form: Body features, garments, marks and postures, imply
an inner underlying power of emotion and spirit, open to interpretation. The arist manipulates forms, materials and
textures, revealing subtle emotional states and deeper levels of psyche.
A member of Iraqi Fine Artists Association, he gained the First Award of Young Artists 2005 in Baghdad. First
personal gallery was in Paris M-­Gallery in 2004. Second personal gallery was in Dubai XVA-­Gallery in 2008. The
third was in Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation in 2009. He participated in many joint exhibitions held in Iraq, UAE
and France. Among his key achievements are: gold-­plated ceramic mural to the late H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin
Sultan Al Nahyan (may God have mercy upon him) in Al Ain Museum;; Al Hosn Roundabout in Umm Al-­Quwain;;
and many horse statutes of different sizes for Shadwel Arabian Horses Farm in addition to many horse statutes in
other private farms in the Emirate of Dubai. He currently works as a professor of Pottery and Sculpture at Sharjah
Collections of The Art.
Mu’tasim Al-­Kubaisy
Sculptor/Painter

"12 Months"
Bronze
42 x 73 x 30 cm

"Jealousy"
Bronze
70 x 90 x 40 cm

"Courtship"
Bronze
80 x 105 x 50 cm

"Small Horse"
Bronze
39 x 30 cm
"Horse 3"
Bronze
37.5 x 45 cm
"Horse 1"
Bronze
45 x 50 cm

"Houbara Flight"
Bronze
31.5 x 42.5 cm
"Horses 5"
Bronze
21 x 50 cm

"Horse 2"
Bronze
71 x 32 x 9.5 cm

Dimitris Kretsis
Visual Artist/Painter
Dimitris Kretsis was born in Agrinio in 1972. He studied in Athens, initially, in 1990, in the Graphic Art Department of the
Athens Technological Educational Foundation. He continued his studies in 1996 at the Athens School of Fine Arts, with
R. Papaspyrou, Dimitris Sakellion, Dimitris Mytaras, and Zacharias Arvanitis as his teachers. In 2004, he attended
courses in drawing, anatomy, and fresco at the Facultad de Bellas Artes – Universitad Complutense de Madrid.
In 2011, he achieved distinction in the competition on “Art Interventions in the Public Urban Space, with Painting on the
Blind Elevations of Buildings” in Athens held by the Athens School of Arts and the Ministry for the Environment, Energy
and Climate Change.
Works by Dimitris Kretsis have been shown in group exhibitions in Athens and Madrid.
He took part in the art exhibition in the “PLOES” series (2012) held at the P.& M. Kydoniefs Foundation on Andros,
entitled “Salus Patriae”, with Athena Schina as the curator. Subsequently, he took part in the “Memories and Reality”
exhibition, held by the Florina Museum of Contemporary Art, and in the “Routes of Art, 2012” exhibition at the Municipal
Gallery of Lamia. This was followed by the “Kaplanon5/Depot/Small-­scale Works, 2012” and the exhibition at the
Moshandreou Gallery at Mesolonghi, whose subject was a tribute to Lord Byron. He also took part in a group exhibition
entitled “In the Aura of Forms and Colors”, held at the Paros Municipal Gallery.
In March 2013, he held his first personal exhibition at the Kaplanon5 Gallery and in May of the same year took part in
“Art Athina 2013”. The second personal exhibition was held in Rhodes, in September 2013 under the name “The Seas
within Me”. Wall-­paintings and works by Dimitris Kretsis can be found in private collections and in major hotels in
Greece and abroad.

"Jockey"
Acrylic on canvas
60 X 80 cm

"Untitled"
Acrylic on canvas
49.5 X 75 cm

"Eagle"
Indian Ink on Paper
23 x 23 cm
"Falcon"
Indian Ink on Paper
20 x 20 cm

"Yacht in the Ionian"
Indian Ink on Paper
21 x 30 cm
"Yacht (Blue)"
Coloured Pencils on Paper
23 x 23 cm

"Yacht"
Coloured pencils on Paper
21 x 30 cm
"Yacht (Colorful)"
Coloured Pencils on Paper
21 x 30 cm

"Yachts"
Colored Pencils on Paper
35 x 50 cm

"Yachtsmen on a Yellow Craft"
Acrylic on Canvas
80 x 65 cm

"Yachtsmen at Daylight"
Acrylic on Canvas
80 x 170 cm

"Yachtsmen (diptych)"
Acrylic on Canvas
80 x 170 cm

"Yachtsmen"
Acrylic on Canvas
165 x 240 cm

"Skipper (diptych)"
Acrylic on canvas
185 x 370 cm

Svilen Petrov, though he left Bulgaria a long time ago, is well-­known to art connoisseurs as one of the sculptor
consistently working in classic materials and genres. His works are traditionally associated with virtuosity of
performance and high professional erudition in the process of form construction. His compositions, figures and heads
carry a special metaphorical expression (achieved by complex treatment of surfaces be these metal or stone),
seemingly deliberately opposed to the traditional “roughness” of sculpting material.
Such feeling is not incidental and comes from the way the material is treated, and, in this territory, Svilen Petrov’s
creative thinking can be defined as pronouncedly elegant. This is hardly fortuitous, considering his sculpture education
at the National Academy of Arts in Sofia in the 1980-­ies. And his high professional skills are obviously well-­
appreciated in Abu Dhabi, where he chose to live many years ago.
Svilen Petrov works mainly with stone and bronze, and his creations seem connected with the classic forms and the
early decades of European sculpture modernism, rather than with fashionable trends. This is an intentional choice,
opposed to the modern sculpture, which seems to be falling apart and losing its integrity. Such decision deserves
respect because there is no “right” or “wrong” in modern art. Upholding of certain plastic means of expression
represents a cultural choice associated with the self-­assertion of each artist in their specific context, and Svilen
Petrov’s traditionalism is of the type evoking pure joy – and making the world a good place to live.
Prof. Svilen Stefanov
Art Critic &
Deputy Rector of National Academy of Fine Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria
Svilen Petrov
Sculptor

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