Online Contemporary Art Dealers, Fortune Favours Art, Launches in the UAE

posted on: Oct 30, 2018

SOURCE: THE NATIONAL

BY: RUPERT HAWKSLEY

London-based art house, Fortune Favours Art, will hold its inaugural exhibition in the UAE.

3@D3, which takes place at Dubai Design District on October 31, will feature works by two British artists — contemporary sculptor Schoony and abstract painter Lillie Bernie — as well as traditional Arab artist Saeedeh Keshvari.

There will also be a live art collaboration between Schoony and Bernie, in which an unfinished sculpture will be completed within the gallery. This work will then be auctioned off, with all proceeds going to charity.

“I’m thrilled to have brought these two incredibly talented artists together and it’s so exciting to be able to offer this one-of-a-kind piece to the UAE market,” says Louis Wright, the British entrepreneur, who founded Fortune Favours Art in 2017. “I have followed the careers of Lillie and Schoony for a long time and it’s such an honour to bring their work to the Middle East.”

Fortune Favours Art is an online art marketplace, which represents Western and Arab artists and specialises in sourcing contemporary and Middle Eastern art for its clients. It has access to work by artists such as Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Banksy, Narmeen Hamadeh and Fatima Halnemer. “We can find most artists’ work,” says Wright.

Wright now also plans to release a series of limited edition prints, via the Fortune Favours Art website, on a bi-monthly basis. On each occasion, the exclusive prints will represent an established artist, an emerging artist, and an Arab artist. Wright hopes that by presenting Western and Middle Eastern artists alongside one another in this way, Fortune Favours Art will “help to merge both cultures”.

The 32-year-old believes that 3@D3 will be the start of his project to position Fortune Favours Art as a serious player within the UAE art market. “The online market for art in the UAE is nowhere near the size it will be in the next five to 10 years,” he says. “I would like to think Fortune Favours Art will contribute to that growth.

“The amount of raw, unseen talent that is out there in the UAE at the moment is phenomenal.”