World Art Dubai is now in full swing with the region’s largest affordable retail art fair welcoming local and international visitors to its eighth edition at Dubai World Trade Centre.

With a 90 per cent increase in artists and 60 per cent increase in galleries exhibiting since last year, 2022’s World Art Dubai is its biggest yet and has witnessed an increase in footfall from those looking to buy art for both corporate and personal usage.

With strong sales seen in the first few hours of the show, Samishka Jawale, the Dubai-based Indian artist from Creative Cubes, the gallery for creative minds welcomed the first sale of the day within just 30 minutes of show opening with their ‘Her Freedom 3’ piece.

“We have been participating in World Art Dubai since 2017 and are very excited to have sold the very first piece at this year’s show – it’s definitely our strongest start yet,” said Jawale. “The piece I sold was all about freedom for women, an important topic which fascinated our buyer.”

Additional artists driving traction to their stands during day one of the show include MSS Arts & Design who are displaying their art pieces complete with Swarovski crystals. “While we do international showcases as well, our concept is so well received in Dubai as we have a really strong, receptive audience, hence we always try to exhibit at World Art Dubai,” said Sarah Moravvej, Artist and Founder – MSS Arts & Design. “We are hopeful for this year’s edition as we are already very pleased with the amount of interest we’ve seen on the first day.”

International galleries making waves include New York based gallery, Tresorie Gallery, and Italian heavyweights TV2 Gallery.

“We’re exhibiting at World Art Dubai for the first time, marking our first visit to Dubai, bringing with us experience from many international art fairs around the world,” said Heba Elbanna, Gallerist – Tresorie Gallery. “Reaction from visitors so far has been positive, people are very friendly and interacting with us about our work. We’re looking forward to meeting even more people over the next few days.”
“This is our second year participating with World Art Dubai, giving eight Italian artists the chance to come and exhibit in Dubai for the first time,” said Sanuj Nair, Deputy Director – TV2. “World Art Dubai is one of the greatest platforms for artists in the Middle East because it’s affordable and really focused on helping artists sell their products across both emerging and established artists to create their own space in the market.”
Debut artist grabbing public attention is Dubai-based photographer Jalal Abuthina, who achieved the highest sales on day one.

“This is my first time exhibiting at World Art Dubai and it’s been pleasantly surprising because I ended up selling nine prints, within three hours of show opening of the series I’m exhibiting,” said Abuthina. “The main reason I wanted to exhibit is because it’s more accessible than many other art fairs in the city and the art which is on sale is more diverse and is priced better for the general population’.

Among the brand-new features drawing interest from crowds is W.A.D Next, the NFT (Non-Fungible Tokens) zone where visitors can learn all about the newest form of art collection, and hear first-hand predictions from the creators about the future of this new medium.

“Dubai is one of the upcoming hubs for NFT’s, so we’re really excited to be here at World Art Dubai for the first time,” said Liz Carvalho, Art Director – Saphira & Ventura Gallery. “We’ve brought a collection of 19 artists from different parts of the world, and we’re pleased to see lots of curious people keen to hear more about NFTs”
The refreshed Urban Art DXB area has also been wowing visitors with its exciting and visual displays and competitions. Led for the first time by Ahmed Al Rashid, the Kuwaiti street artist, the area has expanded beyond the graffiti focus of previous editions, and now incorporates make up faceoffs and vogue dance battles.

“As a person who grew up in the 80s and 90s, I wanted to expand people’s understanding of what urban culture really is – I aimed to bring something new and fresh,” said Ahmed al Rashid. “Urban Art DXB in 2022 is a total mash up of street style – dance, vogue, skating, hip hop, make up and more. Every day we also have four graffiti artists, which we consider to be the main genre of the space, creating artworks across eight hours at the show Fashion is also a huge part of street art and another element we have brought with us is a battle on white mannequins, where our artists aim to design the most creative looks. People have been really intrigued by our area and the reception so far has been incredible – we’re really excited for the rest of the show!”

World Art Dubai will be held at the Dubai World Trade Centre, Halls 1-3 from 16-19 March 2022 between 1-9pm each day, except Saturday which runs until 8pm. Tickets cost AED 20 for adults, AED 10 for children, with family packages also available. Buy online to enjoy 20 per cent off ticket cost.