March is Women's Month at Bloom, where we celebrate women artists and art about women. All this month we will be featuring work by various women artists, and inviting people to engage in a dialog about women in the arts and art about women and women's rights.

Our latest exhibition (in collaboration with De Souza and Arneli Art Galleries) features the work of emerging and established artists from Lebanon and Syria. The name is a play on the geographical origins of St George himself. Many place his birthplace as being somewhere on the eastern Mediterranean coast, although the exact location is a mystery. The saint’s most famous accomplishment was, of course, the slaying of a dragon, hence the irony of artists from his possible homeland coming to a house of the dragon.
 
Lebanon and Syria are well known to most of us, but often not for the right reasons, and the art from these fascinating countries are rarely represented outside of the Middle East. As a gallery with roots in both east and west, we are proud of our Middle Eastern heritage and connections and are delighted to be able to bring some of the exciting talent from the region to a wider audience. Contemporary art from Lebanon and Syria is breathtakingly diverse, ranging from modern interpretations of the traditional to the experimental and sometimes shocking. The artists participating in this exhibition represent this heterogeneous breadth of practice.
 
Working in digital media in countries with less than reliable electricity supply almost seems like an artistic statement in itself. Digital art has a flexibility in form that is lacking in more traditional media. While artists Jihad Kiame and Amr Fahed approach the medium very differently – focusing on the urban versus the human – their work simultaneously engages and challenges the viewer. Painters Dzovig Arnelian (who is also the tireless and talented owner of Arneli Art Gallery) and Johnny Seeman both use a classic genre – the figurative – but in divergent ways. Arnelian’s work is boldly intimate, strongly feminist at times, disturbing in its uncompromising realness. Seeman, on the other hand, is a painter who draws deeply on abstraction, his almost ethereal compositions having a strange sense of disconnectedness
 
The work of conceptual artist Rahih Khalil is highly thought-provoking. The exhibition features work from three of his series - abstracts, heads, and Ovoidales – providing both a retrospective and an insight into his current practice. Each resonates very differently; from war to birth, Khalil paints in an incredibly intellectual and intelligent way. He has developed a painting style which simultaneously expresses intimate emotions, sexual desire and metaphysical thoughts which, combined with his passion for literature and philosophy, have added another dimension to his experimentation, leading to his manifesto on a form of non-existing art: the Art Sans Medium (ASM) or Art Without Medium.
 
The sculpture of Noura Bakkar is uncompromisingly – sometimes shockingly - direct. Exploring the idea of identity, bodies, and the idea of beauty in contrast to her own conservative background, Bakkar pulls no punches in her sensually controversial work. Seen through a female gaze examining the pressures put upon women to conform, she manages to make the ugly beautiful, challenging our notions of normal and/or desirable.
 
Joanna Raad is an educator and artist whose whimsical work evokes memory. Using drawing as her predominate technique – a medium that is too often neglected - she creates densely rich visual diaries bursting with color. The almost child-like feeling of her art is balanced by the often darker undertones of her subject matter, which veers from the deeply personal to the societal.
 
In the calligraphy of Abdulrahman Naanseh we see the old and the new come together, Naanseh drawing on the traditional yet in a contemporary way. Playfully manipulating text, and using a palette of interesting color combinations, organic materials and surfaces, he breaks the classical norms of Arabic lettering to create a unique contemporary language which expresses his inner world.
 
Iman Toufaily and Manar Ali Hassan create collages which are narratives of contemporary Lebanon. Toufaily portrays the experience of being a veiled woman in the modern world; sensitively beautiful pieces, a delicate marriage of photography and textiles. Ali Hassan, who is a talented and renowned curator as well as an artist, has produced Ode to Beirut, a series of work referencing the August 4 explosion. These works, almost intangibly fragile, are full of distortions, as objects fall into time and space, collapsing into themselves.
 
Krikor Avessian is a mixed media artist who creates intriguing abstract 3-dimensional work presenting different realities. He draws upon a range of thought-provoking themes, often using playful imagery. Disorder of Mousa is an intricate series of pieces, which pull the viewer into a microscopic inner world of texture and color.
 
All of these artists show us that the artistic heart of the Middle East beats very strongly. Although these two countries are mired in political and economic upheaval, art continues to thrive, a way for people to process, narrative and escape from reality. Chaos, disruptive and painful as it is, also breeds a beautiful creativity.
 
The exhibition will run until October 30 at the Casa del Dragon in Cervera del Maestre, Castellon. Many thanks to De Souza Gallery for hosting and curating, and Arneli Art Gallery for partnering with us over the last year.
 

​I have heard of creative block so many times, or what some call “the inability to reach inner creativity”. Every artist, writer, and creator at one time has caught this infection. Let us take a stroll to look at this obstacle that stops the person’s ability to reach their most valuable resource “CREATIVITY”.
Before we start, I want to share a story I like. Once upon a time long, long ago, in a faraway kingdom, there was, of course, a wicked king (Da). That king was, as we said wicked, and one day he ordered his soldiers to push a big bolder into the middle of the road to block it. As ordered the soldiers did as they were told, and a watch was placed out of sight to record the peoples´ reactions to the obstacle. A politician passed by the rock; he gave a speech “why does the government not do what is supposed to be done”? Another politician, this time pro government, also gave a speech “praising the wisdom of placing this bolder as it slows enemy movements.” A trader reached the rock and, as he and his merchandize couldn’t pass, he took another road and traded elsewhere. Another person reached the rock, started cursing and managed to go around it. At the end of the day, a peasant walking back to his house reached the blockage. After examining it, he grabbed his tool and started breaking it. He worked all night and managed to reopen the road. The king´s men who were watching grabbed him and took him to the king, “Why did you open the road?” said the king, “Because I wanted to go home” said the peasant, thinking that he is going to be punished. But the king said, “this is what I need, a person who acts and does not give speeches” and made the peasant his grand vizir.
Back to the creative block, the monster that freaks everyone. As we all know, life is not easy; even if you are filthy rich, you still have to make decisions. Imagine you are a struggling artist, with prices going up, and an art market that is harder to break into by than catching a fly with chopsticks. Stress is the killer of creativity; stress to perform, stress to make ends meet.
Stress can be triggered by fear: “I am not good enough”, or an outer fear “why they are selling, and I am not”. Fear of criticism; “are they going to love my work?”. Fear of not delivering; “this piece is never going to be finished” or “how am I going to finish this?” Social media adds salt to the wounds; “Oh look at that, this is much better than mine”, “how can they paint so fast?”, and the peak of fear is when someone´s work you consider “bad” sells at a high price. You start doubting yourself; “what I am doing wrong?”. Comparing our lives or our works to others is human, but the road to eternal torment. Every human is as unique as their fingerprints; comparing works of art is blasphemous, because even if two works resemble each other, the emotion and the motive are so different.
So, how do we remove the block? I am not a psychiatrist, but through my experience I can say; change your routine. Simply, in the words of LaFontaine, “soyez toujours chacun pour l’autre un monde nouveau” - “Always be for each other a new world”. What I mean is, surprise yourself by doing something you have never done before. A small change can lead to great things. Learn from space; a small percussion by a man-made object of 610kg changed the course of an asteroid 160 meters in diameter and weighing as much as the Great Pyramid of Giza. Once you start chipping away at that block, you will see it can be easily moved. You are the peasant in the story, don’t give up - just start digging out of the routine.
 
 

The end of summer…the closing of El Mar
 
Summer has gone. Maybe not completely, as vestiges of its heat still loom on the horizon, and lingering traces warm the increasingly shorter afternoons. But the mornings are now touched by the chill of autumn, so welcome after months of unbearable heat. And with the close of the season, so too does the exhibition of The Sea.
 
This collective exhibition, which brought together diverse artists and insights, was a tribute to the sea in all its forms: the gentle waves of sunrise; the happiness of childhood memories; tempestuous storms; and the plight of migrants trying to find sanctuary. Photography, installation, and both traditional and contemporary painting came together, as varied and mutable as the ocean itself. Calm and wild, joy and sadness, the sea mirrors human experience. In its waters we see ourselves, our thoughts, our emotions. Its tides are the rhythm of our lives, its colors the stuff of our dreams.
 
A big thank you to all the artists who contributed to this exhibition.
.

We have been open exactly one month today. And it has been an interesting journey so far. One thing we have quickly learned, is that, although we envisioned a multipurpose space (gallery/studio), in reality the two should co-exist, not exist as one. So, the studio/workshop element of Bloom is now The Art Lab, a "laboratory" for mad artists do experiment with their creativity, and people to explore, connect etc. The gallery will be simply that. a place for exhibition. The two will work together, and there will be significant crossover between them, but it is best to make them separate entities and evolve their own identities.

That said, we'd like to welcome the first two artists to be working in The Art Lab - Sandi Goodwin and Aima Martin. We'd also like to introduce our first series of workshops on July 14, which will allow people to come and create in a fun and eclectic atmosphere. 

We finally opened our doors on June 3 at the beginning of Russafart weekend. The timing could not have been better, as it gave us free publicity for the opening, and brought people in. Now the hard part starts, making this a viable business, attracting artists and collectors, raising our profile and developing our identity. We have been blessed by forging relationships with creators who will help make that possible. We are scared and excited for what the next few months will bring. 

So this is where we are. A huge transformation, yes, but ready to open on the 13th? I'm not sure. The bad weather in Valencia has slowed down progress (paint doesn't dry, windows aren't delivered yet), which is frustrating beyond belief but stressing about things will not make anything happen any quicker. I am learning patience at a level I never dreamed that I was capable of, and realizing that the old adage my mother always said is true: "if you want something doing, do it yourself." So, that is what we are doing.

But what does this mean for our opening? It will happen this month, as soon as is humanly possible, and we will keep you updated. In the meantime, we will be posting teasers and previews of the show online, artists' videos and information about what will be happening over the next few months when our doors do finally open. 

A big thank you to all our artists for their patience and our followers for supporting us. On the plus side, our opening will now be closer to Russafa Art weekend in June. More news of that very, very soon. 

​We are honored to be exhibiting some of the renowned Syrian painter, Gebran Hidaya's work online this month. His beautifully composed works, using his daughters as models, construct a narrative on love and loss, and the complex emotions that he and many of his fellow Syrians feel for their homeland.

​War has now again become the focus of the media, pervading our world. But, in truth, war has never been far from us: Syria, Yemen, Sudan, all over the world chaos has continued on a daily basis for years but western eyes have often chosen to look away. Amr Fahed’s work, rooted in the turbulence of his worldview, has never ceased to scrutinize this reality. While the war in Syria may be technically over, it is ongoing; past and present inextricably linked. It is for this reason that Fahed works in what he calls the “present continuous”.
 
Using digital media, Fahed manages to portray the pain engraved into the collective memory, a pain as visible and as permanent as a tattoo. Although his work can be said to be comprehensive in its portrayal of the aftermath of conflict, his focus is often the children, to whom he gives a poignant ethereality, transforming them through the sprouting of wings, into angel-like beings. His concern is that this generation, one who has known nothing but war, are perhaps now broken forever; a generation whose ideas and thoughts will be forged by their experiences of a country in conflict. The eternal question of post-war societies is whether they can forget and start over, or they will be doomed to repeat the past, creating an endless cycle. We have only to look at other countries which have experienced civil war to see that the process is by no means simple nor easy. He admits that his work is painful, but it is not the pain itself that he wanted to convey, but the culpability of those who caused it. Despite the “end of war”, nothing has really changed in Syria; the same actors remain, and life is a struggle for ordinary people. After the War is, in fact, merely another act of an ongoing play of conflict and chaos, one which it seems will continue indefinitely.
 
 

Eight years ago, I began a research project about Syrian refugees in Lebanon. However, it soon became clear that the vastness of the problem was overwhelming. Syrian digital artist, Amr Fahed, has not shirked from the responsibility of this task, tackling war and the ugliness of its consequences, in a way which brings beauty to where we feel none should exist. His works transform the chaos and destruction into the ethereal and otherworldly. Children seem to grow wings and metamorphose into angels, the rubble of broken cities now vistas upon rocky landscapes. We are invited to look closely, to be drawn in by the dark allure of these images to see beyond their surface, and it is this intimacy that helps connect the viewer with the reality of war. After the War seeks to make us understand, and to realize that once the headlines cease, it does not mean that so does the misery. The brutality of civil war remains long after the guns have quieted.