This October, the art world in Dubai is buzzing with excitement as it will witness the bold expression of Fabrice Vallez’s creative genius at the Shift Our Perspective exhibition running from October 18th to October 20th in Alserkal Avenue.

Known for his innovative work across painting, sculpture, and land art, Vallez has spent over 25 years redefining the boundaries of contemporary art. With this exhibition, at the AKKA Project Gallery, he invites audiences to see the world in a new light, where industrial waste becomes a medium for storytelling and ecological awareness. “A scrapyard is like a marvellous playground for an art exhibition,” says Vallez, whose work challenges the understanding of beauty and transformation.

A resident of Dubai since 2013, Vallez’s artistic journey began in France, where he studied Fine Arts, but his career truly took off after a series of exhibitions in the United States 15 years ago. Now, a central figure in the UAE’s abstract art scene, his work continues to captivate with its bold exploration of form, texture, and space. Vallez’s distinctive style blends partial abstraction in painting with minimalist, compressed metal sculptures — pieces that at once challenge the viewer’s perception and provoke reflection on the human impact on the environment.

The meditation on the complex relationship between art, nature and pollution is central to this latest showcase of Vallez’s artistic talent. While pollution is often viewed as a destructive force, Vallez reimagines it as a wellspring of creativity. His artworks breathe new life into rusted metals, decaying textures and discarded industrial materials, transforming them into powerful pieces full of beauty and significance. In his hands, what once seemed broken for the majority is made while again, symbolising resilience and the endless possibilities for reinvention. 

At the heart of his exhibition lies a powerful question: What if pollution was not only a consequence of human error but a canvas for creativity? Instead of uniquely highlighting the environmental crisis, Vallez focuses on a new way of thinking, a path toward ecological awareness where art becomes a vehicle for change. His sculptures, forged from interlaced metal and painted with vibrant stories of abstraction, speak to the duality of destruction and creation. The duality of decay and renewal. 

Running from the 18th to the 20th of October 2024 in Al Quoz, this exhibition promises to invite visitors to the essence of our world, where art and nature intersect in surprising harmony. Through Fabrice Vallez’s vision, creativity flourishes in the face of advertising. His work offers a hopeful vision for the future, one balancing between human expression and the environment.

AKKA Project Gallery, October 18-20, Warehouse 8 First Alkhail Road, Al Quoz 1.