As the year draws to a close and a new one begins, JD Malat Gallery Dubai presents Elements of Light, a landmark group exhibition that brings together thirteen local and international artists in a shared exploration of illumination, perception, and contemporary expression. Conceived as both a moment of reflection and a forward-looking gesture, the exhibition captures light not as a single phenomenon, but as emotion, rhythm, memory, and atmosphere.
Spanning painting and sculpture, Elements of Light unfolds as a constellation of diverse visual languages. From abstraction to figuration, minimalism to expressive gesture, the exhibition reflects the breadth of practices that have shaped the gallery’s programme. Light moves across metal surfaces, vibrates through colour fields, softens sculptural contours, and pierces layered compositions, creating an immersive experience that encourages both stillness and contemplation.
The exhibition features a carefully curated dialogue between artists whose approaches differ widely yet converge around shared sensibilities. Radiant horizons and optical serenity sit alongside gestural intensity and material depth, allowing visitors to move fluidly between calm and tension, luminosity and shadow. Each work contributes to a collective meditation on how light alters space, mood, and perception.
Featuring 13 local and international artists – including Casper Brindle, Foad Hamzeh, Santiago Parra, Katrin Fridriks, Zhang Ji, Masayoshi Nojo, RETNA, Richard Hudson, Gary Lang, Conrad Jon Godly, Andy Moses, Ed Moses, and Sophie-Yen Bretez – the show offers a dynamic cross-section of contemporary expression.
Several artists explore light as an atmospheric and spatial force. Subtle gradients, reflective surfaces, and rhythmic repetitions create environments that feel expansive and meditative. Elsewhere, light is treated as a carrier of memory and impermanence, shimmering across oxidised surfaces or embedded within layered materials that shift with movement and time.
Other contributions engage light as a form of language and structure. Calligraphic gestures transform text into visual rhythm, while architectural repetitions and sculptural interventions introduce order, ascent, and flow. These works suggest illumination not only as something seen, but as something experienced intellectually and emotionally.
The exhibition also embraces expressive intensity, where light becomes inseparable from gesture. Bold brushwork, impasto surfaces, and dynamic compositions capture moments of urgency and presence. Here, illumination is not passive but charged, revealing the physicality of paint, the weight of material, and the energy of the artist’s hand.
Together, Elements of Light stands as both a culmination and an opening—celebrating a year of artistic dialogue while inviting viewers to step into the next with renewed sensitivity. Through its multiplicity of voices and forms, the exhibition affirms JD Malat Gallery Dubai’s commitment to showcasing contemporary art that resonates across cultures, geographies, and states of perception.
