Carte Blanche

29 January - 1 March 2025

Carte Blanche

JD Malat Gallery Dubai
JD Malat Gallery proudly presents Carte Blanche, a groundbreaking group exhibition in our new Downtown Dubai space. This exhibition brings together fourteen contemporary artists who embody the concept of Carte Blanche- complete artistic freedom. By showcasing these artists' unrestricted creative expression, this exhibitions foreshadows JD Malat Gallery's initiative to fostering unrestricted creative expression across multiple cultural boundaries.
'It is a privilege to see the work of the artists we represent exhibited in such a culturally diverse context.'- JD Malat
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Andy Moses, Geodesy 1102, 2021
ARTIST LINEUP
Ed Moses

Ed Moses

Ed Moses (b. 1926 - 2018, Los Angeles) was a central figure of Post-War West Coast movement, creating an eclectic body of work which engaged with the varying possibilities of painterly abstraction. Moses' work explores his fascination with the mutability of concepts, transitional spaces and processes. He challenged representational form and experimented with graphite, acrylic and oils by working with unconventional tools, such as mops, hoses and rubber scrapers. Innovative and experimental, Moses' work is instrumental in contemplating and pushing the possibilities of painterly abstraction.

Moses was among the first generation of artists to be shown at L.A.'s legendary Ferus Gallery in 1957, where he formed the "Cool School" of artists - which included Ed Ruscha, Robert Irwin, Larry Bell, Edward Kienholz, John Altoon, Ken Price and Billy Al Bengston. Since then, his work has been exhibited worldwide with major retrospectives in MOCA Los Angeles in 1996 and The University of California Irvine in 2014. Other prominent collections include, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Hammer Museum, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Whitney Museum of American art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Luis Olaso

Luis Olaso

Luis Olaso (1986, Spain) is a Spanish abstract artist currently living and working in Bilbao, Spain. Initially self-taught Luis went on to study Fine Arts at the University of the Basque Country where he developed his personal artistic style. Often working on large canvases Luis’ abstract paintings are influenced by his emotions and personal views. His artistic practice is divided into two parts: action and analysis. Working from improvisation Luis paints impulsively, creating shapes, spots, and colour planes. Once his initial impulses have been made Luis takes a step back from his work and observes it. Often analysing his compositions for hours, he discerns what does and doesn’t work. The combination of both impulsive energy and quiet contemplation allows him to reach his internal feelings more effectively producing fresh and visceral works.

Explaining his art as being dynamic self-portraits Luis states “my work is the result of how I am, how I work. I always do it unconsciously; we could say that it is a painting that is born from the irrational part of the brain.” Interested in the contrasts between order and chaos Luis explores the visual tension between colour, geometry, organic shapes and accidents. Often incorporating plant elements and human bodies in his paintings Luis's oeuvre is dynamic, colourful, and expressive.
Conrad Jon Godly

Conrad Jon Godly

Conrad Jon Godly (b.1962, Davos), addresses the symbiotic relationship between human nature and the sublime; finding beauty in the awe and terror of nature. Godly’s paintings are a reminder of the futility of human existence, whose blunt expression of natural forms are an exercise in capturing the intricacies of the dramatic. After graduating from Basel’s School of Art in 1986, Godly moved away from his nexus of inspiration in Switzerland, changing both his surroundings and medium. From 1988-2004, Godly’s photographic work found international success both in magazines and advertising, and, upon Godly’s return to Europe where he settled in Switzerland, where he currently lives and works.
Andy Moses

Andy Moses

Andy Moses (b.1962, Los Angeles) Influenced by California culture Andy seeks to investigate colour and form through dynamic abstract works. Attending California Institute of Art in 1979 he was exposed to a plethora of creative methods including performance, film and painting. After graduating from CalArts in 1981, Andy moved to New York City where he worked as an assistant to artist Pat Steir. During this time Andy began developing an approach to process painting incorporating both abstract and representational elements. Andy's oeuvre is marked by his investigation into the physical properties of paint. Exploring the material’s chemical reactions, viscosity interference, and gravity dispersion Andy creates elaborate compositions reminiscent of nature and its forces.
Kathrin Fridriks

Katrin Fridriks

Icelandic artist Katrin Fridriks (b.1974), is an abstract expressionist painter who examines questions about new technologies and polemical scientific research of the contemporary age. The artist explores forces that mould our society and raises controversial and political themes through her pieces. In this new series, we see Katrin explore themes of speed, gravity and the natural forces of the cosmos.
Henrik Uldalen

Henrik Aa. Uldalen

Henrik Aa. Uldalen (b. 1986, South Korea) is a self-taught, expressionist artist, whose creative production revolves around classic figurative painting. Developed for over 12 years, his technique is placed together with abstract impasto, presented in a contemporary manner. Henrik examines the dark side of life, nihilism, existentialism, longing and loneliness, juxtaposed with fragile beauty. The artist’s practice helps him grasp his entity, expressing 'I paint because I need to paint. I have always had things in my life that I need to work out, and I’ve found that the best way is to take it out in the studio.' Though a figurative painter, his focus has always been the emotional and metaphysical content rather than narratives, his works being self-portraits projected onto models. This visual stimulus is deeply ingrained in his production.

Moreover, the prevailing motif of covered or shut eyes, is symbolic of the atmospheres, struggles and inner turmoil’s rather than the physical conceivable world. The poignancy of his canvases, achieved through the striking application of the paint creates atmospheres often presented in a dream or limbo-like state, with elements of surrealism. The existentialist nature of his realist paintings appears like a breath of fresh air in a contemporary art world saturated with abstraction and conceptualism. The artist has described the creation of his work taking place with "no limitations, pure expression", a rare approach combining both gesture and intellect, two actions never before synchronised.
Kojo Marfo

Kojo Marfo

Kojo Marfo (b.1980, Ghana) developed his interest in art and visual culture through traditional Akan artifacts, sculptures and carvings that he was exposed to as a child growing up in Ghana. These artifacts still remain a vital source of strength for Marfo. He references traditional Akan art to highlight social issues, such as inequalities, religion, politics, and spiritualism. After travelling to New York and London, Marfo has developed a unique style that encompasses his wide range of influences in an effort to express his experiences and comment on society.

Marfo’s work seeks to re-establish the immense richness that is lacking in mainstream representations of African people. He hopes to explore a self-referential perspective of the Black image by creating figurative abstractions that showcase the beauty woven into Africa’s social and geographical fabric.
Yann Leto

Yann Leto

Yann Leto (b. 1979, Bordeaux) explores irony as his primary tool, embracing equivocal topics and sociopolitical criticism through his distinctive and liberating painting technique. Although Leto’s paintings often convey different narratives, the portrayals of people in dynamic settings, indoors or outdoors, remain fundamentally in his imaginative worlds. Sports, television, social networks and personal experiences serve as sources of inspiration for Leto from which he draws his ironic ideas and critiques.

Lеto incorporates motifs and iconography from different periods of art history, but always gives his pieces a modern twist. One can witness elements from Cubism, mixed with the fluidity and vibrancy of Matisse’s forms, and many other hints to various artistic styles – a beautiful fusion sprinkled with Leto’s distinct punk attitude. His thought-provoking artworks create narratives that can be perceived as surreal collages. A lover of classical painting, Leto combines inspiration from great masterpieces of art history and incorporates elements from his surrounding environment. This fusion creates collage-like imagery, which is also the result of a collection of hard drives filled with digital files, Google images, newspaper clippings and articles. The radio also plays a crucial role in the creative process, as it gives Leto a continuous flow of information, from sports to the most tragic news. Leto also examines and utilises images from social networks since everything is already ‘an online caricature’. Through investigation of all these sources, Leto generates a variety of different storylines, deeply unique and with no rules for the protagonists – a purely visual and emotional circuit that reproduces new narratives and re-positions individuals in a turbulent society.
Masayoshi Nojo

Masayoshi Nojo

Masayoshi Nojo (b.1989, Kanagawa) unique and complex techniques, combines contemporary visual languages with Japanese aesthetics, exploring the themes of memory and the passage of time. Rooted in Japanese art history, Nojo’s use of silver – ethereal and shimmering, is particularly reminiscent of Ogata Kōrin’s celebrated work during the Edo Period in seventeenth-century Japan. Kōrin’s marbled silver rivers, often painted upon byōbu folding screens, were symbolic of time’s flow due to the changing colour of the metal through oxidisation. This depiction of time has since been adopted as a motif by artists worldwide such as Gustav Klimt and has become a cornerstone of a form of Japanese art known today as Rinpa ( meaning 'school of Kōrin').With his most recent series, entitled Mirage, Nojo uses this sense of time to conjure a sense of deja-vu in the viewer, evoking a memory tantalisingly close, yet just out of reach.
Georg Óskar

Georg Óskar

At the core of Georg Óskar (b.1985, Akureyri) creative work delves into the essence of everyday existence, transforming mundane experiences into profound visual narratives. His meticulously crafted compositions offer a nuanced exploration of contemporary life, blending subtle sarcasm with genuine observation. Óskar's art creates a delicate psychological balance, inviting viewers to discover extraordinary moments within ordinary settings. His work navigates the intricate spaces between levity and depth, challenging perceptions through a carefully constructed visual diary that illuminates the complexities of human experience. By capturing the subtle nuances of life, Óskar beckons audiences to question and rediscover the hidden beauty within our shared existence. His creative journey serves as a testament to keen observation, offering an introspective lens that transforms the prosaic into something remarkably compelling.
Tim Kent

Tim Kent

Tim Kent (b.1975, Vancover) is a contemporary artist whose work engages with issues related to power in art and history, global infrastructures and social relations. During his time at West Dean, University of Sussex, he was hired to create renderings of historic homes in England, this venture sparked his fascination with architectural space. Kent's body of work consists of painted interiors and vistas, coalescing the art historical genres of architecture and landscape with fragmentation and abstraction creating ethereal compositions that harbour an phantasmic psychological atmosphere.

Kent transports the viewer into socio-psychological planes filled with gestural brush strokes and grid-like lines. This artistic method encompasses the mathematical teachings of visual perspective employed during the Renaissance. The formulaic detailing in Kent's work infers engineered plans of electrical grids, technological networks and other mechanical structures of the modern age. By harnessing old art historical systems with his own contemporary twist, Kent paints artificial landscapes that exist in a state of continuity, with new spaces unfolding and emerging the more you look. His work seeks to counteract the fixed nature and empirical portrayal of space in chamber art, transforming the genre from face-value depictions of truth to portrayals of mystery and peculiarity, asking viewers to question the sociological nature of architecture and interior space in relation to the human mind and body.
Sophie-Yen Bretez

Sophie-Yen Bretez

Sophie-Yen Bretez (b.1994, Vietnam) is a self-taught Vietnamese-French artist based in Paris. After completing a business master's and working in management, she transitioned to art full-time in 2021. Her artwork explores emotional recovery and identity through surrealist figuration, characterised by dream-like scenes featuring characters against illuminated horizons. Bretez challenges traditional perspectives by depicting nude female figures who assert agency, gazing directly at viewers with strength and control. Each painting begins with a poem, creating a multilayered narrative that connects personal experience with broader societal, philosophical, and existential themes. Her work blurs boundaries between intimate spaces and external landscapes, reflecting the complexity of human emotional experience.

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Carte Blanche

Carte Blanche

JD Malat Gallery Dubai

'It is a privilege to see the work of the artists we represent exhibited in such a culturally diverse context.'- JD Malat

ARTIST LINEUP

Ed Moses

Luis Olaso

Conrad Jon Godly

Andy Moses

Katrin Fridriks

Henrik Aa. Uldalen

Kojo Marfo

Yann Leto

Masayoshi Nojo

Georg Óskar

Tim Kent

Sophie-Yen Bretez

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