NEWSWEEK: Do your customers generally prefer a certain kind of art: paintings, photography, sculpture, mixed media? Hauser: All of the above. People need art for their restaurants. People are buying art to invest. People are commissioning art. Why not buy something to go over their sofa that will increase in value exponentially?
In your opinion, what distinguishes contemporary Middle Eastern art? Calligraphy is a regional style; symbols, I suppose, are another motif. But I don’t think art should be characterized by the region it comes from. It should be more the psyche that generates it. When you precipitate it down to that level you aren’t talking about art anymore, you’re talking about a souvenir from the region.
What distinguishes the different Gulf countries ’ approaches to art and culture? Things are starting to percolate all over the Middle East, but Dubai is still the epicenter. Different areas have different focuses. The auctions are here, the art fairs are here. Museums are springing up around the region—the Sharjah Biennial in Sharjah, the Louvre in Abu Dhabi, the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar. Kuwait is very active with galleries, and many well-known art collectors live there.
Oil is such an important force in the region. How has it affected the evolution of the art market? You don’t have to even say “oil money.” There’s just so much money here in general. Money attracts markets, and the art market is another one that is developing here. It’s astounding. All of a sudden, the light is on Dubai, in a lot of different ways: property, architecture, shopping malls—many different things.
Are there any art initiatives you ’ re aware of that specifically address the region ’ s relationship to oil? I just heard that Christo [the famed artist most recently in the news for his New York City installation, “The Gates”] is trying to do an installation with oil barrels, proposed for Abu Dhabi.
Have you seen any consumption patterns that seem to be influenced by oil? There was one sheik who came in and bought an entire exhibition by a Lebanese artist before the show even started.
Religious norms and social restrictions vary from country to country in the Gulf. They must affect the kinds of art being produced — for instance, no nudes. On the contrary, I had an exhibition of all nudes. I had a sign sitting on my desk that I intended to hang at the entrance to all the rooms, warning people that there would be nudes. An Emirati woman walked in before it was installed and said, “Where’s the artist? I want to see her.” I took her to the artist, unsure of what was about to happen, and she said, “Will you do my portrait?” Contrary to what people might think, this is not an oppressed country. It’s maybe just more unexpressed.
How does censorship factor into the region ’ s art process? Nobody has brought me anything that I would say, “Oh, no. We couldn’t show that.” It hasn’t come in. I don’t know if it’s a written rule about censorship, but I think that people have so much respect for religion here, that they’re not doing things that are really in your face. Sure, there are problems here, but people don’t seem to be making art about it yet. Maybe that will come as more art is made.
Where do you think the art scene is headed? What ’ s the limit? In the last few years I’ve seen artists doing their work, and they are so energized. When people are paying that much attention it encourages artists to produce more. Artists are coming from all over the world to Dubai. It’s moving straight up, but it feels like such a grass-roots movement now. Dubai really is the land of opportunity. It’s not just for the money that people come here; it’s also that they can make a difference in a place that is being built right before our eyes.
What brought you to Dubai to open a gallery? We were living in Florida. My husband works with horses, and he was asked by [Dubai ruler and horse-racing enthusiast] Sheikh Mohammed to come to Dubai in 1993. Before I left America, I was on the verge of opening a gallery, and I decided “That’s OK; I’ll just open a gallery as soon as I get there.” It took four years to come to fruition because of bureaucratic hurdles.
