XVA Gallery hosts UAE-based artists Richard Ketley and Alejandra Palos

Coming up at Dubai’s XVA Gallery is Paintings of Nowhere by Richard Ketley and Rooted by Alejandra Palos (Sept. 13 – Oct. 16). The gallery will explore how the two artists share and transform its space, revealing the ways their work resonates, contrasts, and connects. In Paintings of Nowhere, Richard Ketley unveils a remarkable collection of abstract works, born from the essence of his journeys into the rugged, silent heart of the United Arab Emirates.

Ketley, an artist deeply moved by the unseen energies and ancient narratives embedded in the landscape, found his muse not in the bustling metropolises, but in the stark beauty and ethereal quiet of the UAE’s interior, most notably the majestic Hajar Mountains.

Through his lens, its imposing peaks and expansive empty spaces are not merely geographical features, but are conduits to a deeper understanding of existence. His works, rendered in a striking monochrome palette, pulsate with the raw textures and nuanced shades that echo the windswept sands of the desert and the mountains’ unyielding stone - revealing a universe of form and depth in the absence of colour.

Artwork in high abstract.

Paintings of Nowhere is an invitation to shed the routine of the familiar and embrace a journey into the abstract. Each black and white piece serves not as a portrait of a place, but as a meditation on its spirit – a visual symphony of light, shadow, monumental scale, and a profound sense of eternity that are the features of these common but often overlooked territories. So, prepare to discover the “nowhere” that resides in the very heart of the UAE, revealed through Ketley’s hand.

In Rooted by Alejandra Palos, cement contains the memory of earth. For the artist, it is an industrial though earthen material, shaped by ancestral echoes. The sculptures made in cement carry the sense of being woven into something larger: the land, the stories, and the generations whose presence still moves quietly through lives. Each piece is a phase that captures the journey of transformation. Solid yet through breathing forms, the works invite one to pause and feel the quiet continuum that exists between all who came before and all still to come.

Richard Ketley eyes the mountains.

Richard Ketley was born in 1964, in Johannesburg, South Africa. He lives and works between Johannesburg and Dubai; he began painting since a young age and held his first solo exhibition while yet in school at Hyde Park High School, Johannesburg. During his early years, he exhibited at Artist in the Sun, the Sandton Gallery, Johannesburg, and also participated in an exhibition at the National Galley in Kampala, Uganda. Currently, he works principally in charcoal, acrylic and oil, and seeks to develop images that are drawn from life and extend the viewer’s imagination. When not painting, he runs a consulting business, which opened its Dubai office in 2009.

Alejandra Palos was born in 1971 in Caborca, Mexico. She has lived in Geneva, Switzerland and Sendai, Japan, and currently resides in Dubai. Alejandra sees the universe through the prism of multiculturalism; it has gifted her with a special perception of the world. “I have always been a dreamer,” she says. “Art is the way to find myself and the world through dreams.” She has focused on the arts and participated in specialty courses by international experts to enrich herself, for over twenty years. A very important period of her artistic career was the one while living in Japan, where she presented a solo exhibition.

A sculpture reveals itself.

She enjoys working with a wide range of materials such as old wood, cement and recycled metal, among everyday objects. Alejandra’s sculptures and commissioned art installations have been presented and awarded in solo and group exhibitions in prestigious venues such as the regional Museum of Anthropology and History and at the city theater of La Paz Baja, California Sur, Mexico; in universities, galleries and art fairs across Mexico; Port Louis, Mauritius; New York, USA; Beirut, Lebanon; as well as across UAE in Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Quwain and Abu Dhabi.

XVA Gallery is one of the leading galleries in the Middle East that specialises in contemporary art from the Arab world, Iran, and the Subcontinent. Its exhibitions focus on works by the region’s foremost artists as well as those emerging on the scene. The gallery encourages its artists to express their different cultural identities and perspectives, while inspiring the viewer to drop prejudices and borders. XVA Gallery and its sister concern XVA Art Hotel, are located in Dubai’s heritage district, Al Fahidi Historical Neighborhood. XVA founded and organised the Bastakiya Art Fair from 2007-2010, as part of its commitment to raising the profile of contemporary art practice in Dubai.

A sculpture stands its ground.

Meanwhile, XVA Gallery’s summer show, Tajammul, is on view until September 11. Inaugurated on July 1, it strives to capture the aesthetics of the evolving art landscape of the contemporary Middle East. Tajammul comes from the Arabic root word for beauty, jamaal, signifying efforts to make oneself beautiful in appearance or be courteous in deed. Tajammul therefore implies a form of grace that comes from infusing places, spaces and situations, with a sense of elegant beauty and social ease.

Alejandra Palos looks at the world.

“It reflects the way that the United Arab Emirates is not only a place of fine art, high culture, sweeping architecture, and dynamic change, but a place of close connections, loyal friendships, and warm hospitality,” says XVA. “This multi-artist summer show is therefore an ode to beauty, adaptability, and transformation.”