Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Flight of the Falcons

Dubai is famous for many things. Public Art is not one of them. In 2004, Dubai made a start however, when artists were invited for the Arabian Horse & the Camel Caravan series. The painted animals were placed at traffic junctions, outside malls, hotels, parks. This year, the trilogy was completed by the national bird: the falcon. There are colourful painted falcons in every corner of Dubai. Here are some of the prettier ones:

24 comments:

Optimistic Guard said...

what pretty things, I havent seen any around or maybe I'v been too busy with work and occupied to notice. should check them out.

Radha said...

OG,
You must be driving with your eyes closed! :) They're everywhere!
But I've seen some not-so-pretty ones too! The worst i've seen so far is called 'Prosperity'. Its sponsored by ABN Amro & has the ABN logo all over it !! :)

Lotus Reads said...

Very striking, thanks so much for sharing, Radha. I seem to remember the tunnels always had some lovely murals and the airport has some great artwork, too, right?

Chica, Cienna, and Cali said...

i liked the madhubani inspired one the most......but then i'm partial to madhubani paintings.......we are fine. we were not anywhere close to Virginia tech.....thanx for concern..hoping to blog on it soon....

Megster said...

What gorgeous pics!

clickable said...

This campaign reminds me of Baltimore's CrabTown project where public sculptures of crabs were placed throughout the city.

I think it's a great awareness/marketing idea...almost like building a brand for the city (like Dubai doesn't have one already)!

Wanda said...

ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!

Radha said...

Lotus,
Yes you're right, there are these antiquated tile mosaics in the tunnels. Cant remember seeing anything at the airport though.

Moi,
I dont like this suspense, could you pls tell us what happened!!

Meghna,
I liked them too :)

Clickable,
Baltimore has crab sculptures??? Pls send me a few pics, I'm so intirgued by the concept!

Wanda,
Aren't they? Maybe a subject for your next water color?? :)

Chica, Cienna, and Cali said...

Radha, i debated awhile ..and somehow cud not get myself to write abt it on my blog...just cud not. Monday evening on our way back from school, me and my husband stopped to collect quarters for laundry within a mile from school campus. We were in our car, 2 men attack the car, robbed us at gunpoint and feld away with our car and wallets, but not before they had punched Arka and almost shot him. For those 5-8 minutes that all this happened, i saw firsthand the violence of it all......and i am grateful that Arka is only hurt...he's safe but for thoe few minutes i thought I'll lose him....it was such a close call....I still cant believe it happened to us.

Radha said...

Thats awful! Hope both of you are doing better now!!

mookuthi said...

thank you:) i like the night and day

Sharmi said...

Hi Radha, hope you are doing good, its been a long time though. Nice painted falcons. I also read ur previous posts. liked the dove one.

cheers
sharmi

Mr. J said...

Eager to know.. weren't there any 'Falcon' related accidents?? :D

Hard to ignore giving the art just a glimpse, must be more eyecatching in real.

diyadear said...

nice slides.. never knew abt the falcon feature of dubai

Radha said...

Mookuthi,
Hi, I liked that one too :)

Sharmi,
Hey, welcome back! How have you been?

J,
Hmm, havent heard of any falcon accidents yet, in fact you dont find any real falcons in Dubai city anymore, they can be spotted only in the desert.

Diya,
Hi, thanks ! :)

Happy Reader said...

How pretty! I liked the Night and Day in particular. Thanks for sharing :)

Optimistic Guard said...

Radha I finally saw some :-) - they are a mix of good and bad. I think i was thinking too much and not looking around lol.

Wanda said...

Radha:
You left a comment on my post today, but no words....is there a hidden message????
Wanda

Jayne said...

Sometimes, I feel we tend to take 'cultural' things for granted & despite them being all around, we don't give them a 2nd glance, which is sad really. But, thanks to you, we now have some splendid images that are not only colourful, but also make a person more aware to spotting them on their travels around the UAE!

Jayne said...

P.S. Forgive me for taking so long in adding you to my links!
*hangs head in shame*

Lotus Reads said...

Radha, I have picked you to do a restaurant tag if you're willing...let me know, thanks! :)

Radha said...

Happy Reader,
Hey, how have you been? Glad you liked the post!

OG,
There you go!! :)

Wanda,
Hey, i cant remember anymore what my comment was!! :))

Jin,
Well, on your next visit to Dubai you can look at the falcons and get my quiz-prize money!!! hahaha!!

Lotus,
You know what a foodie I am!! Will post soon about my fav restaurants in Dubai!! :)

~ a said...

this is soo amazing! love the slides! :) at churchgate they've done these "statues" of cows and have got J J students to paint them and trust me they look hideous! and it's supposed to be for IMC turning 100 years, and Promotion of Animal Life! I'll click some pictures soon, It's not pretty at all, this is such a treat compared to that! :)

Radha said...

Seriously? Painted cows in Mumbai sounds very cheesy! haha! Waiting for you to post the pics!!