Monday, November 29, 2010

How a Gulf gallery tasted success during the financial downturn?

Features writer Fatma Salem of Gulf News underlines how Dubai’s art scene is reaching a new peak, underlining the success story of The Opera Gallery. The story mentions:
“The newly opened gallery has been highly successful as a business and in part to their willingness to try different approaches. Its opening at a time when many businesses are closing down is significant. Persuading Emiratis to invest in art is relatively easy these days, according to the gallery GM Bertrand Epaud. Recently the BBC filmed in the gallery at the DIFC and this point was discussed. There are two approaches to buying art here.

“One is the safe form of investment, which means that you invest in a masterpiece from an artist such as Dali, Chagall or the like and you are guaranteed not to lose money. And for those who cannot afford to invest large amounts of money, according to Epaud. If you cannot afford to buy an art work, then I suggest going for a sketch because they are cheaper but still valuable and once again profit is guaranteed." But he cautions against selling the work immediately.
Bertrand Epaud explains: “In any new business, location is certainly one of the most important aspects. And, we found out after conducting research that Dubai Mall is considered one of the most popular malls in the entire emirate. Dubai has adopted a flourishing mall culture with willing consumers ready to spend large portions off their time and money there. We wanted to be accessible to as many of them as possible. There's clearly no better location for meeting prospective customers in person than the mall, on a daily basis."

He adds that Dubai as a city is also the perfect location for an art scene as it provides easy access to many different parts of the world. "It has a wonderful geographic location that connects us with clients from different parts of the world, within a matter of hours, places like India, Tehran, and Beirut."

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