Dubai-based gallery provides platform for Middle Eastern artists to exhibit works

The gallery, a recent winner at the Lloyds TSB Small Business Awards ceremony, will hold ten exhibitions throughout the year, and also host a regular Arab Film Series, a monthly bi-lingual Arab Literature Circle, and periodic artist talks.

Committed to long term growth of the regional art scene, The Third Line represents emerging contemporary artists from across the Middle East in local, regional and global markets, and strives to place them in international art fairs and exhibitions.

Sponsored by Hertz, the Inspirational Leadership Award was awarded to The Third Line for having a clear vision, strong leadership and a team that represents the business with pride and passion.

The gallery was awarded a Toyota Yaris for 12 months. The car will be 'wrapped' in an artwork and driven around Dubai - providing both a much needed transport for visiting artists and an ingenious way to promote the gallery across the city.

Bob Farrow, General Manager of Hertz UAE says of the gallery:

"The Third Line is playing an important role in the development of the local art industry. I hope this award helps the gallery to achieve further success in Dubai and throughout the Middle East."

The Third Line, formed in 2005 by Sunny Rahbar, Omar Ghobash and Claudia Cellini, was the first gallery in Dubai to professionally represent its artists on a long term basis. The gallery represents artists from across the Middle Eastern, including from Morocco, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Libya, Pakistan and the UAE.

Since the gallery's first show in March 2005, it has hosted 23 major exhibitions. The 2007 video exhibition 'Bring the Noise: Seeing yourself in my Brown eyes' featured works by four artists from the region and exhibited at the Salomon Contemporary Gallery in New York.

The Third Line's current exhibition, Life Drawing, features four young artists, Neda Hadizadeh (Iran), Ghadah Al Kandari (Bahrain), Hayv Kahraman (Iraq) and Lamya Gargash (UAE) and their different approaches to portraiture of the body. This exhibition runs from Tuesday 18 December to Monday 14 January. The next exhibition, 'Fabricated: Painted works by Pouran Jinchi', will open to the public on Saturday 19 January and run until Thursday 14 February.