María Fernanda Lairet Recognized at the Global Art Awards

The international winners in the visual arts category of the Global Art Awards were announced during an Award Ceremony Gala Dinner held on Friday, November 16, at the Armani Hotel Dubai Ballroom located in the Burj Khalifa building in Dubai. Venezuelan artist and photographer María Fernanda Lairet was awarded in the category of Street Art for her collage on banknotes titled Dubai-Lairet. The symbolism and spiritual value of the bills were recreated, superimposed, transferred and "geometrized" in order to achieve an interpretation specific to the cultural heritage of the United Arab Emirates. Currently completing an artist-in-residence program at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia (US), Lairet has resorted to new formats, installations and architectural plays that interact with space, light and color in an effort to innovate and look for new ways of approaching the public. "Global Narratives," one of Lairet's best-known series, evidence a transformation towards a geometric abstraction through the combination of simple forms and subjective compositions on fictitious spaces that seek to express the banknotes' process of depreciation. The jury panel was formed by prominent art professionals, collectors, gallerists, art critics, and entrepreneurs, as well as by members of the Middle East Art Collector Association, including: Mahmood Bin Karam Al Farsi (UAE), Sophie Neuendorf (USA), José Ignació Ruiz-Caparrós (China), Cristoph Noe (Hong Kong), Satoshi Maruhashi (Japan), Daryl Goh (Singapore), Jean Minguet (France), Ghada Kunash (UAE), and Joobin Bekhrad (Canada). This important recognition to Lairet coincided with the installation of one of her series at the Silicon Valley International Airport in the city of San Jose, California, one of the most important centers of technological innovation with nearly 11 million passengers per year. María Fernanda Lairet has a prolific portfolio that includes aesthetically delicate paintings, photographic series, and virtual collages in which the artist integrates languages that seek to erase the boundaries between handmade and industrial approaches.