So summer is here and it seems things are slowing down a little bit in the art world-notwithstanding some record prices for works at auction two weeks ago: a notable one being the Monet which sold for $80.5 million!  The New Museum in New York is opening a show on July 10th featuring Cairo’s Townhouse --a non-profit gallery which brings together various Middle Eastern artists, such as my gallery's own Susan Hefuna and also Tareq Zaki (both Egyptian).

Sfeir-Semler Gallery in Beirut is opening what looks to be a seminal show of Walid Raad/the Atlas Group next week--an artist whom I deeply admire and who I can proudly say I have in my own collection.  I will sadly miss the inauguration but hope to catch the show before it’s down in November.

A show aptly timed for the Arab summer migration to London is Orientalism at the Tate--something that may not keep critical visitors enraptured but will certainly entertain and remind us of what many of our parents' generation love to keep hanging on their walls at home!  I personally love looking at these souvenirs of times long passed and appreciate them for the looking glass (albeit romanticized one) that they are...