10 Artists to Watch at the Abu Dhabi Art Fair.

This year's edition is dedicated to a digital art showcase that adds an edge, while the annual Gateway exhibition spotlights the distinctive vision of curator Brook Andrew. The fair's expansive Talks Programme will bring together curators, artists, and institutional leaders from across the UAE and beyond to explore a wide range of cultural perspectives. There's even a Culinary Art experience - titled Frozen Forest - delving into the relationship between the visual and gastronomic arts. Beyond the fair's main venue, artworks commissioned from renowned artists will appear across the city, accompanied by a dynamic Performance Programme unfolding in multiple locations.

Within the fair itself, a number of distinct sectors offer further depth. Focus: Modern Türkiye, Nigeria Spotlight, and The Gulf Region highlight modern masters from their respective geographies. Focus: Collectors Salon brings together manuscripts, rare books, and historical objects, thoughtfully showcased alongside modern and contemporary works. Bidaya introduces galleries younger than three years old, while Emerge spotlights works priced under USD 3,000. Special Project features artist presentations by established galleries, while Modern & Contemporary is open to international artists working across diverse disciplines.

Selecting just ten artists from the more than four hundred brilliant creatives featured at this year's Abu Dhabi Art Fair was no easy feat. With such abundance, these creatives are offered simply as an entry point - a glimpse into the fair's richness, and a small sample of the many singular perspectives waiting to be discovered.

 

Moslem Khezri
Iranian artist Moslem Khezri (b. 1984) creates figurative paintings and drawings that examine the quiet drama of everyday life, revealing layered narratives beneath the surface. In the series We Keep Reviewing, he investigates the all-boys school environment, transforming familiar scenes into spaces of subtle tension and introspection. In Between addresses the experiences of a generation caught between migration and rootedness, exploring how the personal and the cultural collide in moments of choice and uncertainty.

Across his work, Khezri balances intimacy with broader cultural reflection, utilising light and composition to illuminate unseen aspects of social experience. His paintings are quiet yet resonant, capturing the tensions, contradictions, and complexities of contemporary Iranian life while offering a universal meditation on identity, belonging, and the fragile spaces we inhabit between home and elsewhere.

Khezri has exhibited widely across Iran and internationally - including presentations at Art Dubai, The Armory Show, Expo Chicago, and KIAF Seoul, where his work has drawn growing critical attention. Khezri's works appear in several major collections, including the Dubai Collection and the Abu Dhabi Royal Family. In Abu Dhabi, he's shown in the Special Projects section.