Images: Hassan Sharif

Every few weeks, Hassan Sharif takes a taxi to the city limits of Dubai. He is dropped off alone and walks out a little way into the desert. For about half an hour, he talks to the desert about politics or art history. Afterwards, he walks back to the road, hails a cab and goes home.

Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde is pleased to present Images, a provocation from an arch-provocateur after more than 40 years of art-making. At a time when Sharif is being increas- ingly referred to as the 'father (or even 'grandfather') of Emirati art', Sharif challenges this with very new works that reject commonplace understandings of his practice.

Images does not glisten with the bright plastic heaps that the artist has become known for. Instead, we see reams of paper, air-rusted iron shapes and pages torn from a dictionary that scuttle up the walls or hang from the ceiling. The viewer is invited to explore a cave-like wall of papier-mâche encrusted toys, a crystalline stalactite of inkjet printouts, and a piece of elasticated cotton on canvas that begs an inquisitive hand.