Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the category of Iranian art as applied in various market settings in the United Arab Emirates. The focus is not only on the use of the category across artistic styles and genres, but also on how Iranian art objects are marked in sites of transit, in press and marketing materials.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores the category of Iranian art as applied in various market settings in the United Arab Emirates. Through analysis of what is considered Iranian art at auction, exhibition and in transit I unpack this broad category. Looking at Iranian art in the context of the UAE I consider the salience of this category in a particular local context to show how a national category operates outside of its own borders. I focus not only on the wide application of the category across artistic styles and genres, but also on how Iranian art objects are marked in sites of transit, in press and marketing materials. In this way I demonstrate how the category is accentuated and also played down dependent on political factors as well as the demands of the market. Through ethnographic examples of the strategies adopted by both galleries and artists to emphasize Iranian art, and thus the Iranian artist, as a distinct category, I demonstrate how artistic categories expand and contract. In highlighting the slippage of this category I suggest a way of thinking about how artistic categories are animated rather than there coherence with art historical factors.