• Traffic Gallery of Dubai reported 40 works sold for a total of more than $100,000. One of Ahmed Mater’s “Evolution of Man” series (2010) was bought by a Saudi collector for $30,000 just before the fair opened. The light-box work shows a gasoline pump morphing into the X-rayed skeleton of a human holding a gun to his head.
• Aidan Gallery of Moscow sold a work from Aladdin Garunov’s “Zikr” series for $20,000 to a Middle Eastern collector living in Europe.
• Ayyam Gallery sold “Dream 40” by Safwan Dahoul for $300,000 to an “important public institution.”
• Galerie Chantal Crousel of Paris said a Gulf collector bought “Intermission” by Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla, who will represent the U.S. at the Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art that opens in June.
• Artspace Gallery of Dubai reported sales including Nadine Hammam’s “Got Love” (2010) that shows the silhouette of a female nude. It sold for $16,000 to a Dubai collector. The gallery also sold Zakaria Ramhani’s, “Bye Bye Hosni,” (2011) for $26,000. Its theme is Hosni Mubarak’s recent removal as president of Egypt.

Billionaires Splurge on Middle-East Art as Dubai Fair Rebounds From Slump (Bloomberg)