by Gerard Al-Fil

DUBAI, March 16 (Xinhua) — During times of civil unrest in the Middle East, Dubai has always been a safe haven for tourism, banking and culture. After an exclusive preview Tuesday, the edition of the 5th Art Dubai, a four-day exhibition in the luxury resort Madinat Jumeirah, opened to the public Wednesday.

“Certainly the Arab art scene is growing and Art Dubai tributes to that fact, but we also want to build bridges between the Eastern and the Western cultures,” the event’s new Art Director Antonia Carver said.

While the Gulf state of Bahrain became unstable amid civil unrest, triggering a three-month state of martial law, Dubai, as well as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at large, has not seen any demonstrations or clashes.

Inaugurated by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the UAE’s vice president and prime minister and ruler of Dubai, Art Dubai brought the scene from the East and the West together. Some 80 galleries exhibited paintings, sculptures and video animations. Two galleries were from China and one from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Liu Ding, founder and head of his own gallery “Liu Ding’s store ” in China’s capital Beijing, exhibited a very Asiatic way of painting. He took a white canvas and painted just small colorful objects, animals, trees and landscapes, somewhere in the middle.

“These paintings are part of my project ‘Take Home and make real the priceless in your heart’,” Liu said.