In line with Cities boutique’s ongoing initiative to provide exposure to artists and designers, the region’s pioneering art & design concept store will be hosting an exhibition of Máximo Riera’s work at The Mine art gallery in Dubai from November 12- 16, 2015.

Conceived as a five-day presentation of his pieces, the exhibition will focus on Riera’s Animal Chairs, which he is famous for, which constitute a diverse range of species, from mammals to reptiles, and even including insects.  Riera has created three exclusive pieces for the region, which will be unveiled at the exhibition, and will be available for sale at Cities boutique after the exhibition.

Riera’s intention in creating the Animal Chairs is to bring the animal kingdom to the urban world in order to create awareness for something we are all losing empathy with. Each creation retains the animal’s natural vitality whilst being totally biological accurate in its appearance.

Each chair consists of an internal steel frame and is made of polyurethane, with a leather seat.  To create the chairs, Riera began by reproducing his sketches as 3-dimensional digital images.  These images were then utilized to produce the sculptures using CNC, which allowed mechanized sculpting tools to precisely replicate the pieces. They were then assembled, sanded and painted by hand, adding uniqueness to the design.

“It is always a privilege to be able to show your art and creations to an audience. And it makes it more special to have a location like Dubai, one of the most influential cities in the World,” says Maximo Riera, “It is an absolute pleasure for me to collaborate with Cities in this exhibition as they are one of the leading companies in art and cutting-edge design in the Middle East. Cities work in a very professional manner; they pay good attention to detail in every step of the way. Since the moment we started collaborating with each other, there was a sense of understanding that as an artist I appreciate a great deal. It is not easy to find people that genuinely see art and design through the artist’s eye.”

This exhibit is the third in a series of events that Cities has been working on in an effort to share the innovative art and design creations of talented designers and artists with the world. Previous exhibitions include Greek artist Fotis Gerakis and Lebanese designer Nayef Francis.