Elie Khouri on Collecting and Giving Back in ‘the New Dubai’

Elie Khouri Are you based in London?

Rahel Aima I’m in Dubai usually, but right now I’m in Riyadh for a few months.

EK You’re so lucky! Riyadh is so nice. It’s happening.

RA In this region, there’s a phenomenon where people collect from their own background: Arabs collect Arab artists, Iranians collect Iranians, etc. You started off with Nabil Nahas, who’s from Lebanon like you, but since then, your collection has become very international: from Kehinde Wiley to Günther Förg and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye to Mohamed Bourouissa.

EK I’ve always been intrigued by why people do that. Is it out of patriotism? Or comfort, because they understand their local art scene better? Personally, I disagree with that approach. You should collect what truly resonates with you and what speaks to you the most. Taking a broader view gives you the chance to discover artists on a global level. In my collection, we now have works by over 300 artists from Latin America, Africa, Europe – you name it.

RA Dubai, where you’ve been for maybe 35 years now, is such an international city. Does that inform your perspective as a collector?

EK It does. Dubai is an incredibly cosmopolitan city. All the world is in Dubai. Of course, it informs me as a person to be open-minded, it exposed me to many different cultures and ways of thinking, but I also think that is part of my DNA. I’m a very curious person by nature.

When you have great works, works you truly believe in, they need to be shared. Elie Khouri

RA Do you see this tendency changing as Dubai gets more diverse? I see it changing on the level of galleries that would in the past, let’s say, only represent one type of thing, because that’s what collectors wanted.

EK Exactly. I think galleries and the whole ecosystem are adapting to the new Dubai. The new Dubai is much more open, much more international. Since COVID, we’ve seen a wave of new residents, collectors from London, Monaco, France, Germany, Italy moving here. Naturally, while it’s important to acknowledge the richness of local talent, people also want to experience international art. The city is evolving to meet those needs, offering collectors a much broader landscape.

RA How have you seen Dubai change since the mid-2000s?

EK. We want Dubai to be more than just a hub where people come to work. The goal is to invest more in arts, to raise awareness among local communities and diversify the economy. Dubai has always led the region in commerce, private investments and entrepreneurship as well as in fostering more public-private partnerships. Dubai was and continues to be the leading centre for art trade in the region. It has the largest number of galleries and I suspect that Dubai accounts for 60% of all art transactions in the region, and that number is still growing. But I think we have to go wider than Dubai because while it is a great city, there’s Abu Dhabi, there’s Saudi, there’s Qatar. Each country is contributing in its own way to the cultural landscape of the region.

RA You are both a collector and a patron. In the US, a lot of arts philanthropy is tied to tax benefits. What do you think is the role of the collector-patron in this region?

EK My role beyond collecting is to be a catalyst for attracting more collectors to come here, bring their collections here, showcase them, and have a much wider engagement with the population. The US gives tax incentives to buy art and donate work to museums. We don’t have that here and I don’t think we ever will. I’m working closely with the public sector, advising them in terms of how they can upgrade the infrastructure around collecting and patronage: maybe giving rent-free facilities for certain collectors over an extended period of time, or accessibility to tax relief on importing artworks, or making it easier to register private foundations. A lot of that is happening behind the scenes. I think in the coming six months, we will see a lot of great things.

RA Your background has spanned finance, advertising and media. Has your professional experience informed your approach to the art ecosystem?

EK I think we all bring our own experiences to the table, and everything you do impacts your decision-making process. But for instance, advertising is about ideas, it’s about storytelling and visual impact. All of that translatesd to art, because a work of art at its core is an idea expressed by its creator. Just like in advertising, in art, a creative person is trying to find the best way to communicate an idea. It’s essentially the same process, even if the medium or expression differ. I think my work in advertising has also influenced my approach to in collecting. I’m drawn to the use of strong visual cues and strong visual impact. A common thread throughout my collection is boldness, strong colours and expressive imagery and a certain intensity that immediately captures your attention.

RA Has that changed over time?

EK  I can be a very impulsive person. I’m a risk-taker and I tend to to make quick decisions: which is different from impulse. In my early days, I made a lot of impulsive choices, not all of them the right ones. Over the years, and through working with experts, consultants, advisors and by being exposed to great galleries, major institutions, museums, foundations and all the fairs, I’ve sharpened my skills and understood much more what resonates with me.

You don’t have to have a warehouse to be a great collector. You can have 20 paintings, or five paintings that are meaningful to you, or sometimes you cannot even buy work. Elie Khouri

My collection spans many genres: there is a strong presence of figuration but also landscapes, abstraction, works that incorporate found objects and others that explore language and text. I touch on a lot of genres in terms of collecting. However, the strongest core of the collection is figuration, followed by landscape. And there are around 50 works that carry a more political undertone: a work by Christina Quarles that references George Floyd’s murder, or a series by Wangari Mathenge that dissects the language of citizenship: who gets called ‘expats’ versus ‘immigrants’.

RA I understand you acquire something like 30 works a year. How do you rotate your collection?

EK I think once a year is the average. Rotating works is an event in itself. It’s a whole ritual. I don’t overcomplicate the curation, because it’s not a museum, so I work based on the feeling that the art conveys in a particular room. It becomes very transformative because the atmospheres of the house changes, and with that, so does the way you engage and live around the art in the house. Of course, I have far more works in the warehouse than I can display, but hopefully this is going to be used differently in the future by being shown in a different context, which is within a private foundation.

RA I believe when you did the Delfina Foundation residency in London in 2019 you were already thinking about the foundation. What are your plans today?

EK You’ve done great research! The Delfina experience was very interesting – like an artist residency, they offer collectors’ residencies and support you in research for a project you’re exploring. For me at the time, the project was setting up a foundation. I commissioned Delfina to conduct a study across Dubai and Beirut, to understand what the region needed most and where I could add value to the community. We did a lot of research but then COVID hit. Without giving away too many details, since I’d like to save that for an official announcement, I can say that something concrete is underway in Dubai. It’s in progress as we speak and I hope to share more publicly in the coming months.

RA That’s super-exciting.

EK When you have great works, works you truly believe in, they need to be shared. What’s the point of keeping them hidden away in storage? Dubai is a city that has given me so much. I’d like to give back by showcasing why Dubai is a great city in terms of giving opportunities for entrepreneurs, for people to have the freedom to set up their own things.

RA What are you thinking in terms of programming? One thing that I find very interesting about a foundation is it’s not necessarily bound by a board or the structure of a museum, so there can be a lot more nimbleness.

EK I don’t want to speak prematurely about specifics, but, as you said, the good thing about a foundation is that it reflects the founder’s vision. It doesn’t have to conform, it doesn’t have to be politically correct. It simply needs to be authentic to what speaks to you and what is important to you. Beyond that, it’s about providing a platform for things to happen, for other opinions and perspectives to be shared which ultimately builds on my vision. Of course, it must all be consistent with my, if you like, my way of doing things, but it doesn’t have to be completely my work. 

In my early days, I made a lot of impulsive choices, not all of them the right ones. Elie Khouri

Hopefully, we’ll make it a global reference, a place where people come from all over the world to see the foundations and enjoy not only a great collection, but also a great environment, because the foundation is not just about seeing works on the wall, it’s about community building. Providing people in Dubai with a place where they can go and spend time, have a coffee, have lunch, buy a book, read a book, engage with the community and just feel at home.

RA Looking at the books behind you, I’m curious what informs your thinking.

EK Don’t be fooled! I’m not a great reader of books; I’m a great buyer of books. I love books. They’re mostly on art design and architecture. Whenever I travel, I bring back five or six books. I flick through them, and I draw a lot of visual and conceptual inspiration from them.

RA Publishing tends to be the last piece of the puzzle. How do you support art publishing?

EK Publishing is often a way of presenting an artist who hasn’t been given justice in terms of exposure and of connecting and supporting the community. So, it’s a form of patronage. We’ve supported four or five books now, and whoever comes to me with a viable publishing project, I’ll listen, whether I collect the artist or not. In fact, publishing is a way to support artists that I cannot collect but I believe deserve to be heard and seen.

RA I’m curious about your experiences before you ever acquired a work – what was around you when you grew up?

EK I don't have collectors in my family. I am a first-generation collector, basically. My father was a chef, and perhaps he inspired me in some ways, because I truly believe cooking is an art. I’ve often been asked the question, ‘When did you start collecting and why did you buy this piece of work’ etcetera. But I don’t think there is a day when one decides ‘I’m collecting art.’ I’ve been collecting things since I was young: souvenirs when I travelled to cities, posters to put on my wall. Surrounding yourself with things that are meaningful is the core of collecting, whatever those things are.

Seriously collecting art is like a religion or an addiction – a persistent urge. For me, it only happened at the point in my life when I had the time and the mindset to be engulfed in the world of art. If you like, the trigger of my serious collecting was a piece of work by Nabil Nahas, So Happy to See You [2002]. Honestly, why I bought it was that I simply liked the title!

RA Are there any other pieces that are especially meaningful because of the conditions of acquiring them, or how you encountered them?

EK A lot of times, I want to buy an artwork from a particular artist because I am drawn to the way they do things. Always, when I buy a work, I try to see first what the artist is trying to communicate. I try to see what’s behind the work, and if there’s something for me in that. If there is, I can take it and build on it. For instance, I bought a piece of work from an artist because it reminded me of my mother; another work evoked memories of my childhood; yet another resonated with a particular environment in a particular country I was in at the time.

The beauty of great art is that the story evolves. Over time, I continue to build narratives around these works. And when you show a piece to new people and ask them what they see, you discover new dimensions and meanings, and that’s the fun part.

RA We’re in a situation right now where auction houses are increasingly offering luxury objects alongside artworks, so I want to ask you about this merging of worlds and where it leaves the distinction between levels of collectors. What makes someone a ‘serious collector’ in your view?

EK It’s a very good question, and there’s no right answer, but I’ll give you my two cents. I said once that a serious collector is somebody who has more art than he or she can put on the walls: that when you start putting things in a warehouse is when you become a serious collector. Now I think that’s a very superficial definition. Someone might buy works just as investments and so they end up in a warehouse. With hindsight, the act of collecting is much more serious than this. You don’t have to have a warehouse to be a great collector. You can have 20 paintings in a house, or five paintings that are meaningful to you, or sometimes you cannot even buy work, but you might give $2,000 to a museum. That to me is a great collector. Someone who’s engaged with the art ecosystem, going to museums, doing studio visits, following artists’ careers and supporting the community.

I also think that as collectors and patrons, our job is to create demand, and have more people start the journey of enjoying and buying work – even if it’s posters or editions of relatively small monetary value. Anyone can collect art. You don’t have to have tens of thousands of dollars. You can buy great works for hundreds of dollars. If you enjoy them and become exposed to art and learn and are willing to grow, that’s important.

RA Finally, at this time when the region is burning, as it does on and off, there is a sense that art cannot only be an escape, but has to address the situation more directly. What’s your view of that?  

EK I don’t know if I would describe the region as ‘burning’. I’ve been here in Dubai for 35 years and I come from Lebanon, a war-torn country, and I lived through a civil war. I’ve endured hardships and I know what wars are. I think in these times we can take a step back from art, or we can say, ‘Our way of expressing our feelings is through art, and the way we express what we believe in is through art.’

As I told you, art for me is a way of expressing ideas. I think creativity can be sharper in such moments. For some artists, the more engaged you are, the more you have anger or fear, the more your art becomes punchy and pointed, the more it becomes great. I don’t want to say I welcome these developments, but they are happening. The question for me is: ‘How in these times do we go about supporting great artists to make more and greater work?’

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^{Main image: Elie Khouri, Dubai, 2025. Standing: Antony Gormley, Gird II, 2014. Mild-steel bar, 186 x 44 x 48 cm. On wall: Claire Tabouret, Monument (bronze), 2019. Acrylic and fabric on canvas, 290 x 235 cm. Photograph: Sebastian Böttcher}