Basmah Felemban
It is He Who brings out the living from the dead, and brings out the dead from the living, 2014
Mixed Media Installation
26 x 45 x 45 cm (10 3/16 x 17 11/16 x 17 11/16 in.)
Edition of 5
BAF0020
Abdulkarim Qassem
Wills of War 2, 2014
Work on paper
30 x 21 cm (11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in.)
ABQ0001
Abdulkarim Qassem
Wills of War, 2014
Work on paper
30 x 21 cm (11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in.)
ABQ0000
Mahdi AlJeraibi
Jadal 15, 2014
Collected school desks
40 x 60 cm (15 11/16 x 23 9/16 in.)
MAJ0014
Mahdi AlJeraibi
Jadal 19, 2014
Collected school desks
40 x 60 cm (15 11/16 x 23 9/16 in.)
MAJ0018
Batool Al-Shomrani
Greetings, 2014
book page
21 x 14 cm (8 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.)
BAS0015
Batool Al-Shomrani
Suicide of a donkey, 2014
book page
21 x 14 cm (8 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.)
BAS0014
Batool Al-Shomrani
To our youth, Art Education instructor, 2014
book page
21 x 14 cm (8 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.)
BAS0013
Batool Al-Shomrani
Eat Bread, 2014
book page
21 x 14 cm (8 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.)
BAS0012
Batool Al-Shomrani
To all bastard of the world.. Big Curse, 2014
book page
21 x 14 cm (8 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.)
BAS0011
Batool Al-Shomrani
This is my life, 2014
book page
21 x 14 cm (8 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.)
BAS0010
Batool Al-Shomrani
People in my life, 2014
book page
21 x 14 cm (8 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.)
BAS0009
Nasser Al Salem
Family Portrait, 2014
Silkscreen on archival paper
70 x 50 cm (27 1/2 x 19 5/8 in.)
From Language Is Stronger Than Light series, Edition of 5
NAS0205
Nasser Al Salem
And Those Are The Days, We Rotate It Between The People, Plan, Population, Eqar, For Families Only, No Parking In Front Of The Door, Blueprint, No.63, Hatef, from the City Nomads series, 2014
Calligraphy on 100% cotton traditional tent fabric
100 x 200 cm (39 5/16 x 78 11/16 in.)
NAS0238
Basmah Felemban
It is He Who brings out the living from the dead, and brings out the dead from the living, 2014
Mixed Media Installation
26 x 45 x 45 cm (10 3/16 x 17 11/16 x 17 11/16 in.)
Edition of 5
BAF0020
Abdulkarim Qassem
Wills of War 2, 2014
Work on paper
30 x 21 cm (11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in.)
ABQ0001
Abdulkarim Qassem
Wills of War, 2014
Work on paper
30 x 21 cm (11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in.)
ABQ0000
Mahdi AlJeraibi
Jadal 15, 2014
Collected school desks
40 x 60 cm (15 11/16 x 23 9/16 in.)
MAJ0014
Mahdi AlJeraibi
Jadal 19, 2014
Collected school desks
40 x 60 cm (15 11/16 x 23 9/16 in.)
MAJ0018
Batool Al-Shomrani
Greetings, 2014
book page
21 x 14 cm (8 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.)
BAS0015
Batool Al-Shomrani
Suicide of a donkey, 2014
book page
21 x 14 cm (8 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.)
BAS0014
Batool Al-Shomrani
To our youth, Art Education instructor, 2014
book page
21 x 14 cm (8 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.)
BAS0013
Batool Al-Shomrani
Eat Bread, 2014
book page
21 x 14 cm (8 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.)
BAS0012
Batool Al-Shomrani
To all bastard of the world.. Big Curse, 2014
book page
21 x 14 cm (8 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.)
BAS0011
Batool Al-Shomrani
This is my life, 2014
book page
21 x 14 cm (8 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.)
BAS0010
Batool Al-Shomrani
People in my life, 2014
book page
21 x 14 cm (8 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.)
BAS0009
Nasser Al Salem
Family Portrait, 2014
Silkscreen on archival paper
70 x 50 cm (27 1/2 x 19 5/8 in.)
From Language Is Stronger Than Light series, Edition of 5
NAS0205
Nasser Al Salem
And Those Are The Days, We Rotate It Between The People, Plan, Population, Eqar, For Families Only, No Parking In Front Of The Door, Blueprint, No.63, Hatef, from the City Nomads series, 2014
Calligraphy on 100% cotton traditional tent fabric
100 x 200 cm (39 5/16 x 78 11/16 in.)
NAS0238
Originally part of a school desk, each wooden board in Jadal was once in a secondary school in Makkah. Unused for over 25 years, they form a mosaic of collective Saudi memory, life almost imperceptibly present in the faded scratching and notes on the wooden boards. Here, language is reduced to a mark making, none of the desks showing any signs of human, animal or manmade forms. The artist uses this philosophical representation of a concept, here the sustainability of traces, to invoke collective memory and to celebrate content as opposed to form. Exhibited in the same state as when first found, their condition reveals their identity, as old images might revive the memory of those to who they once belonged.
The artist looks to the viewer to question why the representation of form is missing from the remnant of these children’s daydreams and what social conditioning triggered this collective behavior. The work provokes a dialogue on shared Saudi memory, questioning the longer lasting effects of these heedlessly disappearing traces within the country’s rapidly changing landscape.
Originally part of a school desk, each wooden board in Jadal was once in a secondary school in Makkah. Unused for over 25 years, they form a mosaic of collective Saudi memory, life almost imperceptibly present in the faded scratching and notes on the wooden boards. Here, language is reduced to a mark making, none of the desks showing any signs of human, animal or manmade forms. The artist uses this philosophical representation of a concept, here the sustainability of traces, to invoke collective memory and to celebrate content as opposed to form. Exhibited in the same state as when first found, their condition reveals their identity, as old images might revive the memory of those to who they once belonged.
The artist looks to the viewer to question why the representation of form is missing from the remnant of these children’s daydreams and what social conditioning triggered this collective behavior. The work provokes a dialogue on shared Saudi memory, questioning the longer lasting effects of these heedlessly disappearing traces within the country’s rapidly changing landscape.
Nasser Al-Salem’s work City Nomads is a movingly nostalgic piece that is a drastic departure from the artist’s previous calligraphic work. The subject, one that is close to his heart, is of the nomadic traditions that are forcibly disappearing by the ever-expanding cities and fast-paced modernization. The work comprises of hanging traditional tent flaps (that made-up the entrances of tents) on a number of scaffolds. Each ten-flap is marked with calligraphic verses and indications of modern-day ”tagging” that geo-records their location. The scaffolds are assembled in a way that force the viewer to explore and discover the tent-flaps within the skeletal structure. The assembly of tent-flaps, a traditional material for constructing the homes of Nomads, lay in stark contrast to the use of scaffolds, a modern day means for constructing buildings. Nasser’s hollow structure alludes to the flimsy and unstable, and appears to both question and highlight the foundation in which culture and tradition will continue to exist or disappear.
Tent-making was in fact the artist’s family’s main trade for several generations. The artist has many fond memories of growing up in their Mecca shop, which was eventually closed down as plastic constructions replaced tents as shelters for Hajj pilgrims.
Nomads, by definition, leave no trace to mark their presence when they move to another location. This means that they actually have no tangible heritage. If their way of life disappears, there will be nothing but their oral traditions to prove they ever existed.
[insert range here]
A Group Exhibition
Curated by Mohammed A. Hafiz
Athr Gallery, 5th Floor, Spaces 01, 04, 05
Opening: 23rd January 2015
[insert range here] explores works that are centered on the use of Arabic text and language by Saudi artists from different generations, backgrounds and disciplines; their approaches and experiments vary from the conceptual to the formal, and stand in distinct contrast to its traditional aesthetics. The works are positioned as individual departing points that simulate the imagination, translating their meaning into limitless textual landscapes… Landscapes that are dependent on each viewer’s personal range of interpretation.
Participating artists include Ibrahim Abumsmar, Shadia Alem, Ayman Yossri Daydban, Mahdi Aljereibi, Abdelkarim Qassem, Nasser Al Salem, Bakr Sheikhoon, and Batool Alshomrani.
[أدخل نطاق هنا]
معرض جماعي
تنسيق محمد عبدالقادر حافظ
أثر غاليري، الطابق الخامس
الإفتتاح: ٢٣ يناير ٢٠١٥
٢٤ يناير - ٢٨ مارس ٢٠١٥
يستعرض[ أدخل نطاق هنا] الأعمال التي تتمحور حول استخدام الفنانين السعوديين القادمين من خلفيات وتوجهات فنية مختلفة للعربية لغةً ونصاً. حيث تتفاوت مقاربة كل فنان منهم وتجاربه ما بين التصورية والشكلية، وتتميز بتناقضها الصارخ للجماليات التقليدية. وقد تمّ وضع الأعمال كنقاط انطلاق منفصلة تحرّك الخيال فيرسم من المعاني مناظر طبيعية لا حصر لها، ولا يحدها سوى نطاق التفسير الشخصي لكل مُشاهد.
الفنانين المشاركين إبراهيم أبو مسمار، شادية عالم، أيمن يسري ديدبان، مهدي الجريبي، عبد الكريم قاسم، ناصر السالم، بكر شيخون، بتول الشمراني.