Highlights from the upcoming mid-career review of renowned Saudi modern artist Ahmed Mater will be revealed at Christie’s London headquarters on August 17 from July 22 until August 22. Featuring more than 100 works spanning paintings, drawings, pictures, sculpture, picture, and assembly from his musical career to date, Ahmed Mater: Chronicles represents an epic into the artist’s creative practice.
Curated by Dr Ridha Moumni, Chairman, Christie’s Middle East and Africa, the show will highlight the major milestones of Mater’s profession, from unknown quick abstract paintings, to the famous Illumination series, as well as important works from the Desert of Pharan project. The author’s site-specific payment, for Wadi AlFann, AlUla, will take centre stage with carvings and reports related to the Ashab Al-Lal project, alongside fresh works such as Magnetism Book, presented to the public for the first time.
The museum provides a unique opportunity to reflect on the diversity of the country’s diverse identity while also witnessing the social and cultural transformations of Saudi Arabia. Through his exercise, Mater documents and analyses these changes and imagines possible prognoses for a land of extraordinary religious, social, economic, and political influence, taking into consideration the emotional impact on the individual, the society, culture, and the world.
Ahmed Mater: Chronicles, is the most comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the artist to date, bringing together different stages of the artist’s career and revealing his unique path as a chronicler of his homeland’s materiality and spirituality.
Exhibition Highlights, selected by Dr Ridha Moumni, Curator and Chairman, Christie’s MENA, include:
( Illustrated above left on page 1 ), Magnetism Book, a new work from Ahmed Mater’s iconic’ Magnetism’ series. Mater draws inspiration from the Holy Qur’an and other religious texts, using magnets and iron filings to represent the sacred passages, highlighting the spiritual forces that uphold human faith. Variations of the original Magnetism installation have been exhibited at prominent institutions worldwide including the British Museum, London, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha and Brooklyn Museum. ( Illustrated above right on page 1 ), Boundary, takes the shape of a mihrab, the niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates qibla, the direction of prayer. The Muslim community’s obsession with security and surveillance has evolved from the mihrab to an airport security scanner, reflecting on how surveillance and security procedures have evolved over the years.
Ashab Al-Lal will explore the mythic space between subjective imagination and objective reality by creating a mirage within the desert landscape of AlUla, North-West Saudi Arabia, in the form of an extraordinary preview of Ahmed Mater’s site-specific installation, which Wadi AlFann, Valley of the Arts, AlUla, will be taking center stage ( illustrated below left ). One of the first five artists to be given a commission to create site-specific land art installations for Wadi AlFann, which will begin accepting visitors in 2025, is Matte. Exhibited alongside Ashab Al-Lal sculptures will be a group of Illuminations and studies related to the project, including Illuminations I ( illustrated below right ), which was previously exhibited at the House of Architectural Heritage, Bahrain, and at AlJadaidah, Arts District in AlUla.
( Illustrated below left ), Talisman X-ray Blue ( Torso ) is part of the artist’s celebrated Illumination series, in which the artist fuses past and present and bridges subjects often conceived as irreconcilable: faith and science. Drawing ideas from the Muslim arts of the guide, Mater employs silver leaf, tea, cherry, coffee, and different materials usually used on the pages of Islamic manuscripts. Mater expands the scale of his light page and creates a unique sense of intimacy by employing people X-rays, a traditional small and romantic art form.
An oil industry on the left and a Bedouin camp on the right are depicted in Lightening Land, which shows an enormous lightening bolt striking the desert environment. The artist explores the tensions of property that are entangled between the past and the future, history and innovation, heritage and globalization in this unstable and unpredictable flash of force, and weighs their effects on both an individual and societal level.
Evolution of Man ( illustrated second row below ), another well-known piece of art, is also on display in the exhibition. This feedback on the fast development of Saudi Arabia since its discovery of oil in 1938, which transformed the Kingdom’s socioeconomic, political, social, and religious environment. The evolving of a fuel pump into a man, weapon to its head, reflects on a foreboding prognosis- that of the risks to the environment, cultural fabric, and ultimate threat of cycles of destruction.
Dr Ridha Moumni, Chairman, Christie’s Middle East &, Africa comments,’ It is an amazing opportunity to provide an epic into Ahmed Mater’s creative practice, the first mid-career retrospective dedicated to one of the leading social voices of the Middle East. Mater’s captivating trip invites us to rethink urban and natural environments, reveal hidden histories, foresee possible futures and ponder deep beliefs. His creative responses to Saudi Arabia’s difficult social and cultural context’s rapid changes re-enlighten us to its fascinating tales of an evolving nation and to reflect on its multifaceted identity.
Ahmed Mater, notes,’ It is a great dignity to present my creative journey at Christie’s traditional headquarters in London this summer. For me, nearly 20 years after my first exhibition outside Saudi Arabia at the British Museum in 2005, it is particularly poignant for me to reflect in London. Through this engaging and thorough exhibition of my practice, I am thrilled to have the chance to reconnect with the city and its vibrant craft area. I have seen Christie’s commitment over the years to encourage regional art, which is a distinction to be aligned with and fosters an education and cross-cultural dialogue.
Works on loan throughout the exhibition are courtesy of Ahmed Mater’s studio ( Saudi Arabia ), Wadi AlFann, Valley of the Arts, Royal Commission for AlUla ( Saudi Arabia ), Royal Commission for AlUla Contemporary Art Collection ( Saudi Arabia ), Ramzi and Saeda Dalloul Art Foundation, DAF ( Lebanon ), Barjeel Art Foundation ( Sharjah, U. A. E. ), Athr Gallery ( Saudi Arabia ) as well as from private collections.
Christie’s and Ahmed Mater would like to thank Wadi AlFann, AlUla for their contribution to this exhibition, along with our exhibition supporting partners Athr Foundation, Dalloul Art Foundation ( DAF ), SUR Multi Family Office and The Tamer Family Foundation. Christie’s would also like to bless The Visual Arts Commission, Saudi Arabia for their support of the show publication.
For pictures in the launch, including images of the artist, please follow this link to a drop box. On demand, you can see more pictures of the exhibit’s pieces. Please note © for pictures usage and credits.
Please click here for more details about the show.
Ahmed Mater: Chronicles opens at Christie’s in London on 17 July and is on watch until 22 August. Free entrance to the show is available.
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Christie’s Education may become hosting a three-day, in-person training aligned with the beginning of Ahmed Mater: Tales. From 22 to 24 July, London will host the exhibition Art from the Arab and Muslim Worlds: Innovation and Influence. Through lectures, discussions, and unique tours, participants will get a comprehensive understanding of Islamic art’s history, from its beginnings to its current expressions. Here are the sure details, so please follow the link.