‘More than Meets the Eye’: Unveiling Saudi Arabia’s cross-generational art history
Saudi Arabia’s long, cross-generational art history will be unveiled in the ‘More than Meets the Eye’ exhibition held in AlUla, the heart of the Kingdom’s burgeoning arts scene.
Running from February 9 to April 27, the showcase of contemporary works by Saudi artists on loan from collectors in Saudi Arabia will be hosted by Arts AlUla at the Maraya concert hall.
The exhibition – curated by Saudi pioneer artist Dr. Effat Abdullah Fadag – will present the history of the contemporary art movements in Saudi Arabia, documenting the story of artists and the role of collectors in the development of the art scene.
According to Dr. Fadag, the country has a rich and deep history of practicing and collecting art, and the current wave of contemporary art is built on that cross-generational practice.
“People think that Saudi Arabia and art history or art practice started with the contemporary. What I’m trying to say here [through the exhibition] is that there [are] similarities between what is happening now [the growing art scene] and what happened in the past after the formation of the Kingdom 1932. This whole circulation of scholarship, movement, and development of the practice itself is similar to what is happening right now,” Dr. Fadag told Al Arabiya English in an interview.
‘More than Meets the Eye’ celebrates the private collectors that patronized, supported and safeguarded the works of artists from the contemporary art movement in Saudi Arabia.
It also marks an important shift towards institutional collections, such as the planned contemporary art museum in AlUla that is set play a key role in documenting and supporting contemporary art in the Kingdom and beyond once opened.
The contemporary art museum in AlUla aims to be a core part of the ecosystem of collecting in Saudi Arabia, collaborating with collectors from across the county and working with guest curators, like Dr. Fadag, to explore this topic.
“The exhibition is an exploration of the art history of the Kingdom, but not just looking into art, but also looking into the stories behind that artwork. [It explores] what the journey of that artwork looks like as it moves from the artist to the collector, and what is the role of the collector, what is the role of the artist, what is the role of the audience in general,” Dr. Fadag said.
“The exhibition is telling the stories of the journey of art history in the Kingdom in a different way. Rather than segregating the works by dates, let us say, [we] put them together in one subject and [explored how] the relationships between these different generations of art practiced in the Kingdom,” she added.
The exhibition features works by pioneering Saudi artists such as Abdulhalim Radwi, Mohammed al-Saleem and Mounirah Mously alongside leading contemporary Saudi artists such as Ahmed Mater, Muhannad Shono and Dana Awartani.
The full list of exhibiting artists in ‘More than Meets the Eye’ are:
Alia Ahmad
Shadia Alem
Mohammed Al Faraj
Lulwah AlHomoud
Mahdi Al Jeraibi
Abdulsattar Al Mussa
Reem Al Nasser
Fahad Al Naymah
Adel Al Quraishi
Ali Alruzaiza
Mohammed Alsaleem
Nasser Al Salem
Abdulrahman Alsoliman
Dana Awartani
Sultan Bin Fahad
Fahad Hajailan
Ahmed Mater
Mounirah Mosley
Nawal Mossalli
Khalid Owais
Abdulhalim Radwi
Bakr Sheikhoun
Muhannad Shono
Ayman Yossri Daydban
The exhibition explores connections, influences and shared stories from across generations of Saudi artists, spanning multiple disciplines and mediums.
The works are divided into seven themes that touch on the notions of homeland, identity, belonging, public privacy, love, metaphysics and social engagement.
By encouraging the viewer to search for and interpret meaning, the exhibition uncovers the national artistic ecosystem beyond a literal representation of the history of Saudi Arabia and allows the visitors to tap into the imagination, symbolism, and metaphorical thinking of the artists and collectors.
The exhibition takes place during the AlUla Arts Festival, which runs between February 9 and March 2, 2024 and will immerse visitors in a vibrant celebration of contemporary visual and public art, design, art tours, and artist residencies.
AlUla Arts Festival also includes Desert X AlUla, a recurring, site-responsive exhibition of outdoor art.
AlUla has been dedicated to create a culturally enriched place to live and visit, to revive the rich legacy of arts in the region and to create opportunities for the community to experience art as a source of education and enrichment through job creation and skills development.
Patrons of art
‘More than Meets the Eye’ is part of a series of exhibitions organized under the long-term relationship between the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) and the patrons of the arts in Saudi Arabia.
“This exhibition reflects our investment in the long-term relationship between AlUla and collectors and patrons of the arts across Saudi Arabia. AlUla is at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s rapidly developing arts scene and will become a platform for our generation to develop its creative expression whilst learning about Saudi Arabia’s rich art historical practice,” Nora al-Dabal, Executive Director of Arts AlUla, said in a statement.
The first in the series of exhibitions was the 2022 exhibition ‘What Lies Within’ from the private collection of Saudi female patron and collector Basma al-Sulaiman.
As well as being a historic cultural site, AlUla is at the center of the Kingdom’s growing arts scene.
Following Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s launch of Vision 2030, the county has been driving towards change at full speed.
The economic reform plan has put diversifying the Kingdom’s economy away from oil at the forefront of its strategic plan, pouring billions of dollars into the creative economy and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs.
“We can’t stop. This is the thing. The country is thinking about the creative economy very wisely and is directing it very strategically; and this is what we need,” Dr. Farag told Al Arabiya English in an interview.
“They are pushing it to go further and they are giving opportunities for all artists from different generations to [present] their own story in this journey and this history. They are also looking forward by taking a holistic approach to presenting Saudi Arabia’s art history so that it is not just one specific genre of art or one generation of artists, but a whole ecosystem of art history exists in the Kingdom,” she added.
