A first generation Emirati conceptual artist, Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim is best known for his abstract works influenced by primitive symbols and natural landscapes.
Read MoreBorn in 1962 in Khor Fakkan, a coastal town in east Sharjah, Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim is largely a self-taught artist. He was encouraged to pursue art in primary school. In Kuwait, where he lived from the age of 8 through his teenage years, Ibrahim attended drawing workshops .
Because no fine art programmes were offered in the UAE at the time, he studied psychology at Al Ain University, painting in his dorm and graduating with a BA in 1986. His introduction to artist Hassan Sharif that year led him to join the Emirates Fine Arts Society. Besides Ibrahim and Sharif, the early group of five included Sharif's brother Hussain Sharif, Abdullah Al Saadi, and Mohammed Kazem.
Ibrahim's paintings and sculptures often begin from the mountainous topography of his hometown, resulting in primitive forms assembled from natural materials and symbolic paintings with a nod to the subconscious.
Citing Robert Smithson among his influences, Ibrahim's distinct brand of land art reflects his lasting connection to the natural environment. His sculptures also derive from this interest, often building weathered monoliths or abstracted figures from leaves, twigs, paper, clay, wood, and glue.
Standing Body 2 (2020) is an upright figure with an animalesque head and additional membranes connected to its midsection. Its bland and white angular limbs hint at a futuristic android, while they are made from cardboard and papier-mâché—earthly materials that the artist commonly uses.
Ibrahim's abstract paintings evokes subconscious expression, with recurring symbols such as geometric outlines and dots ornamenting their surfaces, influenced by artists such as Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky.
Ibrahim's works, like Flying Carpet 6 (2023), an aerial view of a carpet connected to circular cells units, are distinctly contemporary despite the inclusion of bold, primordial symbols on the tapestry's surface.
'In my work I am not trying to create a new language or alphabet, but what I try to achieve is the ultimate abstraction and simplification of forms,' the artist told Gulf News in 2022.
In 2018, Sharjah Art Foundation presented Elements, a survey exhibition that traced aesthetic and conceptual threads within Ibrahim's practice, including his use of repetition and permutations and his interest in how natural landscapes are impacted by urban development.
Representing the United Arab Emirates at the 59th Venice Biennale, Ibrahim's presentation Between Sunrise and Sunset (2022) sought to express the region's natural and cultural diversity.
Referencing the artist's experience of light in his hometown, the exhibition filled a room with a sculpture made from 128 papier-mâché elements with dried grass, leaves, coffee, and tea, nodding to the different people, communities, and topographies in the country.
For Desert X Alula in 2020, Ibrahim created an outdoor installation of 320 neon, rock-shaped sculptures of varying sizes and shades scattered at the base of a sandstone cliff. Visible from afar, the work means to incite careful looking, inspired by the natural rockfall surrounding the exhibition site.
Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim is the recipient of the 1991 and 2001 Sculpture Prize, Sharjah Biennial.
Select solo exhibitions include Dubai Calligraphy Biennale (2023); Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai (2022, 2020, 2019); 59th Venice Biennale, National Pavilion U.A.E. (2022); Sharjah Art Foundation, U.A.E. (2018); Cuadro Art, Dubai (2016, 2015, 2013); Khorfakkan Art Center, Sharjah (2009).
Selected group exhibitions include Bitar Museum, India; Christie's London; Sharjah Art Foundation, U.A.E. (all 2023); Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi (2022); Desert X, Al Ula (2020); Kochi Murzi Biennale, India (2016); 53rd Venice Biennale, U.A.E. Pavilion (2009); Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany (2005); and Dhaka Biennial, Bangladesh (2002).
The artist lives and works in Khorfakkan, U.A.E.
Gallery
Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim is represented by Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai.
Website
The artist's Instagram is here.
Elaine YJ Zheng | Ocula | 2024
