- Title: SAUDI ARABIA-ART EXHIBITION Saudi artist tackles social issues in exhibition
- Date: 1st March 2015
- Summary: RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA (FEBRUARY 26, 2015) (REUTERS) VISITORS AT "SAUDIVERSE" SOLO EXHIBITION SAUDI ARTIST, MESHAL AL-OBAIDALLAH, TALKING TO VISITORS ART WORK SHOWING NAME OF FARASAN ISLAND IN JAZAN CITY DESIGNED AS A LOGO VISITORS TAKING PHOTO OF ART WORK ART WORK WITH NAME OF CHAGRA VILLAGE (IN RIYADH) DESIGNED AS LOGO ART WORKS ON DISPLAY (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SAUDI ARTIST, MESHAL AL-OBAIDALLAH ,SAYING: "It is non-traditional art, it is contemporary art. I'm taking things from Saudi culture, or the things that we see every day, and I re-design them (as logos) to deliver a certain message to people. Each piece has a particular message." VISITOR TAKING PHOTO OF ART WORK ART WORK OF PALESTINIAN SCARF DESIGNED AS METAL FENCE SYMBOLISING JAIL VARIOUS OF OBAIDALLAH EXPLAINING ART WORK TO VISITOR SCARF WITH OLIVE BRANCHES AND BARBED WIRES (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) EXHIBITION VISITOR, SAFWAN ABUL-SHAMAT, SAYING: "At first glance, the viewer thinks that it is a shimagh (Palestinian headdress), but when he (the artist) explained it actually we found that there is an intellectual idea, we can say it is politically conscious of the Palestinian issue and its details." MIX BETWEEN AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQI FLAGS WITH AMERICAN FLAG SYMBOLISING U.S. OCCUPATION OF THE TWO COUNTRIES ART WORK SHOWING MIX OF AMERICAN AND AFGHANISTAN FLAGS WITH ARABIC WRITING (Arabic): "OCCUPIED AFGHANISTAN" DETAILS OF ART WORK, READING (English): "AMERICAN REPUBLIC OF AFGHANISTAN" (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SAUDI ARTIST, MESHAL AL-OBAIDALLAH, SAYING: "In this work I merged the Iraqi flag and the U.S. flag, a kind of criticism of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. It is just kind of a merging of two things. Because most of my work is merging two ideas." VISITOR TAKING PHOTO OF ART WORK (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) EXHIBITION VISITOR, ABDULLAH ALSENAD, SAYING: "This type of modern art is a new art, which mixes technology and art. There is a new generation of artists at this level who have these kind of modern and high ideas." VISITOR TAKING PHOTO OF ART WORK OF GOLDEN GARBAGE CONTAINER GOLD GARBAGE CONTAINER WITH ARABIC WRITING (Arabic and English) "RIYADH THE RICH CITY" WOMEN LOOKING AT ART WORKS ART WORK SIGN "MEN AT WORK" AND "WOMEN AT WORK" (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) EXHIBITION VISITOR, MASHA'EL FODAH, SAYING: "This is the work of art I liked most at the exhibition. I liked its meaning because here (in Saudi Arabia) there are many people opposed to women working. They don't mind that women are begging in the street alongside men under the heat of the sun, but they have a problem when she works to earn money for herself and her family." ART WORK SHOWING WOMEN BEGGING IN STREET ART WORK OF HEADDRESSES CHRISTMAS HEADDRESS ART WORK DETAILS VISITORS AT EXHIBITION
- Embargoed: 16th March 2015 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Saudi Arabia
- Country: Saudi Arabia
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA1AHQZLOHCXB1A126042G69UI6
- Story Text: Saudi artist Meshal Al-Obaidallah opened his "Saudiverse" art exhibition in Riyadh on Thursday (February 26), bringing his contemporary and political art pieces to the capital.
Meshal, born in 1990 in Washington DC, has developed an art form previously not seen in Saudi Arabia, where a conservative population is often unreceptive to new forms of art.
He creates "statement pieces" by redesigning every days symbols and objects and transforming them to change their meaning.
"It is non-traditional art, it is contemporary art. I'm taking things from Saudi culture, or the things that we see every day, and I re-design them (as logos) to deliver a certain message to people. Each piece has a particular message," he said.
Meshal also converts Palestinian attire into art - one artwork at the exhibition is a Palestinian scarf made up of images of barbed wire and olive branches.
Visitor Safwan Abul Shamat discussed his impressions of the piece.
"At first glance, the viewer thinks that it is a shimagh (Palestinian headdress), but when he (the artist) explained it actually we found that there is an intellectual idea, we can say it is politically conscious of the Palestinian issue and its details," he said.
Other art works on display included flags of Afghanistan and Iraq redesigned in the colours of the American flag. As Meshal points out, much of his work involves a meshing of two images or concepts.
"In this work I merged the Iraqi flag and the U.S. flag, a kind of criticism of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. It is just kind of a merging of two things. Because most of my work is merging two ideas," he said.
Meshal also converts some of his own social media messages into art pieces, emphasising how technology and modernity are intertwined in his work.
Visitor Abdullah AlSenad said this is indicative of a new generation of artists in Saudi Arabia.
"This type of modern art is a new art, which mixes technology and art. There is a new generation of artists at this level who have these kind of modern and high ideas," he said.
Among the social and political messages in the artworks is also a message on gender. A road sign saying "men at work" shows a construction worker, while a sign next to it saying "women at work" shows a veiled woman sitting and begging.
Masha'el Fodah, a visitor at the exhibition, said it was her favourite piece at the exhibition.
"This is the work of art I liked most at the exhibition. I liked its meaning because here (in Saudi Arabia) there are many people opposed to women working. They don't mind that women are begging in the street alongside men under the heat of the sun, but they have a problem when she works to earn money for herself and her family," she said.
Saudi Arabia, a country ruled over by the al-Saud royal family in alliance with powerful conservative clerics, has no elected parliament or political parties and applies a rigid variation of Sharia law.
Taboos include anything seen as blasphemous, criticism of the conservative nature of Saudi society, and sex or nudity.
Saudi artists say they have to find imaginative ways to manoeuvre around the censors to ensure the continuation of a local art scene that is still at an early stage of development. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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