Christie’s London unveils highlights from the retrospective of Saudi contemporary artist Dr. Ahmed Mater. ‘Ahmed Mater: Chronicles,’ is held at Christie’s headquarters in London from July 17 to August 22. Featuring more than 100 works, including paintings, drawings, photography, sculpture, video, and installations. This comprehensive show delves into Mater’s practice and artistic evolution.
Curated by Dr Ridha Moumni, Chairman of Christie’s Middle East and Africa, the exhibition spotlights the major milestones of Mater’s career. Exhibited are unseen early abstract paintings, the ‘Illumination’ series, and pivotal works from the ‘Desert of Pharan’ project. A focal point of the exhibition is Mater’s site-specific commission for Wadi AlFann, AlUla, with sculptures and studies related to the ‘Ashab Al-Lal’ project, alongside new works such as ‘Magnetism Book’, presented to the public for the first time.
Offered is a unique opportunity to witness the transformative social and cultural landscapes of Saudi Arabia. Through his practice, Mater documents and analyses these changes, exploring their psychological impact on individuals, communities, society, and the world. This exhibition, the most comprehensive dedicated to Mater to date, brings together various stages of his career, revealing his unique path as a chronicler of his homeland’s materiality and spirituality.
Dr Moumni has selected several highlights for the exhibition. Among them is ‘Magnetism Book’, a new work from Mater’s Magnetism series. Drawing inspiration from the Holy Qur’an and religious texts, Mater uses magnets and iron filings to symbolise sacred verses, emphasising the spiritual forces that uphold human faith.
Another piece, ‘Boundary’, takes the shape of a mihrab, the niche in a mosque indicating the direction of prayer. Mater transformed the mihrab into an airport security scanner, reflecting on surveillance and security operations that have become part of daily life for Muslims around the world.
Previewed are Mater’s site-specific installation commissioned by Wadi AlFann, Valley of the Arts, AlUla. ‘Ashab Al-Lal’ explores the mythic space between subjective imagination and objective reality, generating a mirage within the desert landscape of AlUla. Mater is among the first five artists commissioned to create site-specific land art installations for Wadi AlFann, set to welcome visitors in 2025.
The exhibition also features the ‘Talisman X-ray Blue (Torso)’ from Mater’s ‘Illumination’ series, where he fuses faith and science. Inspired by Islamic manuscript arts, Mater uses traditional materials like gold leaf, tea, pomegranate, and coffee, incorporating human X-rays to create a unique sense of intimacy.
‘Lightning Land’ depicts a lightning bolt striking a desert landscape, highlighting the tensions between tradition and innovation, heritage and globalisation. ‘Evolution of Man’ comments on Saudi Arabia’s rapid evolution since discovering oil in 1938, transforming the Kingdom’s economic, political, social, and religious landscape. The morphing of a gas pump into a man, gun to its head, reflects a foreboding prognosis of environmental and social risks.
Featured are works on loan from Ahmed Mater’s studio, Wadi AlFann, Royal Commission for AlUla, Royal Commission for AlUla Contemporary Art Collection, Ramzi and Saeda Dalloul Art Foundation, Barjeel Art Foundation, Athr Gallery, and private collections. Christie’s and Ahmed Mater extend their gratitude to Wadi AlFann, AlUla, and supporting partners Athr Foundation, Dalloul Art Foundation, SUR Multi-Family Office, and The Tamer Family Foundation. The Visual Arts Commission of Saudi Arabia also supported the exhibition publication.
Interview with Ahmed Mater
Rima: How do you approach documenting the changes of the transformations in Saudi Arabia’s social and cultural landscapes, and what message do you hope to convey?
Dr Ahmed Mater: I think that the change that’s happening has become a character of our life, our cultural style; it’s a phenomenon of this fast scale of change. By recording and documenting the transformations it became a part of my lifestyle. It did not happen because I wanted to do it, rather it became part of my daily life. That’s what my artwork at this moment looks like because as an artist I’m a mirror of a culture that’s currently happening.
My art is about my everyday life, my society, and my surrounding context. That’s why it became a big part or a witness to all this change and shaping the future in the place where I live.
RN: Can you highlight a recent work that you have done?
AM: There is one artwork that is called ‘Lightning Land’ and it represents two different places or cultures that explain this change. There is also another work displayed in the AlUla Room, in which I focus on the land art project: a large sculpture or land art piece, which symbolises spirituality and the idea of the mirage. I took it from this quote by Mahmoud Darwish: “In the desert, the mirage is the traveller’s book and without it, without the mirage, he won’t continue searching.”
في الصحراء، السراب هو كتاب المسافر وبدونه، بدون السراب لن يواصل البحث
RN: And what is the message that you want to convey?
AM: I want to say that by dreaming, you reach very positive results. The mirage, which is the dream that can sometimes be impossible to reach, is the best or the only way to continue the journey. So, to put a dream ahead of us and walk and build is much better than just planning and not doing anything. Also, for me, it’s a very important quote for people from the desert: they follow the mirage to find water and sometimes they don’t find it, but the journey becomes the thing that they find.
RN: How has your artistic style and thematic focus evolved from your early abstract paintings to your recent works like ‘Magnetism Book’ and ‘Ashab Al-Lal’?
AM: In the beginning, I started with the classical way of drawing, and then I moved to the abstract and the philosophical after that I moved to a more conceptual approach. I shaped my artistic language over time, so it’s a normal growth in style.
I am not constricted by media; I use all mediums. I am driven by the idea and concept. That’s why my artistic practice utilises multimedia and different styles. Sometimes I use photographs, sometimes I use drawings, and whatever can deliver the messages and poetic feelings, I use. So, for me, it’s a continuous experimentation.
cabinet within a Perspex case cabinet base: 95 x 120 x 120cm. Perspex case: 120 x 120 x 20cm. Executed in 2009, this work is a variation of two of five unique variations plus one artist’s proof. Courtesy of the Artist
RN: Can you elaborate on the inspiration behind the fusion between faith and science in your ‘Illumination’ series and how do these domains interact in your work?
AM: In ‘Illumination’ and many other artworks, most stand between subjectivity and objectivity, in the middle place, in the thin grey line between both. I learned this from medicine; In medicine, it is not only about science, it’s common sense, it’s a feeling, it’s relating and understanding people. So, for me, art is doing the same. Art is not science, it’s also a very important subjective feeling. Though it’s not only subjective, it needs science. This became my style. That’s why ‘Illumination’ is interesting; in the middle is an x-ray which for me is very scientific, but what is beyond this is the human from the inside. There are a lot of philosophical aspects to this practice.
RN: Can you talk about the famous work ‘Evolution of Man’?
AM: This is another work that I did with the oil gas station and a figure putting a gun to his head. It’s my x-ray so it is a self-portrait. The work acknowledges that it’s not only the oil culture that should matter. We live in a time of oil production, which has become the main source of energy in the world especially in Saudi Arabia which is one of the main oil suppliers. But the work is a statement about our generation; we are not only oil, we also have a separate identity and culture.
Executed in 2010. © Ahmed Mater, Courtesy of the Artist
RN: Did you start producing art while you were still practising medicine?
AM: Yes, I started from the beginning. We didn’t have a school of art in Saudi Arabia. I didn’t know that I would achieve my dream of becoming an artist. Art was the main thing that I wanted [to do]. But unfortunately, there was no art school or no future for artists in Saudi Arabia at that time. Art wasn’t even part of the education system. Things have changed a lot. Now, art is a big thing in Saudi Arabia, supported by the government.
RN: What role does memory play within the context of Saudi Arabia’s evolving identity and how do you translate it in your art?
AM: Memory is a big part of our life and art. Looking at the old concept of the time machine that everyone sees in cinema and in science fiction novels – I think art is the time machine that takes us into the future, the past and the present.
RN: What work do you have now in the ‘Chronicles’ that expresses the time machine?
AM: I think all the exhibitions act like a time machine, in the future and the past.
152.4 x 225.6cm. Executed in 2013, this work is number one from an edition of three
Courtesy of the Artist
RN: And what do you hope viewers take away from this experience?
I think it’s the power of art; I want people to be able to take the poetic part of it. This is one of the things that I usually say, and I use the following quote which will be featured in the upcoming book: “Art is the power of imagination and the imagination is the power of change.”
RN: How do you envision your work influencing Saudi Arabia and its cultural dynamics?
AM: I believe I am influenced by my life in Saudi Arabia. I live study and do everything in Saudi Arabia. All of my life is based in and around Saudi Arabia, so I am influenced and learn from Saudi Arabia, I hope I influence a new generation to create a lot of work, feeling, ambition and excitement to do more and create opportunities for a beautiful future in art.
RN: Are you part of any teaching programs?
AM: I hold in my studio a lot of initiatives, educational sessions, and casual talks; I also believe in alternative ways of education where education can be more casual, and more easy-going. I have a large library in my studio, it’s very famous in Saudi Arabia. It’s one of the biggest art libraries. For me, my art studio is an educational centre people can use and there are a lot of artists and friends who visit and use it. I will continue an educational program and hopefully, in the future, I can realise my dream of creating an art school and foundation.
RN: What’s your opinion about the new generation of artists in Saudi Arabia?
AM: Amazing. I think they have the most powerful positive energy, and they are leading the change; we will all see it in the future. You see it inside them. You see it when you talk to them. There is a moment of positive energy everywhere, on the street, within the underground scene. They are the future.
RN: Can you tell us a bit about your work in AlUla? What challenges did you face?
AM: I think it was a challenge for me to go this big and try to keep everything environmentally friendly and be close to the landscape that’s already beautiful. It’s not easy to compete with nature – it’s already beautiful. So, I tried to be part of this nature, part of this constellation, part of the people from the desert, part of the AlUla people who are poets themselves, and the spirituality of the desert. I worked on a project that functioned as a mirage, but also focused on astrophysics, a place for the stars – it’s a very deep part of the culture in AlUla. In this exhibition, I display a model and a maquette explaining exactly what it looks like.
RN: Are you participating in any upcoming projects in Saudi Arabia?
AM: A lot is coming in Saudi Arabia, including the Islamic Biennale and the other shows.
RN: And can you give us any insights into these projects?
AM: The main theme has not yet been decided. I’m still drawing and designing the idea and the final look, so it’s just in the beginning phases. I just started working on the invitation and building, so I don’t have a full explanation for each yet.
RN: Is there any message you would like to give to the new generation or the people visiting the ‘Chronicles’ exhibition?
AM: I would love to say believe in your instinct as an artist, believe in what you want to say, believe in your message, and don’t look to the art market or art system. The artistic world builds a system which sometimes takes the freedom from our practice. Art needs to be free, and freedom cannot come as a part; either you are free or not.
Two questions answered by curator Dr Ridha Moumni
Rima: What was your overarching vision for curating ‘Dr. Ahmed Mater: Chronicles,’ and how did you select the works that best represent the different stages of his career?
Dr Ridha Moumni: Firstly, it is an extraordinary privilege to present an odyssey into Ahmed Mater’s visionary practice with the first mid-career retrospective dedicated to one of the leading cultural voices of the Middle East. Mater’s captivating journey invites us to rethink urban and natural environments, unearth hidden histories, envision potential futures, and ponder profound beliefs.
In curating Ahmed Mater: Chronicles I aimed to follow both a creative and intellectual approach to his body of work. This global first is a mid-career retrospective and not only includes pieces across mediums from his internationally renowned bodies of work, such as “Magnetism” and “Desert of Pharan,” but also presents works that have never been seen by the public before. This includes his early abstract works and pieces by contemporary Saudi artists who have been greatly influenced by Dr. Mater’s practice, such as Abdulhalim Radwi and Shaker Hassan Al Said. Additionally, I wanted to invite visitors to discover “Ashab Al-Lal,” his ambitious Land Art project for Wadi AlFann, (Valley of the Arts), and admire the thinking Ahmed Mater developed for this monumental structure that will recreate the illusion of a mirage in the desert of AlUla.
RN: How do you believe Ahmed Mater’s work reflects and impacts the cultural and social landscape of Saudi Arabia, and what message do you hope international audiences will take away from this exhibition?
RM: There are works which chart his artistic career and which reflect his own artistic responses to the swift transformations within Saudi Arabia’s complex social and cultural context invite us to discover fascinating narratives of an evolving land and reflect on its multifaceted identity. Through his work, he has been documenting contemporary life in the region which has resonated with an increasing interest by collectors and buyers around the world.
My own hope is that the continued focus by Christie’s on art from across the Arab world will continue to drive discussion and debate on both the past and the present of the Middle East and bring awareness of Dr Mater’s work to a wider audience whilst in London over the duration of the view.
About Dr Ahmed Mater
Ahmed Mater currently resides and works in Riyadh. A physician turned artist, Mater is a pivotal cultural voice in contemporary Saudi Arabia, documenting and scrutinising the country’s evolving realities. His work creates a complex mapping of the Kingdom, exploring collective memories to uncover and record unofficial histories. His research-driven inquiries span historical, geographical, and topical realms, brought into sharp focus by his incisive conceptual works. Through this extensive scope, Mater envisions potential outcomes for a land of unparalleled religious, social, economic, and political influence.
Mater’s life and work are situated at the intersections of competing systems—past, present, and future; tradition and innovation; heritage and globalisation; religion, faith, economic power, and modernisation. Utilising photography, film, sculpture, and performance, he maps, documents, and analyses these transformations, reflecting on their psychological impact on individuals, communities, society, and the world.
Location: Christie’s, London
Dates: July 17 to August 22, 2024