Aspects [مظاهر] is Saudi artist Alia Ahmad’s debut solo exhibition in the UAE on display at Lawrie Shabibi. It presents Ahmad’s newest works, a thoughtful reflection on the coexistence of tradition and modernization in her hometown of Riyadh. The show will be open to the public until 22 October 2024.

Through the exhibited paintings and watercolours, Ahmad uncovers her artistic language, starting with Riyadh’s rapidly evolving landscape. In this fast-growing urban setting, traditional ways of life, industrialisation, and the flourishing of native plants and cultural art forms exist side-by-side. The artist’s segmented compositions characterised by tonal contrasts, modulated colours, fluid brushwork, and gestural forms evoke a sense of continual growth.

Ahmad’s latest art pieces are intimate in scale, deconstructing the elements that shape her world. Through abstract vegetal, floral, geometric forms and motifs sometimes reminiscent of stones, flowers, and other micro-structures, the artist constructs her unique visual vocabulary. Some square-format paintings feature a single motif. Akin to the fragmented patterns found on embroidered fabric or murals, here, Ahmad provides a glimpse of a geometry that extends beyond the edges of the canvas.

About the artist

Alia Ahmad (b. 1996, Riyadh, KSA), who resides in Riyadh, graduated from King’s College London (UK) with a BA in Digital Culture in 2018. She also obtained a Master’s degree from the Royal College of Art (London). Primarily focusing on painting, Ahmad utilises diverse media to explore the interplay of memory, place, and landscape.

With her colour palette shaped by growing-up in Riyadh’s industrial and desert landscape, the artist often depicts serene dreamscapes with linear interpretations of the Saudi terrain. Her visual language plays on the tension between the vast emptiness of place and its lush, vibrant elements.

Through site-specific drawings, Ahmad highlights key details of her environment, particularly local flora. Recently, she has been experimenting with perspective by emphasising the temporal shifts between day and night, delicately touching on the varied aspects of the landscape.

Ahmad has headed several solo exhibitions at such art galleries as Albion Jeune (London, UK, 2024), Massimo de Carlo (Paris, 2023), and Hafez Gallery (Jeddah, KSA, 2022), to name a few. She has also displayed her works in group exhibitions which include After Rain (the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, Riyadh, 2024); Considering Female Abstraction (the Green Family Art Foundation, Dallas, Texas, USA, 2023); and Make It Public: Memory Collective (Design Museum, London, 2020), among others.

To get more information about Aspects [مظاهر], please go to the official web page of the exhibition.

In addition, you might be interested in visiting ECHOES, Rajnish Kaur’s solo show on display at 1X1 Art Gallery.

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