Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, Between Sunrise and Sunset, 2022. Courtesy of UAE National Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Image Courtesy of National Pavilion UAE La Biennale di Venezia.
Originally curated by Maya Allison for the National Pavilion UAE in 2022 on the occasion of the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.
Ibrahim's practice spans almost 40 years of prolic experimentation and production. He is known as a core member of a tightly knit group of experimental, conceptual artists who have led the vanguard of visual art in the UAE since the 1980s.
In his Land Art, painting, and sculpture, Ibrahim uses iterative repetition to create all-over patterns of lines or forms rooted in his "cipher" drawings. These often include finger and branchlike elements sprouting from circles and squares. His papier-mâché sculptures evolve from the lines and ciphers, and they further morph into organic shapes, both inviting and refusing figurative interpretation. Plants? Coral? Animals? Humans? Rocks? Cities?
The artist and curator would like to offer gratitude to those who have made this exhibition possible, in particular the Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation, the UAE Ministry of Culture, New York University Abu Dhabi, and David Webb New York. Learn More.
For its display in Sharjah, curated by Cima Azzam for Maraya Art Centre in collaboration with Lawrie Shabibi.
The sun rises from the Indian Ocean, on the UAE’s east coast, over the port village of Khor Fakkan. By mid-afternoon, the rocky Al Hajar mountains have cast the town into shadow, fading the colors. Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim was born here, and grew up imagining the invisible sunset, on the distant west coast of the UAE. Between Sunrise and Sunset is a single work in which dozens of human-sized, biomorphic sculptures cluster in undulating color and movement—suggesting bodies or trees, metamorphosis, and mutation. The color spectrum transforms across the span of the installation: from sunrise to sunset.
These visceral forms evolve from what the artist sees "in the space between the pupil and the eyelid," and from his physical dialogue with the materials. By hand, he builds up papier-mâché over loose skeleton structures that shift and se-le into their final position over time. Often incorporating actual earth, leaves, tea, coffee, and tobacco, the texture and colors of the forms derive from his raw materials.
Ibrahim's practice spans almost 40 years of prolic experimentation and production. He is known as a core member of a tightly knit group of experimental, conceptual artists who have led the vanguard of visual art in the UAE since the 1980s.
In his Land Art, painting, and sculpture, Ibrahim uses iterative repetition to create all-over patterns of lines or forms rooted in his "cipher" drawings. These often include finger and branchlike elements sprouting from circles and squares. His papier-mâché sculptures evolve from the lines and ciphers, and they further morph into organic shapes, both inviting and refusing figurative interpretation. Plants? Coral? Animals? Humans? Rocks? Cities?
The artist and curator would like to offer gratitude to those who have made this exhibition possible, in particular the Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation, the UAE Ministry of Culture, New York University Abu Dhabi, and David Webb New York. Learn More.
