Art Dubai: Mona Saudi

Mona Saudi sculpts mainly in stone - one of the few artists of her generation to do so. Her forms are full of vitality, beauty and a clear sense of equilibrium, frequently returning to ideas of fertility and growth. Always starting with basic shapes, the square, circle, cylinder, rectangle, she goes on to give them movement, a life of their own – either repeating their forms, varying their depths or heights or cutting them across one another to create new, graceful compositions.

 

Knowing she wanted to be an artist since she was 17, the artist left school early to move to Beirut to begin her career. She went on to study at École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts and has since had a long and distinguished career, including exhibiting in group exhibitions at Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris (2012); Salon d'Automne, Sursok Museum, Beirut, (2011-1993) and the International Cairo Biennale, Cairo (2003). In 2018, 'Poetry & Form', a survey of her works curated by Hoor Al Qassimi, was presented at the Sharjah Art Museum in collaboration with Sharjah Art Foundation.

 

Her works are held in collections around the world and there is monumental sculpture by Saudi standing outside the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, the only work permitted to grace the surrounding precinct by its architect Jean Nouvel.