Christies, London
Ahmed Mater: Chronicles, is the most comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the artist to date, bringing together different stages of his career and revealing his unique path as a chronicler of his homeland's materiality and spirituality.
Christie’s auction house held a mid-career retrospective of leading Saudi contemporary artist Ahmed Mater, taking place at their headquarters in London from 17 July – 22 August 2024. Featuring more than 100 works spanning paintings, drawings, photography, sculpture, video, and installation from his artistic career to date, Ahmed Mater: Chronicles represents an odyssey into the artist’s visionary practice.
Curated by Dr Ridha Moumni, Chairman, Christie’s Middle East and Africa, the exhibition highlighted major milestones of Mater's career, from unseen early abstract paintings, to the celebrated Illumination series, as well as pivotal works from the Desert of Pharan project. The artist’s site-specific commission, for Wadi AlFann, AlUla, took centre stage 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.
It is an extraordinary honour to present an immersive odyssey into Ahmed Mater’s visionary career, revealed as the first-ever mid-career retrospective dedicated to this iconic artist of the Middle East. Mater’s captivating journey invites us to reexamine urban landscapes, unearth hidden histories, envision potential futures and ponder profound beliefs. His 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.
