BIOGRAPHY
Faig Ahmed (Sumqayit, 1982) lives and works in Baku, Azerbaijan, and graduated from the sculpture department of Azerbaijan State Academy of Fine Art in 2004. He represented Azerbaijan at the nation’s inaugural pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2007.
He is well known for his conceptual works that transform traditional decorative craft and the visual language of carpets into contemporary sculptural works of art. His works reimagines ancient crafts and create new visual boundaries by deconstructing traditions and stereotypes. Ahmed is among a new wave of contemporary artists exploring crafts in innovative ways to produce conceptual works that break away from conventions associated with the crafts by bringing them into a global contemporary art context. Ahmed explores fresh new visual forms that examine tradition and challenge our perception of traditions through iconic cultural objects.
The artist’s deep interests and avenues of personal inquiry are connected to world religions, mystical practices, ancient scripture, calligraphy, patterns, science, and technology. Ahmed works in a broad range of mediums. His artworks engage the viewers through their unexpected marriage of traditional crafts, steeped in history, with hyper-contemporary, digitally distorted images often in the form of pixelation, three-dimensional shapes and melting paint that alters the pattern on the rugs. In 2013, he was nominated for the Jameel Prize 3 at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Faig Ahmed has exhibited his works worldwide, including exhibitions in New York, Paris, London, Berlin, Rome, Venice, Dubai, Washington D.C., Hong Kong, Mumbai, Moscow, Azerbaijan, Sweden, Norway, Honolulu, Istanbul, Melbourne, and Sydney. Ahmed’s works have been recently exhibited in several museum group and solo shows all over the United States, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Bellevue Arts Museum, Washington, the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Newport Art Museum, George Washington University, Honolulu Museum of Art, San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane, as well as the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome (MACRO), the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney, Louise Blouin Foundation, London, Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania, the Textile Museum of Sweden, Borås, Istanbul Modern, New Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, and The Aga Khan Museum, Toronto.
Ahmed’s works can be seen in public collections globally, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Palm Springs Art Museum, Seattle Art Museum, RISD Museum of Art, Chrysler Museum of Art, Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, Currier Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, de Young Museum of Fine Art San Francisco, Birmingham Museum of Art, Bargoin Museum, France, Museum of Contemporary Art, Krakow, Poland, The National Gallery of Victoria, Australia, Arsenal art Contemporain Montréal, Canada, The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Norway, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Qatar, Istanbul Modern, Turkey, Maraya Art Centre, UAE. His works have also been placed in private and institutional collections such as the West Collection, Philadelphia, the Microsoft Art Collection, Wake Forest University, the collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody, New York, Galla’s Collection, Brussels, Ranza Collection Rome, Jameel Foundation, Crocker Art Museum, Espacio SOLO, Puerta de Alcalá, Madrid, and H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, UAE.
He is well known for his conceptual works that transform traditional decorative craft and the visual language of carpets into contemporary sculptural works of art. His works reimagines ancient crafts and create new visual boundaries by deconstructing traditions and stereotypes. Ahmed is among a new wave of contemporary artists exploring crafts in innovative ways to produce conceptual works that break away from conventions associated with the crafts by bringing them into a global contemporary art context. Ahmed explores fresh new visual forms that examine tradition and challenge our perception of traditions through iconic cultural objects.
The artist’s deep interests and avenues of personal inquiry are connected to world religions, mystical practices, ancient scripture, calligraphy, patterns, science, and technology. Ahmed works in a broad range of mediums. His artworks engage the viewers through their unexpected marriage of traditional crafts, steeped in history, with hyper-contemporary, digitally distorted images often in the form of pixelation, three-dimensional shapes and melting paint that alters the pattern on the rugs. In 2013, he was nominated for the Jameel Prize 3 at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Faig Ahmed has exhibited his works worldwide, including exhibitions in New York, Paris, London, Berlin, Rome, Venice, Dubai, Washington D.C., Hong Kong, Mumbai, Moscow, Azerbaijan, Sweden, Norway, Honolulu, Istanbul, Melbourne, and Sydney. Ahmed’s works have been recently exhibited in several museum group and solo shows all over the United States, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Bellevue Arts Museum, Washington, the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Newport Art Museum, George Washington University, Honolulu Museum of Art, San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane, as well as the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome (MACRO), the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney, Louise Blouin Foundation, London, Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania, the Textile Museum of Sweden, Borås, Istanbul Modern, New Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, and The Aga Khan Museum, Toronto.
Ahmed’s works can be seen in public collections globally, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Palm Springs Art Museum, Seattle Art Museum, RISD Museum of Art, Chrysler Museum of Art, Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, Currier Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, de Young Museum of Fine Art San Francisco, Birmingham Museum of Art, Bargoin Museum, France, Museum of Contemporary Art, Krakow, Poland, The National Gallery of Victoria, Australia, Arsenal art Contemporain Montréal, Canada, The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Norway, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Qatar, Istanbul Modern, Turkey, Maraya Art Centre, UAE. His works have also been placed in private and institutional collections such as the West Collection, Philadelphia, the Microsoft Art Collection, Wake Forest University, the collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody, New York, Galla’s Collection, Brussels, Ranza Collection Rome, Jameel Foundation, Crocker Art Museum, Espacio SOLO, Puerta de Alcalá, Madrid, and H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, UAE.