top of page
Search
Writer's pictureMonica Blignaut
Sep 16, 20202 min read

Faig Ahmed


Artist 262

Faig Ahmed

Sculptural Textiles


Faig Ahmed (born 1982) is an Azerbaijani contemporary visual artist. He specializes in conceptual works that utilize traditional decorative craft and the visual language of carpets into contemporary sculptural works of art. He lives and works in Baku, Azerbaijan.



His art reimagines ancient crafts and create new visual boundaries by deconstructing traditions and stereotypes.



One aspect of his practice he is known for are his surrealist weavings which integrate visual distortions into traditional oriental rugs. In his surrealist sculptural textiles he applies optical illusions in the form of often psychedelic visual manipulations such as warping, glitching, melting, pixelating, and unraveling to traditional Islamic rugs.



He uses digital technology and traditional looms to reinterpret one of the most immutable and ancient means of popular tradition while keeping intact the cultural value of weaving, centuries-old techniques and materials.



The textiles are manufactured by a group of skilled weavers who follow Ahmed's designs paying strict attention to traditional Azerbaijani weaving techniques.


Discussing his medium of choice Ahmed sees rugs as “something very stable. Carpet is the result of ages. Even 2,500 years ago there were similar patterns, similar techniques to today. The centre and the borders are like a social structure, giving the idea of everything we know.”



Ahmed is among a new wave of contemporary that are breaking away from conventions associated with craft and bringing it into a global contemporary art context.


Ahmed explores fresh new visual forms that examine tradition and challenge the perception of traditions through iconic cultural objects.



The artist experiments with traditional materials and colors such as the rug weavings in Azerbaijan or Indian embroidery, yet he explains that “he is not interested in merging the past and present,” but is interested “in the past because it’s the most stable conception of our lives.”



It was his study of pre-historic petroglyphs that led to his fascination with the language of carpet patterns. Ahmed re-imagines carpets as a source code for visual communication, writing, design, art and even science.



Ahmed’s re-interprets the coded messages in ancient carpet designs. His artwork speaks about the unconscious power of the visual language of patterns that communicates messages through generations and cultures, and links early human history with the digital age.


By disrupting and re-imagining the visual code and structure of the rugs that were developed over the centuries in Caucasus, Turkey, Persia and India, Ahmed suggests new ideas about the nature of reality and the limits of human perception.



Sources Consulted


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faig_Ahmed

http://www.saparcontemporary.com/faig-ahmed-1

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2020/09/faig-ahmed-doubts/

https://amp.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/nov/13/magic-carpet-art-faig-ahmed-rugs-azerbaijan



56 views

Comments

bottom of page